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Posts Tagged ‘Vince Cable’

It’s Lib Dem MPs, not Labour ones, that Cameron is really trying to cull

09/05/2011, 02:00:45 PM

by John Underwood

So there we have it. Vince Cable is surprised to discover that the Conservatives are “ruthless, calculating and thoroughly tribal”. That’s a bit like being surprised that the Pope is a Catholic, that fish swim and that this year Christmas Day will fall on the 25 December. The word “naïve” doesn’t come close.

A man who is surprised that the Conservatives are ruthless would probably be surprised that a couple of young, female “constituents” asking sharp questions at a constituency surgery turned out to be a pair of reporters from the Daily Telegraph.

For years, of course, the Liberal Democrats have been the very embodiment of ruthless calculation, by pretending to be different things to different people in different parts of the country – the “only” alternative to Labour in the north of England and the “only” alternative to the Conservatives in the south.

Last week, they reaped a whirlwind of rewards for years of political duplicity. In the north, they lost votes to Labour because they were seen to be part of a Conservative-led government that is cutting public services; and in the staunch Tory heartlands they lost votes to the Conservatives because die-hard Conservative voters rather like the idea of cutting public services.

Labour supporters can be forgiven a few days of schadenfreude as they reflect on the mire the Liberal Democrats find themselves in. But before long they will need to turn their attention to the Conservatives.

As for the Lib Dems, the question is whether they will learn their lesson and wise up to the need to get tough with their coalition partners.

It won’t be enough to posture and strut over Andrew Lansley’s health service changes and to threaten a “veto”. The current proposals have, in effect, already been vetoed by Conservative back benchers like Charles Walker MP, who is currently leading a particularly vociferous campaign to save an urgent care centre in his Broxbourne constituency. There will be changes to the health and social care bill, but it’s no thanks to the likes of Nick Clegg.

Having been stitched up by the Conservatives on the AV referendum, the question is whether the Liberal Democrats will get tough with their coalition partners in other areas.

Reducing the number of MPs from 650 to 600 has largely been reported as a barely disguised ruse for reducing the number of Labour MPs. In fact, it could be more accurately described as a ruse for maximising David Cameron’s chances of achieving what he failed to achieve at the last election – an overall majority. Reducing the number of MPs is as much about getting rid of his Liberal Democrat “partners” as it is about hurting Labour.

If, in the aftermath of the AV referendum, the Liberal Democrats really want to prove to their supporters that haven’t been taken for patsies, they could do worse than consider a serious “go slow” on this part of the coalition agreement.

John Underwood is a former director of communications of the Labour party.

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Spare a thought for the poor Tory MPs

18/04/2011, 10:02:00 AM

by John Woodcock

Will someone please spare a thought for those poor Conservative MPs? The Liberal Democrats have been so unruly over the last week that the Tories are looking positively collegiate in comparison.

Back when their coalition was formed, Conservative whips no doubt insisted that making nice with a party they despise was a small price to pay for getting the chance to implement a governing programme that remained unmistakably Tory.

And for a while, being civil was made easier by the sight of their new partners soaking up public outrage as the government got on with implementing cuts that “Thatcher only dreamed of”. Not only were the Liberal Democrats locked in the boot of the ministerial Jag (just imagine, if you can, opening a boot and finding an angry Sarah Teather and Julian Huppert inside), but Nick Clegg was gallantly offering to pose as the little statue on its bonnet.

So the vast majority of Tories – many of whom have been denied ministerial office to make way for a Liberal – have spent a whole year biting their tongues and trying to play nice with their new friends.

Then they pop off back to the constituency for the Easter recess and find that the agreement to keep mutual contempt under wraps has been unilaterally cast aside by their junior partners.

Make no mistake, Vince Cable’s open criticism of the prime minister went way beyond the boundary of what would normally be considered acceptable by someone bound by collective responsibility.

It is a statement of the bleeding obvious that Labour’s time in government was not always a model of harmony between ministers. Clare Short repeatedly acted up towards the end. The Eds, Balls and Miliband, are absolutely right to pledge never to go back to the madness of the Blair-Brown squabbles that regularly spilled over into the press.

But even at the height of the bad feeling, no minister openly defied the prime minister like Vince Cable did last week and kept their job. And he was not acting in isolatation. Cable’s salvo came just days after a Liberal assault on the government’s health policy that was triggered by Clegg himself.

It is unclear where the Liberal Democrats go from here, and even whether they will ultimately stick together as a party.

But one thing is clear: Conservative MPs on their return to Westminster are going to be less willing to play the role of happy, Scandinavian-style coalition builders.

If Tory MPs ensconced in their constituencies are prepared to tell the likes of me how fizzing they are about the way the Lib Dems are flouting the coalition agreement, their anger when they get back to the bosom of the 1922 committee will be something to behold.

There is a real danger that the disgruntled Tory right flank may well start demanding the imposition of even more true blue policies to make up for this misbehaviour. The consequences of that for families and businesses across the country could be grim.

John Woodcock is Labour and Cooperative MP for Barrow and Furness and a shadow transport minister.

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Sunday News Review

17/04/2011, 06:49:31 AM

Are Vince’s Coalition days numbered?

The Liberal Democrat Cabinet Minister is joining forces with Mr Miliband in a bid to win the May 5 referendum on changing Britain’s voting system. They will line up together at a Press conference in London, where they will issue a joint plea to scrap the first-past-the-post voting system to ‘make politics fairer’. The double act comes days after Business Secretary Mr Cable accused Mr Cameron of ‘inflammatory’ remarks over immigration, prompting calls for disciplinary action by some Tory MPs. And it is bound to lead to further claims that Mr Cable, who once worked for former Labour leader John Smith, has more in common with Labour than his Conservative colleagues in the Coalition. – Daily Mail

Business Secretary, Vince Cable, was “very unwise” and risked “inflaming” extremism. To listen to his detractors, you would think that Cameron was the Mr Benn of Westminster: on Monday, he was dressed up as Malcolm X; by Thursday, he had changed into the robes and pillow case of the Ku Klux Klan (Bullingdon branch). One hears him compared with Clare Short, a diminished figure who is better inside the tent than outside it, a novice at government who should be denied the martyrdom that part of him so obviously craves. All this, I think, reflects a cavalier approach to Cabinet collective responsibility and a failure to recognise its absolute necessity – especially in a Coalition government. – the Telegraph

Paddy hits out at the no campaign?

There is not a politician in the country who won’t tell you they want to improve politics. But as the conduct of the current referendum on adopting the alternative vote shows, judge them by their actions, not their words. I will be voting yes because I believe that changing to AV will substantially improve our democracy. I disagree with those advocating sticking to the current first-past-the-post system, but respect their right to their point of view. What I am perplexed and deeply disturbed by is that those running the no campaign haven’t once put forward a positive case for the current system and instead have spent their time lying about AV. I have seen principle-free machine politics in action many times and it is never a pretty sight. But this time really is different. – the Observer

Former Liberal Democrat leader Lord Ashdown has accused George Osborne of trying to “frighten” voters off changing the voting system. He said the chancellor and Conservative colleagues had resorted to “bizarre” and “tawdry” tactics. Voters will go to the polls in just under three weeks in a referendum on the Alternative Vote (AV) system. It comes as a survey suggests a significant hardening of public opinion against the switch. Mr Osborne sparked anger last week when he said it “stinks” that the main backer of the pro-AV camp was the Electoral Reform Society – whose commercial arm Electoral Reform Services Ltd (ERSL) runs election services. He claimed that it stood to benefit financially from a switch, something ERSL has denied. – BBC News

A very Royal conundrum

The Deputy Prime Minister said yesterday that the rules of royal succession could appear “a little old-fashioned” to most people and a change to the current arrangements was worth considering. But Nick Clegg stressed it would be a complex process that needed careful thought, with other Commonwealth countries on board, and that it could not be done overnight. He said the Prime Minister and himself were “sympathetic” to change and that it was worth looking again at the rules which dictate that the first-born son and not a daughter inherits the throne. The current arrangement means that if William and Kate were to have a daughter, followed by a son, the son would be in line to become king. – the Scotsman

