LONDON – Tape recordings of ministers from Britain’s junior coalition partners criticising cabinet policy added to strains on the government yesterday, a day after the business secretary was stripped of some powers over loose talk.
Prime minister David Cameron, whose Conservative Party has ruled with the smaller, left-leaning Liberal Democrats since May, said his coalition was still viable despite the recordings made by journalists for the Daily Telegraph.
Mr Cameron also defended his decision to keep Liberal Democrat business secretary Vince Cable in the government while stripping him of authority over regulating the media sector on Tuesday.
Mr Cable, a leading Lib Dem in the cabinet, was taped by the Telegraphsaying he was "declaring war" on News Corp chief executive Rupert Murdoch, who is seeking government approval for a merger deal. Some commentators said Mr Cable would have been fired for the remarks if he were a Conservative.
The Telegraphpublished more excerpts yesterday from recordings it said were made by its reporters posing as Lib Dem voters meeting politicians.
Scottish secretary Michael Moore was recorded describing the government’s plans to scrap child benefit for higher taxpayers as “blatantly not a consistent and fair thing to do”. Ed Davey, a business minister, said proposed changes to housing benefit would “put people below the breadline”.
Mr Cameron and Lib Dem leader Nick Clegg put on a united front, saying the coalition was still sound. “Of course, coalitions do have their difficulties, coalitions do have tensions, even contradictions, that is a fact,” Mr Cameron said. But, he added, lawmakers were putting aside differences to work together.
Mr Clegg said: “I don’t think anyone should be surprised by the reports of what other ministers have said that there are differences of opinion in a coalition – as there are indeed in all governments.”
The Lib Dems’ poll ratings have slumped after their leadership backed higher tuition fees for students, breaking a pre-election pledge.
Mr Moore said on the Telegraph tape that that decision had been a “car crash” and deeply damaging to the party. Lib Dem member of parliament Tim Farron said while the paper’s latest disclosures showed clear differences, they were not a problem for the government. “In some ways it’s helpful. We’ve been protesting for the last eight months that Liberal Democrats have a mind of our own, a distinct identity,” he told BBC radio.
* Meanwhile, Mr Murdoch’s close links to the Conservative party were thrown into the spotlight last night after it emerged that culture secretary Jeremy Hunt held a private meeting with the tycoon’s son, James, at which no civil servants were present.
The meeting took place on June 28th, shortly after News Corp said it had made an offer to buy the 61 per cent of BSkyB it does not already own. James Murdoch is chairman of BSkyB and chief executive of News Corp in Europe and Asia. Mr Hunt’s relations with the Murdochs are now under fresh scrutiny, since he was handed official responsibility for ruling on News Corp’s bid to take full control of BSkyB.
A spokesman for the department for media said: "I can confirm that this was an informal first meeting between Jeremy Hunt as secretary of state and James Murdoch, and there was no written agenda or briefing. Officials did not sit in on the meeting."– (Reuters/ Guardianservice)