A Lib Dem spokeswoman insisted Dr Appleby was fighting a strong campaign and was not a "paper candidate" in Tynemouth, where the Conservatives are fighting hard to snatch the seat from Labour.

Speaking to me from holiday, the Lib Dem candidate said: "I am not the Prime Minister.

"I don't hold any great office of state. I have spent a great deal of time campaigning. We have all the nominations completed. Everything is ready to go.

"The general election could have been called any time in the last three months and it could have been postponed and although that was the most likely date, it was not certain.

"Everything we needed to do was organised. I am taking a few days out. I shall go back to campaigning when I am back."

Dr Appleby - a university don - added that family life was important and that politicians spent too much time talking to other politicians.

"I think it is a very serious mistake that Government ministers work 90 hour weeks because they lose grip on all reality and ordinary life, he said.

He added that unlike MPs, candidates like him had a job outside politics and he needed a break with his family.

And the campaign was going "pretty well", according to Dr Appleby who highlighted how he had been involved in plenty of leafleting and that four public meetings were coming up.

"I think you could find a lot of people thinking quite hard about the Liberal Democrats even in Tynemouth," he said.

Sitting Tynemouth Labour MP Alan Campbell seized on the news and comments by Lib Dem leader Nick Clegg that the general election was not a two-horse race between Labour and the Conservatives.

"Nick Clegg says this is not a two-horse race, but the Lib Dem candidate hasn't even got to the starting line in time for the race to start," said Mr Campbell.

His Conservative rival Wendy Morton refused to comments on the actions of the Lib Dem candidate in Tynemouth.

"That is none of my concern. What I am concerned more concerned about is Tynemouth and my focus is holding Labour to account and its 13 years in Government and getting on with my campaign in Tynemouth," she said.

A Lib Dem spokeswoman said: "He is not a paper candidate.

"He is a local campaigner and very engaged with the Lib Dems on North Tyneside and trying to put up a really strong Lib Dem campaign in Tynemouth."