Actor Steve Coogan petitions Nick Clegg on press regulation

The comedian Steve Coogan along with other phone hacking victims from the group 'Hacked Off' have met Nick Clegg this afternoon, here at the Liberal Democrat conference.

They discussed the Leveson inquiry and what happens next in terms of press regulation.

Mr Coogan told the media it was a very positive meeting, although Mr Clegg didn't give any specifics about when he expected regulation to be on the statue book.

But according to Mr Coogan, the Lib Dem leader stressed that he was not bound by the coalition to act in unity on this.

The actor was also asked what he thought about Mr Clegg's tuition fees apology. He told reporters he took it at face value and that he thought it was sporting of him to allow the spoof video to be released for charity. He said his alter-ego, Alan Partridge, would not have said sorry as he wouldn), he said.

As he left the room, Coogan admitted he floated between voting for the Lib Dems and Labour.

"I'd rather pull my own eyes out than vote Tory," he said.