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.

Can’t say I’m keen on the LibDem campaign slogan though. Seems as though they’ve tried to combine Obama’s ‘change’ with Labour’s ‘fair’ and come up with something far too wordy.

invincecable! we trust works far better for me.

Watch this blog for an update on Dr. Cable’s speech.

A senior Liberal Democrat said “anything is possible” in the event of a hung parliament after the general election.

Treasury spokesman Vince Cable said his party did not rule out making a formal alliance with either Labour or the Tories and called for an end to “very narrow, short-term tribal politics”.

His remarks followed a series of opinion polls predicting a hung parliament, in which the Lib Dems would be likely to hold the balance of power.

Mr Cable told BBC One’s Andrew Marr Show: “We would act in a financially responsible way, we’ve made that very clear through our policies.

“Whoever we talk to, however the situation evolves, that’s a secondary issue. It’s not for us to choose.”

Pressed on whether he would rather support a minority government than make formal alliances, he said: “We’re not ruling things out. Anything is possible, parties can work together in different ways.

“It may well be that the public is really rather fed up with very narrow, short-term tribal politics and they want to see politicians rising above that, particularly as they sense we’re in an economic crisis.”

Voters expected politicians to be “grown-up and business-like” in their approach to working with other parties, he added.

But the Sunday Times reported that Lib Dem leader Nick Clegg would refuse to accept Gordon Brown as the leader of a minority government.

Mr Cable also emphasised that a hung parliament would not be bad for the economy, despite the fact that fears of such a possibility led to a sudden fall in the pound last week.

Copyright © 2010 The Press Association. All rights reserved.

Real shame about the sound quality on this – you’ll need to turn it right up – but only posted yesterday so it’s nice and current.

Here’s what some leading journalists working for media of all colours are quoted on the Amazon website as saying:

Cable’s the star of Newsnight’s credit-crunch discussions, the go-to guy for a sagacious economics quote for broadsheets’ front-page leads, the man whom Tory Alan Duncan described as “the holy grail of economic comment these days”.

Stuart Jeffries, Guardian

Everything a politician should be and everything most politicians are not.

Jeff Prestridge, Mail on Sunday

A heavyweight in anybody’s cabinet.

Matthew Parris, The Times

Couldn’t find any books written by Alistair Darling or George Osborne I’m afraid, on economics or anything else come to that… but do let us know if we’ve missed something.