You can (wrongly) doubt the rest of our influence but there is no doubting that the Lib Dems could bring down the government.

To be replaced with a much worse Tory or Labour majority government.

Cable is trying to sabotage himself. He’s been self destructive. He wants out but won’t quit, so he’s waiting to be pushed and be seen as a liability.

101 stuff this is.

Vince Cable thinks that were he to resign from the cabinet the govenment would collapse in a matter of hours. Just who, apart from his silly self, is he trying to kid?

Whatever moral authority he had evaporated along with that of his fellow Lib Dems when they joined a coalition determined to send public services back to the dark ages. His later absurd flip flopping over tuition fees only made him look even more foolish.

To quote the one liner that made his name we have all noted the recent remarkable transformation of the Business Secretary from the most trusted man in politics into the first politician to be a laughing stock BEFORE he went on a reality television show.

Really you’d need a heart of stone not to laugh.

If you actually followed what Mr Cable was saying over the last three years there was clear evidence even before he went into the Coalition that he was beginning to believe his own PR. A PR reputation that was built on pretty flimsy foundations as far as I could see. He built his reputation on saying what the public wanted to hear. However, it was pretty obvious that apart from some vague statements he did not have a clue what he was talking about. He probably does think he is indispensable and I would take that as prima facie evidence of delusion.

It gets better: Cable now reckons he can give Murdoch a kicking:

“I am picking my fights, some of which you may have seen, some of which you may haven’t seen.

“And I don’t know if you have been following what has been happening with the Murdoch press, where I have declared war on Mr Murdoch and I think we are going to win”.

You and whose army, Vince? And will there be lightsabers?

>Vince Cable thinks that were he to resign from the cabinet the govenment would collapse in a matter of hours. Just who, apart from his silly self, is he trying to kid?

That’s right.

>Whatever moral authority he had evaporated along with that of his fellow Lib Dems when they joined a coalition determined to send public services back to the dark ages. His later absurd flip flopping over tuition fees only made him look even more foolish.

>To quote the one liner that made his name we have all noted the recent remarkable transformation of the Business Secretary from the most trusted man in politics into the first politician to be a laughing stock BEFORE he went on a reality television show.

>Really you’d need a heart of stone not to laugh.

And that was all oppositionalism.

I rather like having a government, even if its a bad one! we should sent out crazies to Somalia to experience what a lack of governance usually means, e.g the exploitation of a society by criminals and extremists.

‘I rather like having a government, even if its a bad one! we should sent out crazies to Somalia to experience what a lack of governance usually means, e.g the exploitation of a society by criminals and extremists.’

If only there were examples of how an excess of government lead to unfortunate consequences to counter your fatuous analogy.

And now Labour is backing Murdoch. No surprise there. Lib Con really ought to rethink its allegiance.

Just heard that Labour are calling for Cable’s to step aside from the Murdoch BSkyB takeover as he is clearly biased against the bid. Good to see the new radical, barricade storming Labour Party rushing to kiss Murdoch’s nether regions. There was an opportunity to step up and support Cable’s attempts to minimise Murdoch’s baleful influence and indicate that the party had moved away from the opportunistic right-wing populism that marked the New Labour period. They fell at the first hurdle.

At least someone is standing up to monopolisation of the press by Murdoch and the rest of the right wing. Where are the comrades when you need them?

To give Cable some credit, it is not impossible that he was aware that he was being set up and took the opportunity to torpedo Conservative plans to scrap / reduce Winter Fuel Payment and put some clear water between the Lib Dems and their allies on this issue.

More power to him for standing up to Murdoch too.

New Labour are fools to back Murdoch over Cable. What stupid little fuckers they have become. Will they never learn? Murdoch hates their party and always will do.

Shame we can’t have a united fron of all 3 main parties telling Murdoch to get lost. But that is how far the political class has fallen in the UK today. If Cable goes, and the Lie Dems continue this clap trap they are toast.

I eat my words @12.

Cable has shot himself in the foot and now Hunt is the decision maker on Murdoch so I guess it’s a done deal now.

The Lie Dems and every one of the people who voted for this bunch of moronic twats should hang their heads in shame. They are a spineless bunch of incompetent fools.

This was a set, up, and Vince fell into it. I bet number 10 was in league with the Torygraph and wanted to find out what Vince was really thinking. No doubt on Murdoch’s orders.

The Lie Dems should now pull the plug on this farce, before they do anymore damage.

