Vince Cable
Gove: I’d vote to leave the EU if referendum held today
In a firecracker of an interview on the Andrew Marr Show, Michael Gove confirmed that if an EU referendum was held today he would vote out. But he followed this… Continue reading
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No thawing in Ed Miliband’s attitude to the Liberal Democrats
Ed Miliband’s interview with The Times today is striking for the language he uses about the Liberal Democrats. There’s no attempt to follow up last week’s Clegg, Miliband outflanking of… Continue reading
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Cable and Fox tug at the Coalition’s centre
The leaders of both coalition parties are seeing ministerial colleagues and backbenchers trying to push them further way from the centre at present. Nick Clegg has Vince Cable continuing to… Continue reading
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Clegg: the Tories are like a broken shopping trolley – they always veer to the right.
If you want to know what the Liberal Democrat’s message at the next election will be, read Nick Clegg’s speech to the party’s Spring Conference today. He kept to the… Continue reading
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Vince Cable: Tory ‘ideologues’ waging ‘jihad’ against public spending
Vince Cable managed to hit all the Lib Dem spots last night with his fringe speech at the Lib Dem spring conference. He didn’t just mention the words ‘land value… Continue reading
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Labour courts Lib Dem support with mansion tax motion
Labour is still pursuing its mansion tax vote, with the debate set for next Tuesday. It’s a clever piece of political timing by Ed Miliband’s party, as the text of… Continue reading
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Vince Cable’s borrowing bombshell
It is only towards the tail end of his lengthy New Statesman essay on ‘the long economic stagnation of post-crisis Britain’ that Vince Cable lets off one of his bombshells.… Continue reading
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Why did no Tory attack Vince Cable for his opposition to the NHS budget ring fence?
This weekend David Cameron argued that the Tories are the ‘only party simultaneously committed to proper investment in the NHS and bringing down immigration’. This makes it all the odder that… Continue reading
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Vince Cable tells Philip Hammond, cut Trident not welfare
On The Sunday Politics today, Vince Cable told Andrew Neil that he disliked ring fencing particular departments. But he accepted that the NHS and DFID budgets would remain protected for… Continue reading
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More helpful advice for David Cameron on Europe
By this stage in the run-up to his Europe speech, the Prime Minister must be tempted to sit in a darkened room with his fingers in his ears shouting loudly… Continue reading
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George Osborne isn’t clashing with Vince Cable: he’s starting to agree with him
By this stage in the Coalition, everyone would have expected at least one major bust-up between George Osborne and Vince Cable. But his evidence to today’s Treasury Select Committee suggested… Continue reading
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Eric Pickles and the looming Tory split over the ECHR
Eric Pickles is one of the few characters in contemporary British politics. In an interview with The Spectator this week, he chides Vince Cable for not deregulating enough, admits that… Continue reading
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The strivers vs scroungers battleground
Welfare will be one of the key battlegrounds at the next general election, and George Osborne’s Welfare Uprating Bill will certainly be one way the Conservative party can prod Labour… Continue reading
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The Lib Dems’ future may not be so bleak
At last week’s Corby by-election, the Liberal Democrat candidate requested two recounts. Once a formidable by-election machine, the Lib Dems were reduced to searching in vain for the 14 extra… Continue reading
32 Comments ‘Meeting? What meeting? I wasn’t there!’ Vince Cable forgets key growth committee
Business Secretary Vince Cable bewildered a select committee this morning by telling members that a new sub-committee, the Growth Implementation Committee, was yet to meet, before later backtracking and announcing… Continue reading
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Vince Cable continues public campaign for a mansion tax
Perhaps Vince Cable wasn’t listening to the bit in George Osborne’s speech at the Tory conference last week where the Chancellor ruled out a mansion tax. The Business Secretary has… Continue reading
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This Lib Dem conference was about two subtly different speeches
Nick Clegg’s conference speech wasn’t designed to be a barn burner. Instead, it was meant to tell the party that there’s no turning back, that they now have to become… Continue reading
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Lib Dems in Brighton: the prattling of the pointless
Are there any words in the English language more soporific or depressing than: ‘Liberal Democrat Party Conference’? My paucity of blogs in the last few days can be put down… Continue reading
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Lib Dem conference: The morning after the Vince before
Vince Cable’s speech yesterday setting out how he thinks there’ll be another hung parliament was a significant moment. It was clear last night, that it had placed in peoples’ minds… Continue reading
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Lib Dem conference: Vince Cable attacks the “headbangers”
Never a man to avoid confrontation, Vince Cable decided to tackle gossip about his conversations with Labour head on when he appeared on stage at the Lib Dem conference this… Continue reading
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