I have blocked it, using the powers that I have got. And they are legal powers that I have got. I can’t politicise it, but for the people who know what is happening, this is a big thing. His whole empire is now under attack.
Cable pointed to the scrapping of child benefit for higher earners which he said had been done in a "rather cack-handed way", creating "a certain amount of injustice", for which he blamed the Conservatives.
It is his suggestion that the winter fuel allowance could also be under threat which may cause greatest consternation in No 10. "They haven't yet done the winter fuel payments, but that's coming, I think," he said
In one respect he may be correct, if he went he would bring the coalition down with him.
The gaffe came three weeks after Cable caused a furore by threatening to abstain in the vote on tuition fees, despite being the minister responsible for universities.
Meanwhile his colleagues have also been similarly indiscreet:
Scottish Secretary Michael Moore said cutting child benefit for higher-rate taxpayers was not "a fair thing to do".
Business Minister Ed Davey said he was "gobsmacked" by the child benefit decision, while Pensions Minister Steve Webb said he had complained about the policy.
And Transport minister Norman Baker said: "We've stopped Murdoch taking over BSkyB, or referred it to the competition authorities. "That would have never happened under the Tories. They would have just said, 'Here you are Mr Murdoch, how much do you want?'"
If only they actually acted so decisively, not just empty boasts showing off to journalists.
1 comment:
Like Claire Short he will find that his powers have seriously diminished now that he has once screwed over his constituency and once threatened to topple the government he is part of....
Nobody will really be able to take him seriously any more.
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