Heated cabinet row over AV ‘smears’

Coalition tensions rise over what could be crushing victory for no campaign in Thursday’s referendum on alternative vote Coalition tensions over what could be a crushing victory for the no campaign in Thursday’s referendum on the alternative vote have exploded into extraordinary scenes in cabinet , with the Liberal Democrat energy secretary, Chris Huhne, confronting David Cameron and George Osborne over campaign leaflets that he believed smeared Nick Clegg. During the ensuing row, Osborne said he was not going to be challenged by a cabinet colleague acting as if he was “Jeremy Paxman on Newsnight”. In tense exchanges, leaked by Conservative sources within an hour of the cabinet meeting, Huhne demanded to know if Cameron would disassociate himself from the leaflets issued by the no campaign that he said had smeared Clegg’s leadership of the Lib Dems. He challenged the prime minister to sack any Conservative official linked to this literature, which said Clegg had broken promises. Cameron replied that he was not responsible for the all-party no campaign literature. Huhne then asked the chancellor whether he had any knowledge of the literature. Osborne apparently replied that this was always going to be a difficult period for the coalition. When Huhne again asked him to explain if he had known of the leaflets, Osborne complained that cabinet was not the right venue for this discussion before making his Paxman remark. Huhne then suggested that people would draw their own conclusions from the pair’s failure to condemn such smears on the deputy prime minister. Huhne did not consult Nick Clegg before his demarche and defended his role in the confrontation. “I think these have been unacceptable leaflets,” he said. “In any other walk of life such behaviour would be seen as nasty, personal and vindictive.” He added: “The home secretary Theresa May used to characterise the Tory party as the nasty party and this episode shows it has a way to go to before it achieves full rehabilitation. The underhand tactics show how desperate the political establishment is to hang on to power.” Huhne’s increasingly bitter public attacks on his coalition colleagues, including such a direct challenge to the prime minister, were dismissed as a yes campaign stunt by Tory sources. The row also angered parts of the all-party yes campaign that saw the inter-party row as a distraction from its final push message, as well as an attempt to highlight the no campaign’s failure to disclose all its funding. One yes campaign spokesman said: “Nothing Huhne has done has been authorised by us, or been helpful to us. The difficulty from day one was that we didn’t want the referendum seen through the prism of the coalition.” A ComRes poll published by the Independent on Tuesday showed the no camp romping home by a massive 66% to 35% among those saying they were certain to vote. Yes campaigners sensed defeat was inevitable. Meanwhile the yes campaign published an appeal signed by Ed Miliband, David Miliband, Lord Ashdown, Gordon Brown, Nick Clegg and two-thirds of the shadow cabinet calling for a yes vote. Ed Miliband also made his most explicit appeal for a yes vote on the basis that it could help nurture an anti-Tory progressive alliance in the country. Labour has always been at its best when it been a force for political reform. Writing for Comment is Free, he said: “If you believe this is a big C conservative country then perhaps you will believe that when forced to choose and elect someone with more than 50% of the vote, it will aid the right. “But if you believe that this is a genuinely progressive country, then we need an electoral system that can reflect the views of the electorate and give expression to the anti-conservative majority.” But the former Labour cabinet minister Lord Boateng lambasted the appeal for a progressive left. “The irony is overwhelming Lib Dem cabinet ministers trying to unite the left while they prop up a Conservative government implementing Conservative policies. If the Lib Dems find the Tories so distasteful you have to ask why they continue in government then.” John Healey, the shadow health secretary, also shared a platform with May to say the only reason the referendum was being held was because the alternative vote “gives the Liberal Democrats an open return to power, gives the Lib Dems a way into government election after election, and gives the Lib Dems a shield against loss of support”. Huhne insisted he was not planning to resign, adding whatever the Liberal Democrats do after the results come in on Friday will be done as a team. Huhne is known to want the coalition to continue, but is understood to believe personal trust between the parties has been lost irrevocably. One source said: “From now we will be consulting the lawyers first when we are offered an agreement by our coalition partners.” Support for a more businesslike approach towards the coalition is also coming from another Lib Dem cabinet minister, Vince Cable. Cameron will deny he is making any explicit concessions, but there are already signs he is backtracking on health, public services reform and the speed with which he brings in elected police commissioners. AV referendum Alternative vote Liberal-Conservative coalition Patrick Wintour guardian.co.uk

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