Cable: My ‘nuclear option’
Vince Cable makes his unguarded comments to undercover Telegraph journalists, and subsequently expresses his embarrassment:
[Recorded meeting] “I have a nuclear option, it’s like fighting a war. They know I have nuclear weapons, but I don’t have any conventional weapons. If they push me too far then I can walk out of the government and bring the government down and they know that.”
“We are trying to do too many things, actually. Some of them are Lib Dem inspired, but a lot of it is Tory inspired. The problem is not that they are Tory inspired, but that they haven’t thought them through. We should be putting a brake on them.
“I’ve been involved in a big battle over immigration caps and I have won that argument. That was mainly with the Conservative colleagues, but I had some allies like Oliver Letwin [Tory Cabinet Office minister].”
[In response to the disclosure of the comments]: “Naturally, I am embarrassed by these comments and I regret them.
“I have no intention of leaving the government. I am proud of what it is achieving and will continue to play my full part in delivering the priorities I and my party believe in, which are enshrined in the coalition agreement.”
