Cable: I’m not agitating for leadership

After his meteoric rise in the polls, Nick Clegg has been hitting the campaign trail on his own.

This led to speculation that the Lib-Dem leader was finally stepping out of the shadow of his treasury guru Vince Cable.

There were even reports Miriam Gonzalez Durantez, aka Mrs Clegg, had been texting friends to grumble that her husband was being upstaged by his senior colleague.

But in an interview with the Western Morning News, Mr Cable denied talk of a rift, even wondering where the “speculation” was coming from.

“I am absolutely delighted he is now getting the recognition that he deserves.
“It is actually a very good relationship. It has been for a long time – good communication, we don’t have any differences. I am not agitating for his job like Brown and Blair.”

He also urged colleagues to keep calm and carry on.

“We are not getting carried away. Our feet are still firmly on the ground, the significant thing is we have got a hearing.”

The Lib-Dems defend 10 seats in Cornwall, Devon and Somerset which feature high on the Tory target list. The region has been targeted with a multi-million pound Conservative advertising campaign, and has been inundated with visits from senior shadow ministers.
But Mr Cable said “that kind of superficial razz-a-matazz doesn’t have much impact” in an area where the Lib-Dems have a track record on which to campaign.