Clegg backs Huhne for a cabinet return – but who would make way?

Former Energy Secretary will be back "at the top table" if he is cleared over speeding claims, says Clegg.

Speaking at a Press Gallery lunch in Westminster, Nick Clegg has just said that he’d like to see his old rival Chris Huhne back in the cabinet if the former Energy Secretary succeeds in clearing his name. Huhne was charged with perverting the course of justice in February 2012 after allegedly asking his former wife Vicky Pryce to accept speeding points on his behalf. His trial was due to begin last October but was adjourned until 14 January for legal reasons.

Asked whether Huhne could return, Clegg said he would like to see him “at the top table of British politics”. Then asked whether this meant the cabinet, he replied “Yes”. This prompts the question of which Lib Dem cabinet minister would make way for Huhne. The party currently has a quota of five seats (Clegg, Danny Alexander, Vince Cable, Michael Moore and Ed Davey), with David Laws, who returned to government as an education minister in last September’s reshuffle, also attending cabinet.

Clegg insisted that Davey, who replaced Huhne as Energy Secretary, was not simply warming his predecessor’s seat, but this did not amount to a guarantee of his position. With Clegg unlikely to appoint a non-Scot to the post of Scottish Secretary (Michael Moore’s current job) and Alexander and Cable both secure in their posts, Davey is the most likely to be sacrificed.