Tweet
3 May 2011
Last updated at 08:57 ET
Chris Huhne confronted the prime minister at a Cabinet meeting over the No campaign's claims in the alternative vote referendum, the BBC understands.
Sources said the energy secretary challenged David Cameron to defend statements made by the No campaign.
One source said: "There was a bit of a bust up. Chris Huhne went for the PM and the chancellor over AV."
Voters will be asked on Thursday whether they want to change the voting system for UK-wide elections.
The issue has split the coalition - the Conservatives want to keep first-past-the-post while the Liberal Democrats are supporting the Yes campaign for the alternative vote.
The BBC's deputy political editor James Landale said the confrontation between Mr Huhne and Mr Cameron happened at a cabinet meeting on Tuesday morning.
But he said other sources suggested it felt like a "deliberate stunt by the Yes campaign" and that Mr Huhne had not been supported by anyone else in the cabinet.
'Goebbels-like campaign' Lib Dem minister Mr Huhne has repeatedly criticised the No campaign's tactics - threatening legal action and comparing claims made by cabinet colleague Baroness Warsi to Nazi propaganda.
But at a No camp rally later former Labour minister Lord Boateng will accuse Mr Huhne, a former Lib Dem leadership candidate, of "highlighting his own political ambitions" and making a "crude bid for Labour support".
Continue reading the main story “Start Quote
Conservative co-chairman Baroness Warsi told BBC Radio 4's World at One that Mr Huhne's suggestion she had resorted to a "Goebbels-like" propaganda was "a choice that Chris made".
"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."
Both Mr Cameron and Lib Dem leader Nick Clegg have said they had hoped politicians would not have had to take such a prominent role in the vote change campaign.
And Labour leader Ed Miliband said earlier he hoped it would not be seen as a "referendum on Nick Clegg, David Cameron or Ed Miliband".
'Very likely' Earlier Mr Cameron distanced himself from the official No to AV campaign's controversial posters which used images of a sick baby and suggested the cost of introducing an AV system could be up to £250m - something the Yes camp disputes.
Continue reading the main story THE REFERENDUM CHOICE
At the moment MPs are elected by the first-past-the-post system, where the candidate getting the most votes in a constituency is elected.
On 5 May all registered UK voters will be able to vote Yes or No on whether to change the way MPs are elected to the Alternative Vote system.
Under the alternative vote system, voters rank candidates in their constituency in order of preference.
Anyone getting more than 50% of first-preference votes is elected.
If no-one gets 50% of votes, the candidate with the fewest votes is eliminated and their backers' second choices allocated to those remaining.
This process continues until one candidate has at least 50% of all votes in that round.
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 AV would "very likely" mean electronic counting machines would have to be purchased.
Asked to condemn posters suggesting babies and soldiers' lives would be put at risk if AV was introduced, he said: "I choose to support my own campaign, which has not made that argument but the fact is if you move to a new voting system it will cost money."
In a separate interview Deputy PM Mr Clegg told the BBC that "perhaps naively" he had expected the referendum campaign not to feature politicians so prominently, and he and Mr Cameron could take a more "standoffish" stance.
Labour leader Ed Miliband said he did not accept that the AV result was a "foregone conclusion" - amid opinion polls suggestions that the Yes campaign is heading for defeat - adding: "Let's see what happens on Thursday."
He also defended his decision to refuse to share a Yes campaign platform with Nick Clegg due to his perceived unpopularity with voters: "There's a reason the no campaign want to make Nick Clegg the poster child for their campaign."
The Yes campaign is trailing in the opinion polls, with a survey by The Sunday Times/YouGov putting them 10 points behind - a narrowing of the poll before that, which put them 18 points behind.
But campaigners for changing the electoral system insist it is still all to play for, with turnout in different parts of the country likely to prove crucial.
The No campaign also believes turnout will be all-important. A spokesman said: "At this stage no one can be certain what the turnout is going to be like and it is about getting out your vote."
