Cable should not remain Business Secretary

Tim Montgomerie

The Anti-Business Secretary cannot stay in post. In normal circumstances he would resign or be sacked but his departure from the frontbench might create imbalance in the Cabinet and a dangerous big beast on Nick Clegg's backbenches.

We learnt this morning that Mr Cable was very indiscreet. This afternoon's revelations prove that he is biased against Rupert Murdoch and is unfit to judge NewsCorp's bid to take full control of BSkyB. At the very least he must recuse himself from the BSkyB decision but ideally Cameron should use the opportunity to reshape his government and deal with his other problem; Ken Clarke.

Ken Clarke should become Business Secretary and - at the same time - lose responsibility for prisons where he is taking the Coalition down a dangerous path.

Jeremy Hunt could become Justice Secretary and Cable could move to Culture, Media and Sport (where he wouldn't rule on BSkyB).

In an ideal world David Laws would return but he cannot do so until he has been exonerated by the Parliamentary Commissioner for Standards.

5.15pm: Pat Hennessy suggests a simpler move; Andrew Mitchell to Business and Jeremy Browne to DFID.

7pm from the BBC: "Business Secretary Vince Cable will stay in cabinet despite "declaring war" on Rupert Murdoch, says Downing Street. But he will be stripped of his powers to rule on Mr Murdoch's bid to take control of BSkyB, which will be handed to Culture Secretary Jeremy Hunt. Downing Street said David Cameron believed Mr Cable's comments about Mr Murdoch were "totally unacceptable and inappropriate". Labour said Mr Cable was a "lame duck" with "no credibilty"."