Labour grandees accuse coalition of hijacking AV debate

Alan Johnson and Lord Mandelson claim that attention has been diverted from the real issues in the campaign

Two Labour grandees have accused the coalition of hijacking the AV debate to air its "petty tensions" and cynically turn it into a bitter row between the Conservatives and Liberal Democrats, after a series of high-profile clashes between ministers over next week's referendum.

Alan Johnson, the former home secretary, told the Guardian that the debate was "bigger than the Liberal Democrats" and appealed to Labour voters to back the alternative vote, claiming that a vote against reform was in effect a vote for the Conservatives.

Lord Mandelson, the former cabinet minister, claimed the prime minister had adopted a high profile role in the no campaign to divert attention away from a debate about AV.

The cabinet will meet for the first time after the Easter recess on Tuesday, with coalition relations at a new low. On Saturday, Vince Cable, the business secretary, appealed to Labour voters to back AV to end Tory domination, and on Sunday Nick Clegg accused David Cameron of being part of "a rightwing clique who want to keep things the way they are".

The row culminated with the energy secretary, Chris Huhne, suggesting he may take legal action against some of the claims made by Tories during their campaign against AV.

Johnson told the Guardian: "The issue in this referendum is bigger than the Lib Dems or petty tensions in the coalition. People don't care who is going to sue who, but people do want a better politics and what we should be doing is debating just how AV will improve our politics.

"The no camp love these squabbles because it does their job for them. What Labour voters need to ask is who wants them to vote no most. It's the Tories. They are bankrolling the no campaign because they know they have most to lose from a fairer voting system."

In an interview with the Independent, Mandelson said: "Labour people need to question why Cameron is suddenly so desperate for a no vote. Because a yes vote would send the Tories into convulsions and greatly weaken him. Rightwing Tories have already been gravely warning it would make Cameron a 'lost leader'. That is something Labour supporters should bear in mind as they consider their vote."

Menzies Campbell, the former leader of the Lib Dems, has warned against ministers letting AV become the issue that breaks the coalition, suggesting that the Tories could be using the row to distance themselves from their government partners in order to curry favour with disgruntled backbenchers.

"Perhaps they will be satisfied by the notion that David Cameron is not rolling over in front of Nick Clegg," he told the BBC.

"Remember, this is a five-year agreement in a five-year parliament. The public would find themselves, I think, pretty cynical, if after a period of 12 months or 15 months, this were all to fall apart. But more to the point, the national interest, in whose name this coalition was forged, would be deeply, deeply damaged."

But the row appears to be rumbling on. Mark Pritchard, the secretary of the Conservative 1922 committee, said: "Nick Clegg and Chris Huhne should stop their whingeing. With each of them presiding over major government departments, they've never had it so good.

"Their personal and political sacrifices are infinitesimal compared to those made by the hundreds of public sector workers losing their jobs each week and many Conservative colleagues who gave up ministerial office for the sake of the coalition."

The Labour leadership sought to stay out of the growing row between the coalition partners ? Labour MPs are divided between the yes and no camps ? but a source in the leader's office questioned whether the coalition could continue after such public displays of division.

"The key issue is going to be after 5 May: how are they, as a government based on political convenience rather than principle, going to be coherent and functional having been through this," the source said.

"They are going to have to pretend that everything is hunky dory in the rose garden again."

Downing Street sources from both coalition partners said they always expected the AV campaign to become "feisty", but insisted that they could regroup after the referendum, regardless of the result ? as they had done when they formed the coalition after the acrimonious election campaign.

The Electoral Commission confirmed there was no law governing claims made during referendum campaigns, meaning that Huhne's threat of legal action is unlikely to go ahead.

On Tuesday the no campaign will seek to prove its cross-party credentials when the culture secretary, Jeremy Hunt, takes part in telephone campaigning alongside the former foreign secretary Margaret Beckett to campaign against AV.

Polly Curtis

guardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2011 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds