Vince Cable is the latest politician to fall foul of being recorded without his knowledge. Already, there has been a rush to perform damage control; Mr Cable has had to apologise and his embarrassment has been well-documented by the 24 hour news cycle. David Cameron and Nick Clegg have both been forced to repudiate his remarks, with Cameron saying he has "every reason to be apologetic".
In the conversations recorded by undercover Daily Telegraph reporters, Mr Cable was heard to say that he was, paraphrasing, "going to war" with Rupert Murdoch and his company NewsCorp, in its bid to become the majority shareholder in BSkyB. This poses a problem, since the business secretary was to have the final say in the ruling surrounding Murdoch's bid; he is, after all, supposed to appear impartial in such matters.
Today, Leader of the Opposition Ed Miliband, has argued that progressive liberalism cannot sit with traditional Tory policies in this coalition.
This is one of many contradictions in a Coalition government which has, since May, introduced some of the most sweeping reforms to welfare, health, education that this country has seen since the immediate aftermath of the Second World War.
Since it's inception, this coalition has tried to maintain an ideological neutrality which is proving difficult to keep up. It is not New Labour, this we are reminded of every week, whenever the financial crisis or the deficit is brought up; nor is it Thatcherite, lest it be associated with a certain hard-headedness, for which Margaret Thatcher's Tories are now historically famous. New politics is liberal and Conservative, the two are interchangeable; indeed many a joke has been made about Cameron and Clegg being somehow doubles of one another.
Yet, in its policies, this government has had to reconcile this New Politics with what it is asking the public to accept. Higher education is to become a market like never before, under the belief that this will raise standards. The NHS is to become liberalised, with the belief that GPs who have complete autonomy over all aspects of their practice will, likewise, become more efficient providers of care.
It will, however, be the government who has the final say on what is "efficient". Michael Gove's "free schools" policy, whilst representing a liberalisation of the current state school system, has a strangely authoritarian tone in its desire to close down failing schools, and implement another top down reform of the school curriculum.
This contradiction is perhaps best evident in the banks; Cable being a proponent of more punitive measures against the City banks, whilst Osborne is fearful of driving their business elsewhere.
Government may find it in an interesting position as this decade unfolds; the financial crisis took place against the backdrop of an increasingly globalised market. It was the markets that got us in this situation; in following the policies it has, this government has chosen to roll the dice and trust that, ultimately, the market will get us out of it.