Britain’s Government says it has begun the process of reviewing the ancient, discriminatory rules of royal succession, so that if Prince William and Kate Middleton’s first child was a baby girl she would eventually become queen. The current rule that puts boys ahead of their sisters “would strike most people as a little old-fashioned,” Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg said overnight. It is just two weeks until the prince and Middleton get married at London’s Westminster Abbey, and Mr Clegg said many people may agree that the rules should be changed so that if the couple’s first child was a girl, she would eventually inherit the throne – even if she had a younger brother. “I think most people in this day and age would think it’s worth considering whether we change the rules so that baby girl could become the future monarch,” he said. “I think that would be in keeping with the changes that are happening with society as a whole.” – Fox News Australia

Lib Dems regrets

More than a third of people who voted Liberal Democrat in last year’s general election wish they had chosen differently, an Independent on Sunday poll shows. The finding underscores Nick Clegg’s unpopularity and alarm among his party’s grass roots at the political direction he has taken in the Tory-led coalition. While 54 per cent of Lib Dems are happy with their choice at the ballot box, 37 per cent, a significant proportion, have deserted Mr Clegg. In a local election campaign speech in Newcastle yesterday, Ed Miliband seized on the Deputy Prime Minister’s woes by appealing to Lib Dem voters to switch to Labour after a year of “broken promises” on the tuition fees, the NHS and VAT. – the Independent

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Friday News Review

15/04/2011, 06:53:20 AM

A modern triple entente

President Obama today signals the return of America to the forefront of the international effort in Libya, writing a joint article with David Cameronand Nicolas Sarkozy in which the three leaders commit their countries to pursue military action until Colonel Gaddafi has been removed. In the joint article, Obama reverses America’s earlier cautious approach to the conflict – which saw the US hand control to Nato and withdraw fighter planes just days after the intervention began – and signs up his country to the more muscular intervention of his European colleagues. Obama’s new interest could transform the efforts of the international community after three days of talks in the Gulf state of Qatar in effect came to nothing. – the Guardian

Barack Obama, David Cameron and Nicolas Sarkozy have stated their determination to keep bombing Libya until Muammar Gaddafi steps down or is deposed. The leaders of the United States, Britain and France said, in a jointly written article, it would be an “unconscionable betrayal” of the populations of rebel towns to cease operations with Colonel Gaddafi still in place. It was “unthinkable” that a leader who has “tried to massacre his own people” could be allowed to continue in government, they said. “So long as Gaddafi is in power, Nato and its coalition partners must maintain their operations so that civilians remain protected and the pressure on the regime builds.” – the Independent

Immigration policy chaos

The Lib Dem Business Secretary, was speaking in Manchester following the Prime Minister’s speech on mass immigration which Mr Cable had said was “very unwise” suggesting they could fuel extremism over immigration. “The reference to the tens of thousands of immigrants rather than hundreds of thousands is not part of the coalition agreement, it is Tory party policy only,” Mr Cable had told the BBC before Mr Cameron’s speech. Questioned about his comments to the BBC Mr Cable said: “I don’t want to develop that, and I think I have said what I wanted to say. – the Telegraph

Vince Cable insisted the government was ‘completely united’ on immigration after earlier claiming David Cameron’s comments on the subject were ‘unwise’. The Lib Dem business secretary was greeted by angry protesters as he arrived for a visit in Greater Manchester at the centre of a political storm. The protesters – complaining about government cuts – disrupted a campaign visit to Levenshulme by Mr Cable. One was arrested. Mr Cable had appeared to criticise Mr Cameron’s keynote speech on immigration – in which the prime minister said the numbers coming into Britain were ‘too high’ and were dividing communities. The business secretary said the speech risked ‘inflaming extremism’ and was ‘unwise’. But Mr Cable, who was touring businesses in the north west, said later there was ‘no division’ between him and the prime minister on the issue. – Manchester Evening News