Powered By WizardRSS.com | Full Text RSS Feed | Amazon Plugin | Hud Settlement Statement
Sources said the energy secretary challenged David Cameron to defend statements made by the No campaign.
One source said: "There was a bit of a bust up. Chris Huhne went for the PM and the chancellor over AV."
Voters will be asked on Thursday whether they want to change the voting system for UK-wide elections.
The issue has split the coalition - the Conservatives want to keep first-past-the-post while the Liberal Democrats are supporting the Yes campaign for the alternative vote.
The BBC's deputy political editor James Landale said the confrontation between Mr Huhne and Mr Cameron happened at a cabinet meeting on Tuesday morning.
But he said other sources suggested it felt like a "deliberate stunt by the Yes campaign" and that Mr Huhne had not been supported by anyone else in the cabinet.
'Goebbels-like campaign' Lib Dem minister Mr Huhne has repeatedly criticised the No campaign's tactics - threatening legal action and comparing claims made by cabinet colleague Baroness Warsi to Nazi propaganda.
But at a No camp rally later former Labour minister Lord Boateng will accuse Mr Huhne, a former Lib Dem leadership candidate, of "highlighting his own political ambitions" and making a "crude bid for Labour support".
Continue reading the main story “Start Quote
It's not the language I would have used.”
End Quote
Baroness Warsi
Conservative co-chairman
Conservative co-chairman Baroness Warsi told BBC Radio 4's World at One that Mr Huhne's suggestion she had resorted to a "Goebbels-like" propaganda was "a choice that Chris made".
"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."
Both Mr Cameron and Lib Dem leader Nick Clegg have said they had hoped politicians would not have had to take such a prominent role in the vote change campaign.
And Labour leader Ed Miliband said earlier he hoped it would not be seen as a "referendum on Nick Clegg, David Cameron or Ed Miliband".
'Very likely' Earlier Mr Cameron distanced himself from the official No to AV campaign's controversial posters which used images of a sick baby and suggested the cost of introducing an AV system could be up to £250m - something the Yes camp disputes.
Continue reading the main story THE REFERENDUM CHOICE
At the moment MPs are elected by the first-past-the-post system, where the candidate getting the most votes in a constituency is elected.
On 5 May all registered UK voters will be able to vote Yes or No on whether to change the way MPs are elected to the Alternative Vote system.
Under the alternative vote system, voters rank candidates in their constituency in order of preference.
Anyone getting more than 50% of first-preference votes is elected.
If no-one gets 50% of votes, the candidate with the fewest votes is eliminated and their backers' second choices allocated to those remaining.
This process continues until one candidate has at least 50% of all votes in that round.
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 AV would "very likely" mean electronic counting machines would have to be purchased.
Asked to condemn posters suggesting babies and soldiers' lives would be put at risk if AV was introduced, he said: "I choose to support my own campaign, which has not made that argument but the fact is if you move to a new voting system it will cost money."
In a separate interview Deputy PM Mr Clegg told the BBC that "perhaps naively" he had expected the referendum campaign not to feature politicians so prominently, and he and Mr Cameron could take a more "standoffish" stance.
Labour leader Ed Miliband said he did not accept that the AV result was a "foregone conclusion" - amid opinion polls suggestions that the Yes campaign is heading for defeat - adding: "Let's see what happens on Thursday."
He also defended his decision to refuse to share a Yes campaign platform with Nick Clegg due to his perceived unpopularity with voters: "There's a reason the no campaign want to make Nick Clegg the poster child for their campaign."
The Yes campaign is trailing in the opinion polls, with a survey by The Sunday Times/YouGov putting them 10 points behind - a narrowing of the poll before that, which put them 18 points behind.
But campaigners for changing the electoral system insist it is still all to play for, with turnout in different parts of the country likely to prove crucial.
The No campaign also believes turnout will be all-important. A spokesman said: "At this stage no one can be certain what the turnout is going to be like and it is about getting out your vote."
Powered By WizardRSS.com | Full Text RSS Feed | Amazon Plugin | Hud Settlement Statement