Vince Cable may yet collapse the government (http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-12059950).
If he does, I may have to actually reconsider giving up on mainstream politics in this country. And sainting the man for good measure.
What the Tories don't seem to realize is that they have shot themselves in the foot, both over the Murdoch nonsense in the wider sense. By kicking Cable off the regulatory thing, if the Tories now approve Murdoch's bid, they'll look corrupt and craven. And if they refuse it, to avoid that impression, then they'll be severely punishing a valuable political ally.
In the wider sense, Cable was always something of a leftwinger, and he is clearly uncomfortable as fuck in the Austerity Coalition. His leak about the potential canning of the Winter Fuel Allowance, something David Cameron promised not to do, was not only delightfully malicious in all the ways I approve of, but just shows what a single rogue minister can do to cause heaps of trouble for the coalition.
Furthermore, if Cameron moves against him too hard....well, Cable commands the respect of the Lib Dem backbenchers far more than Clegg and Danny Alexander are able to. If push comes to shove, I think they'll back him and not Clegg, especially if some kind of crisis of leadership leads to a direct throwdown between the two. The public also generally respects Cable, whereas they'd gladly throw a shit sandwich in Clegg's face right now, a fact the more forward thinking party members (all three of them) are painfully aware of.
Happy days are here again!
This will bear watching.
I am a little bit in love with Vince Cable.
News like this is fucking cool. Very nice.
It is worth noting he was helped by the Tory-supporting Daily Telegraph, who used undercover reporters posing as constituents to gain the views of not only Vince Cable but several other high-ranking Lib Dems.
The Telegraph is on the Tory hard right in most cases, and the Tories hate the coalition, because it empowers the "wets" who support Cameron.
The thing is, the Tory right is out of step with the electorate, and have been for a while. Tory votes decline year on year, and Cameron is the only leader to have successfully won over the public...and it took a major economic crisis to do it. The Tories are a dying force in this country, and the hard right who hate the Coalition are ultimately shooting themselves in the foot.
Quote from: Cain on December 23, 2010, 05:49:41 PM
The Tories are a dying force in this country, and the hard right who hate the Coalition are ultimately shooting themselves in the foot.
...were that this was true about the hard right Republicans.