More people waiting longer for treatment

David Cameron’s pledge to protect the NHS was in tatters last night after official figures revealed a shock increase in hospital waiting times. The devastating blow, in a week where Health Secretary Andrew Lansley was ¬humiliated by nurses, ¬undermines the Premier’s -promises to patients. Less than 90% get their treatment within 18 weeks – the worst performance in almost three years, said the Department of Health. And some patients are even being made to wait for more than 39 weeks. Shadow Health Secretary John Healey said: “Cameron should say sorry to patients for breaking his promise. “He said he wanted waiting times to come down but these figures will further add to people’s concerns the NHS is starting to go backwards.” – the Mirror

Official figures show that some people have endured gaps of more than five months between being seen by their GP and being admitted to hospital, with the average wait lengthening by a full week over the past year alone. Waiting lists lengthened over the winter as NHS trusts cancelled planned operations to care for critically ill flu patients, but are likely to increase still further as health authorities begin in earnest to make savings of £20billion over the next four years. It represents the latest in a series of figures that have called into question ministers’ claims that the health budget and front-line services are being protected. Waiting times in A&E have increased by 63 per cent over the past year while more than half of 10,000 planned job cuts are said to be hitting doctors, nurses and midwives. Labour, which introduced the targets for treatment within 18 weeks, highlighted David Cameron’s claim at a recent Prime Minister’s Questions that the Government wanted “to see waiting times and waiting lists come down”. – the Telegraph

First class cover up

Labour leader Ed Miliband has been caught out trying to cover up his first-class train journey to the regions to reconnect with voters. Aides of Mr Miliband’s were spotted taking away the ‘First Class’ seat covers just as the leader arrived on the London to Coventry train with cameras in tow. The leader, who elbowed older brother David out of the way to seize the top Labour job, has repeatedly tried to launch a class war with the Tories, emphasising Prime Minister David Cameron’s privileged upbringing. But yesterday his class-war tactics backfired when Mr Miliband was filmed in the first class compartment of a Virgin train on his way to a local election campaign visit in Lancashire. Asked why he thought he should travel first class when he was trying to pitch himself as a man of the people, he said: ‘We travel standard class and we travel first class at different times… I don’t think any politician should claim that they are leading an ordinary life. – Daily Mail

So it was with mild surprise that I watched Ed Miliband step into a first class carriage on his way to Preston at the outset of a day of pre-local election events to which I and my Sky News crew had been invited. His team is evidently aware of the potential pitfalls of being seen to travel apart from the hoi polloi, as the first thing they did was to remove the “First Class” head covers from all the surrounding seats. When I questioned the Labour leader, he said: “We travel standard class and first class at different times.”I don’t think any politician should claim that they are leading a normal life because talking to you, being in the public eye is not a normal life.” The important thing, he said was to be able to “put yourself in other people’s shoes”. – Sky News

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Cable has capitulated to the City. It doesn’t have to be this way.

15/02/2011, 01:01:41 PM

by Dan Cooke

What does Vince Cable have in common with Eric Pickles, Michael Gove and George Osborne? Oh, and Ed Miliband and Ed Balls too? Answer – they are all cursed by the iron law that their careers, like all political careers, will end in failure (or, at least, will be seen as a failure, whatever reasoned protestations to the contrary their future selves might make).

So, as renewed rumours have surfaced this weekend that Mr Cable is contemplating resignation when the independent commission on banking inevitably fails to deliver the radical restructuring he has called for, perhaps he should be sanguine about the harsh judgment that will, if he does so, be pronounced on his contribution to politics.

It is clear now that his resignation will be less a “nuclear” explosion for the coalition than the detonation of an ideological neutron bomb – devastating for his own influence, but leaving Tory and orange book values intact. Following the limp conclusion of “project Merlin”, maintenance of the status quo on bank structures would indeed be a sad anti-climax to the expectations fostered when Cable declared himself co-equal with the chancellor in banking policy.

It would represent a further blow to Cable’s reputation among former admirers after a miserable list of disappointments: his role in the tuition fee betrayal, the self-inflicted loss of responsibility for the Sky deal, the daily complaints that his department has no strategy for growth and its scrapping of regional development agencies (described by Mr Cable, as “Maoist and chaotic”, but allowed to pass all the same by this secretary of state). (more…)

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A reckoning for the second rate: the Lib Dems are simply not qualified to govern

24/12/2010, 07:00:10 AM

by Dan Hodges

In his classic work Fever Pitch, the book that finally enabled middle class supporters to emerge from the football closet, Nick Hornby devotes a whole chapter to a single player, Gus Caesar.

