Vince Cable: Relations with 'bloody minded' Osborne decayed during Coalition

Sir Vince Cable has declared his relationship with George Osborne "decayed" during their time in Government.

The former business secretary said although his relationship with the Chancellor began well, it worsened throughout their five years tied together in Government.

"Relations became increasingly frayed - initially they were very good and then they decayed - partly because I was increasingly disgruntled with some of the ways he was pursuing economic policy," Sir Vince told the Institute for Government.

"I made it clear I didn't agree with it, particularly cuts on capital investment, and he would then retaliate by being bloody minded. So it started off very well but kind of decayed."

Sir Vince also said he had to become "the blocking minister" to stop some legislation going through.

"Towards the end of the Coalition it did get quite ragged and frustrating. But I don't think it was about the mechanics of government, it was the politics.

"Towards the end, we were scrapping the whole time. First of all, I was having to block a lot of stuff the Tories wanted to do for political reasons: immigration, labour relations, strikes, things of that kind...

"The other area was of course endless, endless fights over who gets the credit for things."

He added: "So you've set up a new Catapult, so who opens it, right? And you've no idea the amount of emotional and political energy that goes into fighting over who is going to crack the champagne bottle, and particularly in the last year or two of government that kind of stuff became all-consuming."

Elsewhere former energy secretary Chris Huhne told the Institute for Government the Treasury was mired in difficulties.

"The Treasury needs to be challenged far more often. It's a department that has massive problems; its staff turnover is enormous," the ex-Lib Dem MP said.

"You know, any professional organisation that has a staff turnover like the Treasury's should really be worried."