AV referendum: Chris Huhne in Cabinet 'bust-up' with David Cameron and George Osborne in Cabinet over voting reform leaflets
The fractious Coalition split over voting reform led to a Cabinet confrontation yesterday when the Liberal Democrat Energy Secretary attacked David Cameron and George Osborne over the tactics being used by the ‘No’ campaign.
Mr Clegg will claim that AV would give voters more power over politicians and reduce the number of safe seats in which MPs have a constituency for life Photo: GETTY
By Christopher Hope and Rosa Prince 4:13PM BST 03 May 2011
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The fractious Coalition split over voting reform led to a Cabinet confrontation yesterday when the Liberal Democrat Energy Secretary attacked David Cameron and George Osborne over the tactics being used by the ‘No’ campaign.
Chris Huhne expressed his anger with the Prime Minister and Chancellor over claims made by the ‘No’ campaign in leaflets published ahead of this Thursday’s referendum on whether to adopt the Alternative Vote system.
Some sources described a "bit of a bust up" as the Energy secretary "went for" Mr Cameron and Mr Osborne.
The Daily Telegraph understands that Mr Huhne waved the ‘No to AV’ leaflets at the pair at the beginning of yesterday’s Cabinet meeting in Downing Street and protested about their content.
One Liberal Democrat source said that Mr Huhne wanted to raise concerns “felt by lots of Liberal Democrat supporters on the Yes side” about the No campaign.
The source added: “Sometimes a frank ‘clear the air’ discussion about things that people feel strongly about are helpful rather than damaging. Political discussions have happened before in Cabinet.”
The source added: “He was confronting his colleagues about that. The discussion was whether it was appropriate to do that in Cabinet.”
As the row became heated, Mr Osborne told Mr Huhne that the row was inappropriate: "This is the Cabinet, not some sub-Jeremy Paxman interview."
A Downing Street spokesman said AV “was raised in the context of Parliamentary business” but would not be drawn on whether it was considered appropriate.
The Energy secretary confronted the Prime Minister and Chancellor over the No campaign’s claims in leaflets published ahead of Thursday’s referendum.
The row further raises the tension ahead of the referendum on whether to scrap the current first past the post voting system and replace it with the Alternative Vote.
The issue has split the coalition - the Conservatives want to keep first-past-the-post while the Liberal Democrats backing the campaign for the alternative vote.
Mr Huhne, one of the most vocal critics of the No campaign’s tactics, last month compared claims made by his cabinet colleague Baroness Warsi to Nazi propaganda.
Speaking on BBC Radio on Tuesday, Lady Warsi said Mr Huhne’s suggestion she had resorted to a “Goebbels-like” propaganda was “a choice that Chris made”.
She told BBC Radio Four’s World at One programme: “It’s not the language I would have used. And I’m not sure that many of his own Liberal Democrat colleagues agree with the language that he used.”
Later at a Westminster rally organised by the No Campaign, Theresa May, the Home Secretary, complained that there had been too much “name calling” during the campaign.
She said: “For a referendum that is about the health of our democracy it is fair to say that the campaign has been a bit of a disappointment.”
John Healey, the Labour health spokesman, said he was opposing his own party leader Ed Miliband and opposing change because it was “not fair” and “not fit for purpose”.
He told supporters of the No campaign: “The more people look at AV, the less they like it… The principle of one person, one vote is what makes our democracy fair.”
At the same rally, Lord Owen, the former Labour foreign secretary and founder of the SDP, the forerunner of the Lib Dems, criticised Nick Clegg for not “waiting until the Coalition had proved itself” before having the referendum.
Meanwhile, with the No campaign leading in the polls, senior figures in the Yes campaign sought to blame each other for the likely loss of the referendum.
In a press conference in London, Ed Miliband claimed Mr Clegg had been detrimental to their shared cause.
He said: "Nick Clegg has not been a help to this AV campaign because there is a danger that too many people see it ... as a referendum on Nick Clegg.
"I urge them not to see it as a referendum on Nick Clegg or David Cameron or me but as a chance to change our voting system for the better."
Harriet Harman, Labour's deputy leader, said Mr Clegg had been “duped” by Mr Cameron into holding the referendum on the day of local elections in England, and elections to the Scottish Parliament and Welsh and Northern Ireland Assemblies, which meant that party political infighting continued during the campaign.
She said: "It should have been allowed a separate space where everyone could focus on the constitutional issues and not have it seen through the prism of a very immediate competition for council seats and seats in Wales and Scotland.
“He has been duped by Cameron into allowing it to be held on this day.”
Earlier Mr Cameron had distanced himself from the official No to AV campaign's controversial posters which used images of a sick baby.
They also suggested the cost of introducing an AV system could be up to £250m - something the Yes camp disputes.
He told BBC Radio 4's Today's programme he was “directly responsible” only for the official Conservative Party no campaign but he stood by the No campaign's claims.
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