Caesar’s place in literary history was secured in the eighty third minute of the 1988 League Cup final between Arsenal and Luton. With his side 2-1 up, the England under-21 defender chased down an innocuous ball in his own penalty area. Then something strange happened.

Some say he was distracted by a Luton striker who had moved goal side of him. Others that his studs became caught in the Wembley turf. Whatever the reason, with the option of sliding a pass to a colleague, or launching the ball to safety, he chose to do neither. Gus Caesar simply fell over. A melée ensued, in which Luton scrambled an equaliser. They went on to snatch a late winner and raise the trophy. Caesar was swiftly transferred, never playing in the top flight of football again. (more…)

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Friday News Review

24/12/2010, 06:59:42 AM

Browne caught out, but Teather plays a straight bat

Jeremy Browne described some of the Conservatives’ partners in the European Parliament as “nutty”. He said foreign diplomats were delighted that the Lib Dems had ensured the Government was “far more amenable and civilised” towards the European Union than a Tory administration. The disclosures are made on the fourth and final day of The Daily Telegraph investigation into the true feelings of senior Lib Dems towards the Coalition. Speaking to an undercover reporter posing as a supporter in his Taunton Deane constituency, Mr Browne, who is regarded as being on the Right wing of his party, disclosed that he and colleagues had been engaged in a struggle to persuade the Tories to relax a planned cap on immigration. “The Tories had a very harsh, in my view, immigration policy,” he said. “That’s not to say I think that there shouldn’t be, you know, a level of immigration which can’t be assimilated in society – I’m not in favour of letting rip and letting everyone in – I think we need to have a proper, functioning policy. But the Conservative one I thought was driven by quite a lot of uncharitable instincts. I think, with the involvement of the Lib Dems plus the more liberal-minded Tories, we’ll end up with a policy which is more enlightened.” Asked about Mr Cameron’s decision to ally his party with some far-Right parties in eastern Europe, he said: “They [the parties] are quite nutty and that’s an embarrassment to them.” – Telegraph

She said that some Conservatives were finding Coalition politics “very painful indeed”, but added: “Most of them are finding it a relief. They are not having to pander to their own Right-wing, they are having to pander to our Left-wing.” Miss Teather was the only one of the 10 ministers visited by this newspaper whose private views largely reflected her public comments. “I think Michael Gove is deeply relieved to be in Coalition, because it meant that we got an extra slug of money for schools and that was work that I did with Nick Clegg behind the scenes,” she said. “We had an absolute fight to get that extra money into schools, and he would never have had that if he had just been a Secretary of State in a Conservative government.” – Telegraph

Cable strikes back

Vince Cable today broke his silence to speak of how a sting by undercover reporters had caused “great damage” to the confidential relationship between MPs and constituents. The Business Secretary said the Daily Telegraph’s tactics had “completely undermined” the work of local MPs and he would need to be “more guarded” in the future. Dr Cable said today: “I feel quite angry and strongly about this, I’ve had constituency surgeries now for 13 years every week, that’s well over 600. Thousands and thousands of constituents have been to see me, often on very difficult and highly confidential issues which have been respected by me and by them. Then somebody who isn’t a constituent falsifies their name and address and comes in with a hidden microphone – it completely undermines the whole basis on which you operate as a local MP.” – Richmond and Twickenham Times

End of the line for ‘firebrand’ Sheridan

Tommy Sheridan was told to go home and prepare for jail after being found guilty of perjury yesterday. The former Scottish Socialist Party leader was convicted of lying under oath five times during his 2006 defamation victory against the News of the World. Judge Lord Bracadale told him: “You have been convicted of the serious offence of perjury and must return to court expecting to begin a prison sentence.” But ex-MSP Sheridan, 46, will be free to spend Christmas with wife Gail and his five-year-old daughter Gabrielle after being bailed until sentencing on January 26. Senior legal sources expect him to be jailed for around five years. The working class hero’s fall from grace was complete at 3.45pm yesterday at the end of the dramatic 12-week-trial – Scotland’s longest ever perjury case. Surrounded by Gail, his mother Alice, 72, and other family members, Sheridan was greeted by applause from supporters in the foyer of the High Court in Glasgow. – Daily Record

The trial of Tommy Sheridan cast new light on the News of the World’s use of private detectives who have been convicted of illegal phone hacking and “blagging” confidential data. Sheridan’s attempt to highlight the practice saw Andy Coulson, David Cameron’s chief media adviser and former editor of the NoW, appear in court. Coulson, thought to be the first NoW senior executive to be questioned on oath in a criminal trial about the affair, repeatedly denied having any knowledge of illegal activity by his staff. The high court in Glasgow heard that Sheridan’s name, home address and personal mobile details appeared twice in the notebooks of Glenn Mulcaire, a NoW freelance investigator convicted of illegally accessing private phone messages of the royal household and other public figures for the tabloid in 2007. The two sets of notes, believed to date to 2004 when the NoW’s first investigation into Sheridan’s alleged adultery was at its peak, could suggest Mulcaire was twice ordered to hack Sheridan’s mobile phone or pass on his private pin code to NoW reporters. – Guardian

Lib Dem Council Leader in video gaffe

Many council leaders are happy to appear in front of television cameras to talk about their work but most would baulk at flexing their acting muscles while belting out a version of the Lou Reed song Perfect Day. Sheffield Council boss Paul Scriven appeared to have no such concerns, however, when he agreed to star in a video which features him arriving at a luxury hotel and extolling the virtues of its staff and the services they can offer. The production, which appeared on the internet yesterday was, according to Councillor Scriven, supposed to be a private training video for Sheffield’s four-star Mercure St Paul’s Hotel, and was never intended for public consumption. But the scenes which show him arriving in a taxi with his tie askew and shirt untucked, and a sequence in which he serenades staff before drinking a pink cocktail, have led to ridicule and questions over his political judgement. Yesterday, members of Sheffield Council’s Labour group said it was “difficult to understand” why Coun Scriven had decided to act in the video and claimed that the performance was “not what the people of Sheffield would expect.” – Yorkshire Post

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Neck deep in News Corp: damning letter to Sir Gus O’Donnell

23/12/2010, 02:17:31 PM

Sir Gus O’Donnell

Cabinet Secretary

Cabinet Office

70 Whitehall

London

SW1A 2AS

23 December 2010

Dear Gus,

I have written to you several times in the past few weeks about matters of propriety and the ethics of government. I am now writing to ask about such matters again, this time in relation to the behaviour and statements of Vince Cable and Jeremy Hunt regarding News Corp.

1. Vince Cable

Vince Cable was revealed, in a tape recording which the nation has heard, to have been explicitly intending to abuse his position in the most extraordinary way. He was planning, while pretending quasi-judicial impartiality, to make an entirely political ruling without regard to the facts or to Ofcom advice.

How does removing him from this particular decision alter his unsuitability for office? How can he be considered a fit and proper person to take decisions about the rest of the nation’s business, industry and higher education?

I would be grateful to know whether and what advice you gave the Prime Minister about Vince Cable’s suitability to remain in office in light of his intention to pervert the proper processes of government.

2. Jeremy Hunt

It has been revealed today that a DCMS official confirmed Jeremy Hunt met James Murdoch on 28 June – shortly after News Corp made its takeover bid to buy the remaining 61 per cent of BSkyB. The spokesperson said: “I can confirm that this was an informal first meeting between Jeremy Hunt as secretary of state and James Murdoch, and there was no written agenda or briefing. Officials did not sit in on the meeting”.

The official also stated that a second meeting took place between Mr Hunt and Jeremy Darroch, BSkyB’s chief executive, on 21 July where no minutes were taken either; and that an unnamed civil servant had warned Mr Hunt that Mr Darroch was likely to ask about changes to media regulation.

