Nick Clegg has said he has been left "lobotomised" by his time in government due to frenetic pace of activity in Whitehall.
According to The Times, the deputy prime minister told the Centre Forum think-tank in London on Monday night that the social and political "convulsions" the country was experiencing made it hard to think long term.
“You stop thinking a bit, you stop looking into the middle horizon, instead your nose is pressed up against the windowpane of everyday frenetic activity," the paper reports he said.
The Spectator reports that Clegg was commenting on how the Lib Dem-aligned think-tank could help the party come up with new policies while many of its MPs were consumed by the day-to-day activities of government.
Clegg's comments stand in stark contrast to the bold pledge both he and David Cameron made upon the formation of the coalition that they would undertake a a "fundamental alteration in the timelines of our decision-making".
"Our horizons have shortened as the timescales of our problems have lengthened," Clegg said in September 2010.
"The challenge of acting over a longer time horizon is not simply one for this government, or even just for politics. It is an issue for society as a whole. But it is vital that the government leads by example. "
According to BBC political broadcaster Andrew Neil who was at the event, the former leader of the Liberal Party, Lord Steel, "rolled his eyes" after Clegg joked he felt "lobotomised" by the experience - perhaps a comment on the potential mockery that could ensue.
Tory MP Zac Goldsmith commented on Twitter that while Clegg may think he has lost his brain in government, "MPs are lobotomised in parliament".
He said that MPs rarely held government to account on behalf of their constituents because they did not want to damage their prospects of promotion.