It takes two to tango ? but can Vince Cable and Lib Dem ministers stay in step with the Tories?

The Conservative right has been incensed by their coalition partners' incautious comments ? and more hurdles are ahead

Hunched and bowed after the humiliation of a public dressing down from David Cameron, Vince Cable looked a lonely figure as he trudged up his garden path last Tuesday evening, tracked by television cameras.

Only hours earlier, the business secretary had been stripped by the prime minister of responsibility for dealing with media matters, having boasted to two young undercover female reporters that he had "declared war on Rupert Murdoch".

As he opened his front door, Cable, 67, would have been relieved to see, hovering in the hallway, the welcoming figure of his wife, Rachel, who put her arms around him before closing the door to the world outside. It was an isolated and touching scene in the midst of a week that had shown, by contrast, how uncomfortable Cable and other Lib Dem ministers feel in their political marriage with the Tories.

Cable had spoken injudiciously to the reporters, who had pretended to be constituents, about his attempts to block the media tycoon's takeover of BSkyB, of which he already has partial ownership. He also told them he had the power to bring the coalition down ? to wreck the marriage ? if he or the Lib Dems were pushed too far.

All week the Daily Telegraph exposed the agonised musings of other Lib Dems, taped during what they thought were private sessions with constituents.

Michael Moore, the Scottish secretary, was outed for saying that the scrapping of child benefit for higher rate earners was "blatantly not a consistent and fair thing to do". He also confessed that the decision to break his pre-election pledge and back a tripling of tuition fees had been the "worst crime a politician can commit, the reason why most folk distrust us as a breed".

David Heath, Lib Dem deputy leader of the Commons, said George Osborne had the capacity "to get up one's nose", while Andrew Stunell, the local government minister, said he did not know where Cameron stood on "the sincerity monitor". And so it went on.

The immediate reaction at Westminster was to think that the Telegraph's string of stories had destabilised the coalition by lifting the lid on the tensions that make its existence so fragile.

Labour leader Ed Miliband trained his guns on the thematic target that he and his new team of media advisers already had in their sights. Keen to woo disgruntled Lib Dems and isolate their leader, Clegg, from the body of his party, Miliband said the indiscretions showed how Lib Dems were "locked in the boot" of a "Tory-led coalition", kicking and screaming but unable to get out. "Come to us, where you will feel more at home" was his message.

From the opposite wing of the coalition, the already-unhappy Tory right voiced fears that Cameron would, from now on, feel ever-more inclined to give ground to the Lib Dems over issues such as Europe and constitutional reform, to keep them on board.

One Tory rightwinger told the Observer the right would battle the Tory leader if that was the case. "I never thought this coalition would work, and this convinces me even more that I was right. There is a very strong sense that the tail is wagging the dog," he said.

Christopher Chope, a senior Tory backbencher told the BBC: "When we get into the new year, the prime minister will have to assess whether propping up the Liberal Democrats is in the long-term best interests of the Conservative party and the country."

But views about the fallout varied wildly. An alternative response from loyal Tories and Lib Dems was that it might all amount to a positive release of tension.

One young Tory MP said: "None of this surprises me except that people are surprised. The rattling bits were already rattling and people knew that. My instinct is that it will unify the unified parts more."

There is talk of young Tory MPs and Lib Dems from the new intake (those who entered parliament in May) forming a loyalist group in the new year to show that the coalition is firm.

At their joint press conference in Downing Street last Tuesday, held as the media digested Cable's comments about his potential to destroy the coalition, the body language of Cameron and Clegg was telling. Cameron leant in relaxed fashion on his podium while Clegg stood tense and upright.

With his party's poll rating hitting just 8% last week, it is easy to see why he would have felt more under strain. The truth is, however, that the Telegraph's multiple sting has left both leaders with an identical dilemma.

Now that disagreements inside the coalition have been made so public, how do they manage them from now on in the interests of stability?

With tricky political challenges ahead ? the Oldham and Saddleworth by-election on 13 January; votes on control orders, the scrapping of which was a Lib Dem priority; the local and Scottish and Welsh elections; the referendum on the alternative vote in May ? do they make a merit of creative tension and disagreement from now on, because it is impossible to cover up, or do they seek to put a lid on it? Clegg, who wants Lib Dems to "own the coalition" and not endlessly list their own victories and "trophies", clearly believes they must do the latter.

Paul Goodman, a former Tory frontbencher now working for the ConservativeHome website, agrees: "I think that with the modern media, trying to have a public conversation would lead to endless reports about splits and it would become impossible."

But many in Clegg's party disagree. The coalition's real difficulty is that even on the issue of how to manage their own division, they are split.

"We need to show ourselves being pretty robust," said one senior Lib Dem. "If we don't, we lose the party. We need to shout more about our achievements." He cited the example of a senior official in the German FDP party, the right-of- centre liberals who used to start the week, when his party was in coalition with the Christian Democrats, by asking "what are we going to have a big public row about this week?"

The Lib Dem added: "The difficulty is that in this country the public, the media and the politicians are all very new to coalitions. Somehow we have got to get used to them and we are not there yet."

Toby Helm

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