Welcome to the New Statesman website. Please sign in or register to participate in the conversation.

The Staggers

The New Statesman’s rolling politics blog

Syndicate contentRSS

Cable condemns Tory attacks on Nick Clegg

First Chris Huhne, now Vince.

After Chris Huhne's outburst at David Cameron and George Osborne became public last week, my colleague Jon Bernstein noted that Huhne had replaced Vince Cable as the bookmakers' favourite to be next to leave the cabinet. Huhne, Jon wrote then, "will need to consider what influence he can hope to have from the back benches and may conclude that he is better off fighting from within. For now."

Cable, the man Huhne replaced in the bookies' affections, is surely now asking himself precisely the same question. As he told the BBC News Channel today: "Some of us never had many illusions about the Conservatives, but they have emerged [during the AV referendum campaign] as ruthless, calculating and thoroughly tribal."

He went on to add that this "doesn't mean to say we can't work with them. I think they have always been that way, but you have to be businesslike and professional and you have to work with people who aren't your natural bedfellows and that is being grown-up in politics. We are going to continue to do that." But he would say that, wouldn't he?

Such public grumbling on the part of two Lib Dem cabinet ministers is striking, of course, but, as Vernon Bogdanor argued in an article for the New Statesman in January, "peacetime coalitions collapse through disaffection at the grass roots, not conflict at the top. In Britain, the leaders can only lead for as long as the followers are willing to follow. When the followers cease to follow, the leaders cease to be able to lead."

Perhaps the misgivings of Lib Dem activists are finally getting through to the leadership?

Tags: Coalition  Vince Cable

29 comments

matthew fox's picture

Thanks Mike S, and your quite right, there are more examples.

As I have commented before, the consequence of the first Osborne budget is that Government will be borrowing an extra £44 Billion over the next four years.

The rationale of the deficit plan was to erase the deficit within 5 years, that isn't going to happen, even in 2015, the Government will be projected to borrow £23 Billion.

sally's picture

The naivety of Lib Dems cabinet ministers is breathtaking. It beggars belief that these people are in politics, and they don’t understand the basics about …..eh……..politics.

Power is everything for the tories and they will never give an inch. They don’t do fair, or play nice. Winning is all. And it does not matter how much you co-operate with them, they will always srew you over.

James Jones's picture

My god I wish Vince would think before he opened his mouth. It's his eyebrows - they've burrowed into his prefrontal lobe.

matthew fox's picture

To the Tories it is all about winning and showboating.

Some Conservatives MP's want Cameron to cut loose, and call an election

swatantra nandanwar's picture

Nick would do well to have the Nations favourite poem tattooed on his right arm, just to remind him whenever he gets depreesed 'to treat triumph and disaster .... the same'.
Its not the end of the world, yet Nick, and tomorrow is another day.

Luddite's picture

The Tory vote remained the same. Constituency boundary changes are on the way. Labour is weak and increasingly divided. English nationalism is becoming more vocal.
The Labour leadership is indecisive and has formulated no credible alternative to the coalition workable ecomonic package. These malcontents with-in the coalition maybe come more vocal, but the simple truth is the Liberal democrats survival is closely linked to the success or failure of this coalition.

Willp's picture

The Tories, on their own, failed to win the election.
The LibDems betrayed their voters and put the Tories into power.
Now Cable whines that the Tories are ruthless and calculating - better than being pathetic and stupid, like Clegg and his little band of cheats and crooks.

Nick Gibb's picture

God damn, I fucking hate the Tories. I wish Labour and the Lib Dems could form a coalition government.

swatantra nandanwar's picture

Don't be silly Vince. The Lib Dems are minor partners in the Coalition. If they don't like the way things are going, the Tories are perfectly entitled to tell the Lib Dems to go and jump in the lake. You can't have the tail wagging the dog. The Lib Dems are getting too big for their boots.

