I read it as an honest account of what any government is like on the inside. As Vince himself says:
“You know I have never been in government, never been a minister, so I have no idea what it was like under the Labour government. My general impression was that it was more, they were same philosophy, but they didn’t like each other and it was very personal, whereas with the Tories, it is more professional. We may not have anything in common, but you have a professional process by which you arbitrate, negotiate and produce compromises. And the Cabinet does function as a Cabinet, in the way it is supposed to in the textbooks. We debate things across the table.”In fact it sounds as though this government is operating more satisfactorily than most in living memory.
And Liberal Democrat members will be reassured to learn that our ministers are busy fighting to get our policies implemented.
Still, the Telegraph bills this as the first of several exposes of what Lib Dem MPs are saying in private, so we shall see if anything more damaging is to come.
9 comments:
Funny - my take on it is very different. I think old Vince's ego was well and truly massaged by two female reporters and he lost control of his mouth.
I don't believe for a minute that if two undercover male reporters, whom he had never met before, turned up at his surgery that he would be have spouted all these details.
I would say that he has just lost his nuclear option and once Cameron is finished with him he'll be whipped into line like a poodle.
Why is it OK for a rag that claims to be a 'quality newspaper' to use secret bugging to drum up stories and pretend that it's serious journalism. My two questions are (1) is it legal? (2) Is the Telegraph part of the gutter press?
Telegraph a shadow of its former self and often obsessed by celebrity. Its Weekend Section (Sat) is often ghastly and seems to be written for a mental age of about 10.
The I am led to believe many of ist top management once worked for the Msil - rest may case
Why are commenters getting so wound up? Lib Dems are in coalition with Conservatives, not married.
So they could walk into any MP or Minister's surgery, posing as a constituent and hear the pangs of government decisions! And indeed any previous Labour minister's surgery.
This is low for the Telegraph, and many will think who's next? And what next? Bugging MP's phones? Paying prostitutes to act as enamoured girlfriends, or just bugging MP's bedside lamps?
If they are not his constituents, have they committed an offence?
Even the lowliest PPC knows to treat any stranger as a potential journalist or at least a blogger. To someone of Mr Cable's experience that will be second nature. The only realistic conclusion is that these comments are in the public domain because Vince wants them out there but wants it to look like a gaff. There is much for Vince to gain by attacking the Conservative led government and making it look like an accident!
This situation is reminiscent of the West Wing epidode where Pres. Bartlett pretends that he thinks a live microphone is off when he calls his opponent a .22 calibre mind in a 357 Magnum world.
And the analogy doesn't end there - Bartlett and Cable are both economists!
Just read about this in "Der Spiegel". I wouldn't mind if Murdoch wnet bust - I've been to London often and always shuddered at those headlines ...
And we were told as youngster in Germany that the British press was the best in the world ...
Why are British media so rotten ?
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