InVinceCable We Trust

[Via Wadds]

As the Lib Dems and the Tories negotiate over power-sharing in number 10 the question that’s being asked by the Tory-supporting Telegraph no less, is “could George Osborne be sacrificed for Vince Cable?”

And so InVinceCable, the apolitical campaign that is seeking to instigate conversations around the need for a qualified candidate to hold the position of Chancellor, moves into a new phase.

“Well, we wanted to wait awhile for fear of calling it too early, but now that it’s the afternoon of the day after, it’s clear. We have undoubtedly got ourselves a hung parliament, which is most excellent news for the country. Why? Because now Vince Cable can be chancellor.”

But maybe we need to be careful what we wish for – economic vision and leadership becomes an even more critical in a hung parliament. Yesterday was not a good day on the financial markets, particularly for banking stocks.

Cable, with his tough talking on the deficit and banking reform, must have a role in the Cabinet and the Treasury in the event of a power sharing agreement.

“The coming week will be characterised by political machinations […] and this is just the moment then that the InVinceCable We Trust campaign comes into its own. So on Sunday 9 May, which also happens to be Vince’s 67th birthday, we’d like everyone to blog and comment and tweet and write to MPs of all colours to demand that Vince Cable be made chancellor.”

Follow @InVinceCable and visit the InVinceCable web site for more information about how to get involved.

Photo via LibDems on Flickr.

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This Thursday’s leaders’ debate on the BBC – the final one before the election – will focus on the economy, the most critical issue and the one which will define the success or otherwise of the next Government.

You can submit questions for the debate on the BBC website here, and we’ve been encouraging as many people as possible to submit the following question:

“In the event of a hung parliament, do you agree that Vince Cable is the person best-qualified to hold the position of chancellor of the exchequer?”

It’ll only take a few seconds of your time and we think – given what all the polls are saying – that it’s an incredibly relevant one.

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Sean O’Grady writes a super commentary article pivoting around the prospect of a hung parliament in today’s Independent under the title “Get ready for Vince in Number 11“.

There seems to be a bit of a misunderstanding about what will happen in the hung parliament that now seems inevitable. The misunderstanding is that Nick Clegg will find it difficult to extract concessions from Gordon Brown and that a Lib-Lab coalition would be tricky to put together. He won’t and it wouldn’t. In fact it has the air of inevitability about it. If he wants, Clegg can have the alternative vote, he can get Vince Cable into the Treasury, himself a nice cabinet job and junior posts for others, and, far more important, an agreed four-year programme for economic recovery and reducing the budget deficit.

Sean completes this paragraph with the assertion “Job done”. We love his optimism, but we have a long way to go yet, including the need to coalesce and focus public sentiment on this outcome.

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With a few hours to spare before Match of The Day begins, what better task is there than logging onto the Daily Telegraph website and delving into the world of the parliamentary expenses scandal.

An early flight out of Heathrow tomorrow morning and a poor offering on television until 10:30pm means spending Saturday night indoors and reviewing the expenses of three MPs ahead of Channel 4’s “Ask the Chancellors” debate on Monday at 8pm.

Alistair Darling, George Osborne, and Vince Cable will contest a live debate where they will champion their stewardship of Britain’s sickly economic.  The debate will pare increases in taxation with cuts to public spending under what is almost certainly to be a government of austerity.

Naturally I’m rather keen to see how the trio has spent tax payers’ money to date when, sooner or later, one of the would-be chancellors will ask for more money to reduce the country’s budget deficit.

When it comes to fiscal prudence, our man Vince Cable is a walking and talking example. Under the Additional Cost Allowance, dubbed the “second home allowance”, Vince chooses not to claim expenses for his home in the outer London constituency of Twickenham and instead commutes by train to Westminster. Not a penny asked for.

By comparison, the shadow Chancellor George Osborne claimed £87,441 between 2004/5 and 2007/8, with £19,438 reclaimed in mortgage costs for his constituency home in Cheshire during 2007/8. He has also claimed a grand for food.

Meanwhile, Alistair Darling claimed £65,289 during the same period, around a quarter less than George Osborne, but perhaps more seriously was accused by the Daily Telegraph of being “a classic flipper – making four separate home designations covering three different properties in the space of as many years”.

Here’s hoping that Channel 4’s moderator on the night, Krishnan Guru-Murthy, will enlighten watchers with the knowledge that Vince hasn’t had his fingers in the till and that his moral authority during the expenses scandal makes him well-placed to handle the nation’s finances and economic recovery.

And if that’s not enough, the above video shows that he’s pretty light on his feet.

Sadly I will miss the debate as my job takes me to Berlin for two days but we would love to hear your thoughts and comments about it. Oh, better go, MOTD is on soon…

Chris

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