Mrs Nobody's picture

The Lib Dems are between a rock and a hard place. If they pull out of the coalition now and force a General Election they would be annilated as they just have been in the local elections. But if they stay in on the hope 'things will improve' over the next 4 years and they don't (at least not for the majority of us) then they will lose their entire support base and they won't be heard of again.

Not an easy choice. Just goes to show what bad judgement Clegg has, going into a coalition with the Tories was never going to work. Did Clegg not realise his massive support last year came from people, many of them very young, who saw the Lib Dems as left of Labour?
Clegg and the LibDems deserve all they get.

Stu's picture

@nick Gibb
Labour/Lib Dems coalition would be worse considering it is currently two party coalition otherwise it would be a rainbow one where everyone will want a piece of the pie.

Vince is being Vince again... back stabbing, I would like to see the EXACT coalition agreement on paper just to see who is back stabbing who... Vince should go suck eggs old baffoon.

tamster's picture

Go back a year, where were the Lib Dems being critical of the disgraceful character assasinations of Gordon Brown ?

No, their mouths were shut then, and their activists fed the anti-Brown frenzy.

You reap what you sow. Lib Dems should show a little humility and repentance.

Every time a Lib Dem comes out with blaming Cameron, Miliband or the voters for their demise they probably lose another few thousand voters.

Sam's picture

I doubt Lib Dem activists will topple Clegg. They do though, want to be able to make it clear they are stopping the Tories on many things.

One of the biggest problems is that they have no supporters in the media. If they had the level of media support that Labour and the Tories have, then it would probably be easier get across a clearer picture of what they're doing in government. Unforuntately the majority of people are just very ignorant about what they've done.

matthew fox's picture

Considering the Labour Party won another by-election on Thursday, I don't see how Labour can be indecisive.

It seems those " Working Folks " haven't a problem coming out for Ed Miliband.

mcquade's picture

Stu, the coalition agreement is in the public domain and accessible by all who can be bothered to look it up.

Luddite's picture

By-election mean nothing. Working folks don't trust Labour. TRUST is everything!!

Tom's picture

What's the point here? I seriously doubt that Cable will quit over principle. If Clegg were to quit, where would he go in a demolished Lib Dem party?

matthew fox's picture

If Cable knew what the Tories where like, why did he think they would play nice?

Cable needs to go nuclear, or was that all talk?

Herbert's picture

Sam writes, 'Unforuntately the majority of people are just very ignorant about what they've done.'

The problem for them is that we know very well what they've done - from supporting the rise in tuition fees to voting for the NHS reforms at second reading. 'the bill was comfortably passed after 321 MPs voted for it and 235 voted against in its second reading.' How many of those 321 MPs were Lib Dems Sam?

Sam's picture

Herbert - Well the Lib Dems are stalling healthcare reforms now, and it's probable they'll look quite different if they go through. Perhaps you should be grateful of that.

As for tuition fees, the Lib Dems made sure they were repayable at an acceptable rate. Paying back £30 a month when you're earning £25,000 a year is a much better deal than what would of happened if the Tories were in power on their own, or the previous Labour government didn't kick it into the long grass.

That's the thing, people like you expect the Lib Dems to do things they cannot do. What they can and are doing is making a difference on a whole range of issues, things that would never have happened under a Tory majority government or a Labour government.

Mike S's picture

Sam, The Lib Dems claim to be making the difference as you say, but the difference is negligible when set against other measures which more than cancel out their efforts. Taking people out of tax, for example, is as nothing to the extra money these same people will be paying in VAT. The pupil premium will have scarcely any impact compared to the damage done by widespread Sure Start closures or the withdrawal of EMA. I could go on, but you get the drift.

harry's picture

The best solution for the LibDems in the Cabinet is to find their balls and bloody some noses in the Tory Cabinet.

Wake up, stop moaning and put out information about what you are doing in a positive way - and deny what the Tories are doing in your name!

As for cardboard cut-out Nick Clegg on the front bench - that explains his silence.

mary8's picture

Where was Huhne's display of anger when the NHS reforms were passed? Why wasn't he banging his fist on the table at cabinet meetings when the university tuition fees were trebled?

The Lib Dem leaders can do as much political posturing and namecalling as they like, but it is too late. They have shown themselves to be painfully gullible in their relationship with the Tories. The aggressive attacks on Clegg, by the Tory funded "No Campaign, not only scuppered their plans for electoral reform but also contributed to their roasting in the council elections. It was obvious, from the start, that Cameron would have Clegg for breakfast. Now, the Lib Dems are in an intolerably weak position. They cannot put pressure on the Tories, over any policy decision. They are no longer necessary. If an election was called, Cameron would be in an excellent position to secure a majority. The Lib Dems are in disarray and Labour is still in the process of re-establishing its power base.

On a personal level, I do have a certain amount of sympathy for Clegg. However, politically, he has allowed himself and his party to be hung out to dry. Furthermore, those who voted Liberal, last May, were deceived. Many vulnerable ordinary people have seen their lives shattered by the Coalition policies.

We were never,"All in it together," and the Lib Dems are well and truly out of it.

Sam's picture

Mike S - It's not nothing taking lower rate tax payers out of income tax, even with the VAT increase.

EMA is still going to poor students, it's just not going to relatively better off students.

Not a single Lib Dem council has closed a Sure Start centre, so if you can't blame them for that.

john henry's picture

If you Dance with Devil don't whinge if your dance partner betrays you.

The Lib. Dems. need to get real and pull the plug on the Tories to try to recover some kind of crediblity even if that means being wiped out otherwise they will never be trusted again and can only look forward to complete oblivion.

They have brought this upon themselves but can do something about it by boldly saying to the Tories that they've had enough of the treachery and pull out of the Coalition and let the Tories try to govern as a Minority Govt. or call a new General Election.

Mike S's picture

Totally disagree about the VAT issue and EMA. As for your comment about Sure Start, well, what can I say!! So no Lib Dem council has had to close a Sure Start centre although many others have had to be closed by virtue of funding that has been cut at the behest of the Lib Dem supported Tory government. So it's a case of everyone else going to hell as long as we're able to argue that no Lib Dem council has had to close a centre.

I'm sorry - that is just sanctimonious claptrap.

hugh markey's picture

Vince was on BBC 24 Hours News programme this morning. The feeling amongst many of us is that when Vince is confronted by a pretty face he feels under an obligation to unburden himself - expose his very soul. Oliver Letwin is a blabbermouth by nature. He can't help himself. And him with a lawyer as a wife and a civil service employee to boot.
Back to Vince and his television interview.
Explaining his part in the coalition government, Vince observed - "Working FOR the Conservatives". That little preposition 'for' was quickly rectified by Vince. "Working WITH the Conservatives in government..'
You don't have to administer a 'truth' serum - just use a female interviewer. Sorry Jeremy, Andrew Neil, Max and such, with the exception of that other Andrew who blotted his copy book, however.

Super Injunction or Gagging Order? Or tongue excision performed under a local anaesthetic is not beyond question.
Can be painless.

Tattle Tale

matthew fox's picture

@Mike S

As well as the VAT increases, inflation is eroding the incomes of low rate tax payers.

Sam needs to be reminded that low rate tax payers have their NI contributions increased as off Apr 11.

We should not forget those people on low incomes, have seen their working family tax credit reduced, and a decrease in the value of the childcare tax credit.

Osborne has robbed Peter, Matthew and Luke to pay Paul.

Mike S's picture

Quite agree Matthew - as I said in my original post, I was only giving three examples and could have given many more. The Tories have thrown the Lib Dems a few figleaves to hide behind, but these can't conceal the net regressive nature of the attack being made on the living standards of the poorest in our society.

Their whole narrative is bogus.

Post new comment

By submitting this form, you accept the Mollom privacy policy.

Latest tweets