Is Vince planning a palace coup?

Vince Cable  was on the  The Andrew Marr Show in which he went much further than his leader Nick Clegg in accusing  the Conservatives of grubbing for Ukip votes with irresponsible and populist rhetoric reminiscent both of Enoch Powell and prewar antisemitism.

He said the Tories were creating a panic in Britain about the scale of migration from the European Union, saying it was the duty of political leaders to provide reassurance during times of national anxiety.

Cables brandied David Cameron as irresponsible in his pandering for Ukip votes and likening the rhetoric to Enoch Powell's Rivers of Blood speech highly regarded as racist and this at will cause most friction as the coalition seeks to remain a functioning government before the 2015 general election. 

Speaking on the BBC's Andrew Marr programme, Cable said:

 "I think there's a bigger picture here. We periodically get these immigration panics, I remember going back to Enoch Powell and 'rivers of blood' and all that, and if you go back a century there were panics over Jewish immigrants.

But whilst Powell was a Lone Wolf in  at least voicing his appalling views it is the leader of the Tory party ans Prime Minister a man that projected himself as a moderate reformer whose pushing this with the full support of his party


Cable also voiced his concern  for the country's social fabric because of the scale of public spending cuts and for the first time warned there may have to be an increase in interest rates to ease a "raging housing boom" in the south-east.

He said if no action were taken, there was a risk that in parts of London housing would be too expensive for anyone but foreigners and bankers.

 There is a raging housing boom, in London and the south east but not in other parts of the country," he said.
"The danger of raising interest rates is that you hit those parts of the country which are not yet fully recovered, you push up the exchange rate and that hits manufacturing.
"We don't want that. On the other hand, if you do not increase interest rates -– if that is the way the governor and the Bank of England go – then this boom that is taking place in housing prices gets out of control and the only people that can afford to live in large parts of London are foreigners and bankers, and we don't want that either."
"We certainly do need to look at that [Help to Buy] again. I notice that the ratings agency Standard & Poor's is expressing serious concerns on that front. It was conceived in different circumstances."
"We can be proud as a party of what we have done in government, lifting large numbers of low earners out of tax altogether," he continued. "We will argue for a fairere tax system, the Conservatives want to go in the opposite direction. We will be arguing on a very, very distinct agenda on tax when the election comes.

Which makes me wonder is Cable preparing a distinctive voice for his party before the next Election?

Is he envisioning a scenario of  him challenging Clegg for the leadership winning and then pulling the LibDems out  of the Coalition.

But unless the LibDems  were still to back the Tories in a confidence  vote  this would perpetuate  a General Election probably not enough time to remove the toxic effect of the coalition on his party

Quite frankly the only option for him would be to resign from the cabinet and present himself as a leader in waiting. Taking over after the next General Election but then his hopes would ride on the LibDems losing seats hardly something to admit to.

But then with a hung parliament and the LibDems courted for another coalition what would he do.