And yet, in a written Parliamentary answer on this matter, I was told that no formal meetings had taken place with either James Murdoch or other representatives of News International (17852). (more…)

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Ignorant, hypocritical buffoon. And worse. Cable must go.

22/12/2010, 10:44:15 AM

by Tom Watson

I like the guy. I held out hope he might end up being the axle of progressive politics in Britain. Yet it’s hard to resist the urge to slap Vince Cable around the chops.

Six months into the Conservative-led government, he’s left himself looking like, and let’s not mince words, he looks like a cock. What a total ignoramus. What a self-indulgent buffoon. What a hypocrite. For the protection of his own dignity, he should resign.

There are two winners out of this episode: David Cameron and Rupert Murdoch.

Here’s what Jeremy Hunt recently said in Broadcast magazine about Rupert Murdoch:

“Rather than worry about Rupert Murdoch owning another TV channel, what we should recognise is that he has probably done more to create variety and choice in British TV than any other single person because of his huge investment in setting up Sky TV which, at one point, was losing several million pounds a day.

We would be the poorer and wouldn’t be saying that British TV is the envy of the world if it hadn’t been for him being prepared to take that commercial risk. We need to encourage that kind of investment”.

Here’s what independent media analyst, Clair Enders recently said:

“Somewhere between 2015 and 2020, News International, Sky will control 50% of the newspaper and television markets respectively…..They will have a force de frappe which none of their competitors can match, while the BBC’s income will be negotiated downwards, and ITV simply lives with the ebb and flow of the advertising market”.

So, the company that hacked the phones of the royal princes will own half the newspaper and television market in Britain. If this was Zimbabwe, we’d be sending resolutions to the United Nations about it. It’s not though, and Jeremy Hunt, easily the most ambitious member of the cabinet, will make the decision.

That’s why Cable has to go. He can’t do his job. We trusted that he would do the right thing. Faced with the indisputable truth about media plurality in Britain we were counting on him to face down all opposition and for the first time in decades, stand up to Rupert Murdoch. And now he can’t.

Do you think that Jeremy Hunt, having said what he said about Rupert Murdoch, is going to go against his instincts and turn down News Corp’s bid for complete control of Sky? No. Neither do I.

Like Clare Short in Tony Blair’s administration after the resignation of Robin Cook, Cable’s days are numbered. I can’t understand how he can allow the public humiliation to last longer than today. But ministerial office does that to some people. They can’t let it go.

In choosing a slow lingering death, Cable has further weakened Clegg and the coaltion partners, though they appear too frightened and stupid to know this.

It’s inevitable. He’s broken one of the rules of being a minister. It’s probably the third rule concerning standards in public life. The one that says:?

“In carrying out public business, including making public appointments, awarding contracts, or recommending individuals for rewards and benefits, holders of public office should make choices on merit.”

We’ll no doubt be arguing about this for days to come, but we already know that Cable has broken the even bigger rule of ministerial life: don’t believe the hype. His own ego has destroyed him.

The Cable incident is another unforced error from a ragged government. Paradoxically, it helps Cameron as he strengthens his grip on a coalition government that has been shown to be paralysed by disagreement and personal loathing between ministers.

My God, what a mess though. And we’re only six months in.

Tom Watson is Labour MP for West Bromwich East

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Wednesday News Review

22/12/2010, 07:29:05 AM

Liberal ‘Discontent’ Spreads

More Liberal Democrat ministers have been exposed as harbouring serious doubts about the fairness of important aspects of coalition policies, especially the trebling of tuition fees and the withdrawal of child benefit from higher-rate tax payers. The revelations will be seen as a sign that some Lib Dem ministers express loyalty to coalition policies in public, but then distance themselves when speaking in what they regard as private conversations with constituents. Michael Moore, the Scottish secretary, said cutting child benefit for higher-rate taxpayers was “blatantly not a consistent and fair thing to do”, while the business minister Ed Davey said he was “gobsmacked” by the decision. Steve Webb, the pensions minister, revealed he had written to George Osborne seeking changes to the policy because “the details aren’t right”. – Guardian

