11:02am UK, Wednesday December 22, 2010
Vince Cable has been stripped of his responsibility for media regulation after he claimed to have "declared war" on Rupert Murdoch's News Corp empire.
Vince Cable Loses Out In News Corp 'War'
11:02am UK, Wednesday December 22, 2010
Vince Cable has been stripped of his responsibility for media regulation after he claimed to have "declared war" on Rupert Murdoch's News Corp empire.
Sky News video: Clegg's qualified backing for Cable
Prime Minister David Cameron allowed Mr Cable to keep his position as Business Secretary, but made no attempt to hide his displeasure.
The PM called branded his comments - caught on tape by undercover reporters - as "totally unacceptable".
Lib Dem Deputy Prime Minister said Mr Cable's comments had been "very unfortunate"but insisted that the matter had been dealt with.
"I think now Vince and the Government can move on and that is the end of it."
Mr Cameron ruled Mr Cable would play no further role in News Corp's bid to take a majority stake in the broadcaster BSkyB.
The Business Secretary’s responsibilities for media policy and competition go to Culture Secretary Jeremy Hunt.
Cable claimed to have 'declared war' on Murdoch
However, Labour leader Ed Miliband said he was concerned about Mr Hunt's ability to make a decision on the News Corp bid, because the Culture Secretary has made comments about it in the past.
Soon after the bid was made, he said: "It does seem to me that NewsCorp do control Sky already, so it isn’t clear to me that in terms of media plurality there is a substantive change, but I don’t want to second-guess what regulators might decide."
Mr Miliband said that shadow business secretary John Denham would be writing to the Cabinet Secretary Sir Gus O'Donnell to seek reassurance that Culture Secretary Jeremy Hunt was a "fit and proper person" to arbitrate on the bid.
Tory MP John Whittingdale, chairman of the Commons culture, media and sport
select committee, said Mr Cable would almost certainly have been sacked if he were a Conservative minister.
"I think that's almost certainly the case," he told BBC Radio 4's Today programme.
Vince Cable was secretly recorded by reportersI have declared war on Mr Murdoch and I think we are going to win.
"I'm not happy, but nevertheless I accept that in a coalition we have to do things to keep our partners in the coalition content.
"Equally, it's quite plain that Vince Cable is the second most important Liberal member of the coalition. We have already lost one leading Liberal minister and the feeling was we cannot afford to lose another."
But Liberal Democrat president Tim Farron, president of his party, said Mr Cable was "about the most competent person" you could wish for in any Cabinet and denied he would have been sacked if he was a Tory.
Vince Cable Loses Out In News Corp 'War'
11:02am UK, Wednesday December 22, 2010
Vince Cable has been stripped of his responsibility for media regulation after he claimed to have "declared war" on Rupert Murdoch's News Corp empire.
Sky News video: Clegg's qualified backing for Cable
Prime Minister David Cameron allowed Mr Cable to keep his position as Business Secretary, but made no attempt to hide his displeasure.
The PM called branded his comments - caught on tape by undercover reporters - as "totally unacceptable".
Lib Dem Deputy Prime Minister said Mr Cable's comments had been "very unfortunate"but insisted that the matter had been dealt with.
"I think now Vince and the Government can move on and that is the end of it."
Mr Cameron ruled Mr Cable would play no further role in News Corp's bid to take a majority stake in the broadcaster BSkyB.
The Business Secretary’s responsibilities for media policy and competition go to Culture Secretary Jeremy Hunt.
Cable claimed to have 'declared war' on Murdoch
However, Labour leader Ed Miliband said he was concerned about Mr Hunt's ability to make a decision on the News Corp bid, because the Culture Secretary has made comments about it in the past.
Soon after the bid was made, he said: "It does seem to me that NewsCorp do control Sky already, so it isn’t clear to me that in terms of media plurality there is a substantive change, but I don’t want to second-guess what regulators might decide."
Mr Miliband said that shadow business secretary John Denham would be writing to the Cabinet Secretary Sir Gus O'Donnell to seek reassurance that Culture Secretary Jeremy Hunt was a "fit and proper person" to arbitrate on the bid.
Tory MP John Whittingdale, chairman of the Commons culture, media and sport
select committee, said Mr Cable would almost certainly have been sacked if he were a Conservative minister.
"I think that's almost certainly the case," he told BBC Radio 4's Today programme.
Vince Cable was secretly recorded by reportersI have declared war on Mr Murdoch and I think we are going to win.
"I'm not happy, but nevertheless I accept that in a coalition we have to do things to keep our partners in the coalition content.
"Equally, it's quite plain that Vince Cable is the second most important Liberal member of the coalition. We have already lost one leading Liberal minister and the feeling was we cannot afford to lose another."
But Liberal Democrat president Tim Farron, president of his party, said Mr Cable was "about the most competent person" you could wish for in any Cabinet and denied he would have been sacked if he was a Tory.
Senior Lib dems criticise coalition partners
Scottish Secretary Michael Moore reportedly branded the hike in university tuition fees "a car crash, a train wreck".
Meanwhile, business minister Ed Davey said he was "gobsmacked" by the decision to strip child benefit from higher-rate taxpayers.
Pensions minister Steve Webb also acknowledged Lib Dems were being damaged by appearing "too cosy" with Tories.
Mr Cable appears to have survived largely because Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg could not afford to lose another senior Lib Dem minister from the coalition so soon after David Laws was forced to resign over his expenses.
On the Telegraph's tapes, Mr Cable was heard discussing his role as the final arbiter of News Corp's BSkyB bid, saying: "I have declared war on Mr Murdoch and I think we're going to win."
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