DEPUTY PM Nick Clegg and Business Secretary Vince Cable sat awkwardly in a pub booth for a bizarre public drinking session yesterday, surrounded by cameras as the party’s strategists sought desperately to shore up dismal approval ratings.

Mr Clegg nursed a pint of Archer Mild Ale — pulled himself in an extended sequence for the press pool — while Mr Cable sipped at a London Pride in Piccadilly’s Queen’s Head, in London.

Both had consumed only half their drinks by the time their tetchy handlers instructed reporters to leave.Insiders suggested the stunt was intended to quell rumours that Mr Cable was seeking to topple the party leader, following an open rebellion last week led by Mr Cable’s friend and ally Lord Oakeshott.

But others believed the world’s shortest pub crawl aped UKIP leader Nigel Farage’s preference for being photographed with a cigarette or pint in hand — the racist far-right party having obliterated Lib Dem candidates in last week’s European elections.

Meanwhile Mr Clegg told reporters that he and Mr Cable were simply “old friends.”