The ministers also revealed behind-the-scenes attempts to slow or even stop Tory policies. It is the first time that Liberal Democrat concern over child benefit cutbacks has surfaced, with opposition to the proposal previously coming from back-bench Conservative MPs. The fresh disclosures were made in conversations between the ministers and reporters from The Daily Telegraph posing as Liberal Democrat voters in their constituencies. Further concerns among senior Lib Dems about Coalition policy and leading Conservative figures will be exposed in the coming days. – Telegraph

Cable now a ‘lame duck’

Humiliated Business Secretary Vince Cable was stripped of major powers last night after an attack on The Sun’s owner Rupert Murdoch. No10 acted after he bragged he had “declared war” on the media boss. Dr Cable – who will appear in Strictly Come Dancing’s Christmas Day special – was clinging to his job by his fingertips last night after the extraordinary attack. Dr Cable’s wild remarks – caught on tape – left PM David Cameron and his deputy Nick Clegg “apoplectic with rage”, aides said. They let humiliated Dr Cable keep his Cabinet post but stripped him of major powers – leading Labour to brand him a “lame duck”. – The Sun

In an emergency statement issued last night, Downing Street said that a large part of Mr Cable’s responsibilities would now be transferred to Jeremy Hunt, the Culture Secretary. In a statement, a Downing Street spokesman said: “Following comments made by Vince Cable to The Daily Telegraph, the Prime Minister has decided that he will play no further part in the decision over News Corporation’s proposed takeover of BSkyB. In addition, all responsibility for competition and policy issues relating to media, broadcasting, digital and telecoms sectors will be transferred immediately to the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport.” More than 70 Whitehall officials who work on media and telecom policy for the Business Department will be moved to work for Mr Hunt from today. – Telegraph

Full steam ahead for takeover

The EU yesterday cleared News Corp’s £8bn bid to buy the 61% of pay-TV company BSkyB it does not already own, thus making a good day for the company even better. The media conglomerate, run by Rupert Murdoch, seized on the ruling, claiming it would increase the pressure on the British government to do the same. A few hours later, Vince Cable, who had the power to decide whether to block the deal on public interest grounds publicly, if unwittingly, declared his opposition to the deal. His boast to two undercover reporters that he had “declared war on Mr Murdoch” fatally undermined the business secretary’s independence and made it impossible for him to rule on the Sky bid. That task will now fall to the culture secretary, Jeremy Hunt, a man who has previously expressed admiration for BSkyB. – Guardian

Flu cases rise after autumn advertising axe

Swine flu has surged in the past five days with the number of cases requiring intensive care 70 per cent above last year’s peak, the Chief Medical Officer said yesterday. John Healey, the shadow Health Secretary, accused the Government of doing “too little too late”. “The Health Secretary is playing catch-up. The only attention he’s paid to the preparations for this winter’s flu outbreak is to axe the autumn advertising campaign to encourage people to get vaccinated and make them aware of the risks. He made the wrong judgement and it’s left too many people without the flu protection they should have,” said Mr Healey. – Independent

Don’t forget the by-election

The prime minister has confirmed he will be visiting Oldham East and Saddleworth during the by-election to campaign for the Tory candidate. At a joint press conference with deputy prime minister Nick Clegg today, he also described how the next general election will be “slightly different” from usual. “We will fight as separate parties and I hope the campaign will be more polite,” David Cameron said. Cameron said despite the fact “prime ministers don’t often go” to by-elections, he will visit Oldham in the new year. Clegg revealed he will be in the constituency tomorrow. – epolitix.com

Hartlepool MP Iain Wright is heading up a by-election campaign to regain a controversial seat. Mr Wright says he was asked by Labour leader Ed Miliband to be campaign manager in the by-election for the Oldham East and Saddleworth seat in the House of Commons. Now Mr Wright is hoping to use his experience of winning a by-election himself in Hartlepool in 2004 to help Labour candidate for the Greater Manchester seat, Debbie Abrahams. Mr Wright won the 2004 by-election to take the Hartlepool seat with a 2,033 magority after the sitting Labour MP for the town, Peter Mandelson, stepped down to become a European Commissioner.” – Peterlee Mail

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