Cable in secret talks with Blair ally over new Lib-Lab pact
SIR VINCE Cable has held secret talks with a former aide to Tony Blair on the possibility of forming a new Lib-Lab alliance to counter Brexit – and Jeremy Corbyn.
The Lib Dem leader discussed the idea of a new political ‘configuration’ over dinner last month with Philip Collins, a speechwriter for Mr Blair when he was Prime Minister.
In March, respected Times pundit Mr Collins, a fierce Labour critic of Jeremy Corbyn, said Labour and the Lib Dems shared much of the same history and ideology and their refusal to get together made no sense. It was time to tear down the ‘wall of vanity’ that divided them, he suggested.
The revelation comes amid growing speculation at Westminster that one or more new parties could be launched in the next year or two owing to deep splits in the main two parties. It also solves the mystery of why Sir Vince missed a vital Commons vote on Brexit in July.
The disclosure also comes ahead of a major cross-party, anti-Brexit rally in Bristol on Saturday, which the Lib Dem leader will address.
It was originally reported that Sir Vince attended a dinner where the creation of a new anti-Brexit party was discussed. At the time, Sir Vince said he had had ‘confidential discussions’ but refused to give more details or say who he had been plotting with. The Mail on Sunday has established he met Mr Collins and other senior political figures and discussed a ‘reconfiguration of British politics and the different groups fighting Brexit’.
Sources suggested any new alliance would be very different from the famous Lib-Lab pact formed briefly in the late 1970s to prop up the Labour Government before it was ousted by Margaret Thatcher
Over the last year, Mr Collins has suggested several possible new political groupings, ranging from a Lib-Lab alliance to a breakaway moderate Labour Party, and Conservatives and Labour working together.
The prospect of a renewed Lib-Lab deal has seemed unlikely after Nick Clegg’s Lib Dems joined David Cameron’s Coalition Government.
However, in his March article Mr Collins argued this could be overcome by the historic ‘proximity’ of Labour and Liberal MPs – including more recently on issues such as the ‘mansion tax, multiculturalism and globalisation’.
He continued: ‘For the most part, Lib Dems think of themselves as more on the Left than the Right.
‘If anything, these days the Lib Dems are more the Labour Party than Labour,’ he wrote.
‘The trend of British politics makes an alliance between Labour and the Lib Dems a rational proposition.’
The main problem was mutual hatred: ‘There is nobody a Labour activist likes to disparage more than a Liberal Democrat. It is the most puzzling and tenacious antipathy in politics. The walls between parties are high and very few ever attempt to scale them. Rational co-operation will only ever happen once those walls are torn down.’
He said ‘cutting deals’ was ‘second nature’ to the Liberal Democrats.
In April he set out key targets to ensure any new party ‘would fly,’ adding revealingly: ‘Those plotting a realignment in politics see the hurdles but are confident it can happen before the next General Election.’
Mr Collins has urged moderate Labour MPs to ‘have the guts’ to form a ‘breakaway group before it is too late.’
In December 2017, he appeared to be promoting a Lab-Con pact, writing that an ‘assault’ was coming on the two-party system. He suggested the current political model was broken and the Labour Right and Conservative Left would eventually see that they belonged together.
He has not always been flattering about his dining companion Sir Vince.
A year ago Mr Collins said: ‘Looking like losers can help Cable’s Lib Dems.’
Sir Vince declined to comment last night.