It is a little odd. Who on earth is Cable’s SPaD as I knew the Telegraph girl and I live in Yorkshire ffs? Anyway – good on Clegg. If Cammo called his La-Cable’s actions unacceptable then that’s a sacking offence yet he would have needed Cleggy’s approval which he obviously didn’t get.

Clegg grown a pair of balls? Maybe, maybe.

Cable should resign from govt. He has made a complete tit of himself and he has handed Murdoch what he wanted on a plate.

He has had the job of deciding on this issue taken from him. He must resign otherwise he looks weak ,and pathetic, hanging on to a govt car.

Come on Lie Dems, enough is enough. You have had your taste of govt and you are simply not up to the job. No more surrenders, just bring the whole thing crashing down.

With Tories and Labour both in favour of the Murdoch deal there is no way it would fail.

Cable was smart to pass on the decision – getting labelled a lame duck is chicken feed compared to the criticisms he’d take if he was seen to be responsible for forcing it through.

Choosing the last day of term to get the announcement made was the smartest move of all.

This is simply hilarious, he’s running rings round everyone!

Sally, don’t pretend to be anti-Murdoch, while backing Labour/Tory government. Those parties are pro-Murdoch.

Oh, and on the SWP: “they know what they want and they think they know how to get it”

Pure comedy.

They don’t know what they want and they’ve never had anything except newspapers which they can’t even give away!

When David Laws gets Cable’s job in the new year the government will be able to do whatever the hell it wants; especially backed by an enhanced Murdoch Media Empire. Cable missed his chance to make a difference and its hard to have a whole lot of sympathy right now. Whilst I think his influence has been overestimated in most instances (steadily on the wane for the past few months) he could have wielded some real clout in the early days of the coalition, and even recently might have made things difficult. The Tories love Laws though as he seems to sing from the same neo-liberal hymn sheet as Osborne and Cameron.

@ 17. sally …..it must be Christmas, find myself actually agreeing with your post ! Fear not, I’ll get back to normal.

The idea that the SWP ” never had anything except newspapers which they can’t even give away!” is simply wrong – Socialist Worker sells a few thousand copies a week. It may not be a huge number , but if you can print a newspaper of the left that sells more copies, please go ahead. And it seems an odd time in general to start a sneery “ooh, the far left , can’t organise anything” mumble, given the last student demonstration – which had a national political impact – simply would not have happened had it not been called by people from the left of Labour.

SWP? Topple? Government? Job? The only thing the SWP can do is sell their papers and hijack causes for their own ends.

“but if you can print a newspaper of the left that sells more copies, please go ahead.”

In today’s world why would you want to?

It’s cheaper to just do a decent website.

I know, its awful, the far left hijacking causes by helping organise big effective demonstrations. If only they would leave it to the mainstream leadership, then we could have small glowstick waving protests.

@ 26 The SWP effective? Catch yourself on!

In fairness, not so much the SWP in this case, but the organisers of the last student demonstration were very much of the far left. It would not have happened without them. You may not have thought this demonstration was effective – or may simply be substituting jolly quips for understanding what actually happened.

@28 I have been on 3 of the 4 student demos and I have to say that the Socialist Party was better organised than the SWP. As for the SWP’s “effectiveness” that’s debatable. From what I hear, the SWP leadership is a little miffed that students have organised themselves without any ‘leadership’ from the SWP.

Oh yeah, doesn’t the SWP advise its members to vote Labour? That’s hardly revolutionary.

22

Merry Christmas Ted!

Not quite right that the SWP only sell newspapers. They have a nifty line in t.shirts, mugs, jewellery and ‘bang, bang Thatcher’s gone’ party packs. All can be ordered on-line and delivery, I can confirm, was swift and efficient even in the worst of the bad weather!

Clegg looked a complete idiot last night on Channel 4 news. Every time he opens his mouth drivel spews out. “Yes I know I said I signed the student pledge, and now I have broken that pledge, but we are in a coalition” Or “Yes I know Vince has made a tit of himself, but we are in a coalition”

I must try this on size fits all excuse. I will break into a house and when I get caught I will say “I am in a coalition with my Parrot, so that is ok then”

The Lib Dems are dissolving in credibility by the hour.

Rob David Laws claimed money that was not correct. It was my taxpayers money and I am not happy that he did that so if he replaces Vince what mandate does he have.

Patricia, Laws could have claimed more had he disclosed the relationship. This was about privacy not profit.