Will Cable star in Coalition II?

VINCE CABLE is plotting a dramatic return to Government.

After the Lib Dems’ disastrous 2015 Election performance, Tim Farron and other senior colleagues vowed their party would not enter into a new coalition deal with Labour or the Conservatives. But according to friends of Cable, pictured, he is contemplating a formal reversal of that position.

‘Vince is 74,’ an ally tells me, ‘and he’s impatient. There are things he wants to do for the country and he doesn’t want to spend the next 20 years inching towards power. He thinks that if we want to be relevant as a party, then we have to be prepared to serve.’ I’m told his thinking on the issue has firmed up over the past week, as Tory infighting has reopened the possibility of an early Election. ‘The Government could collapse at any time,’ an insider said, ‘and we need to be ready.’ If Cable does shift his party’s stance, he will leave open the possibility of a deal with Jeremy Corbyn, Theresa May or her successor. When Cable claimed he could be the next PM he was roundly mocked. But if there’s another hung parliament, he could have the last laugh.