‘Coalition of chaos’ warning as Cable tells Lib Dems to vote Labour
Conservatives accuse party of ‘scheming’ to help Corbyn into power by urging tactical voting
SIR VINCE CABLE has been accused of helping Jeremy Corbyn form a “coalition of chaos” after a secret recording emerged of him urging Liberal Democrats to vote for Labour candidates in seats where they can stop the Tories.
The former business secretary told a meeting of party members to vote tactically at next month’s general election, comments that appear to put him at odds with his leader, Tim Farron, who ruled out any form of coalition with the Tories or Labour.
Sir Vince, who is standing in his old seat in Twickenham, was recorded urging voters to back Rupa Huq, Labour’s candidate in Ealing Central.
In the recording obtained by Sky News and LBC radio, he said: “There’s value in a good relationship with people in other parties, and I particularly met a lot of people on the Labour side whose views are very close to mine.
“I’ll just give one example – there’s Rupa Huq who’s the candidate in Ealing I think. Purely by coincidence I found myself, I think it was on Any Questions, or one of those programmes, in Warwick a few months ago, and I gave her a lift home back to Ealing.
“We talked for a couple of hours, and it was very clear that on almost every issue our views were almost identical. And so I would find it difficult to vote against somebody like that, and I hope that our people around the country are discriminating and think and act in a constructive way.”
Sarah Olney, the Richmond Park MP for the Liberal Democrats, is also heard saying: “We know that we want Rupa to win in Ealing.
“Being tactical isn’t just about standing down or voting for the right candidates, it also can be about paper candidates, but not campaigning.”
Patrick Mcloughlin, the Conservative Party chairman, said: “The threat of Jeremy Corbyn making it to Downing Street propped up by a coalition of chaos is very real – and these recordings show the Lib Dems are scheming to make it happen.”
Yesterday Sadiq Khan, the Mayor of London, said Mr Corbyn’s position on Brexit was “unclear” to the public.
Mr Khan told the New Statesman: “Everyone’s clear about my position in London, you know where you stand with the Tories – extreme hard Brexit; you know where you stand with the Lib Dems: they wish the referendum had never happened and want a second one.
“People are less clear about Labour’s position nationally.”