Peter Hoskin

The Lib Dems, breaking doors in anger

This one, from the Mail on Sunday, needs adding to the scrapbook:

“Colchester MP Bob Russell’s fury over the Coalition’s housing benefit cuts boiled over at a stormy private meeting with the Deputy Prime Minister. To the astonishment of fellow Lib Dem MPs, it ended with Mr Russell storming out and slamming the Commons’ committee room door behind him. Witnesses said last night: ‘He took the door off its hinges.’ In a bizarre twist, Mr Russell’s ally and fellow Lib Dem MP Mike Hancock – himself a fierce critic of Mr Clegg – tried to spare his colleague’s blushes by creeping back the following morning to repair the door before Commons authorities noticed it was even damaged.”

Even though they have hardened their position over the past few days, and have the public largely behind them, this is by no means a dormant issue for Cameron and Clegg. Russell used a question at last week’s PMQs to attack the coalition’s housing benefit cuts – and now this. After a notably quiet few weeks, there are now a few signs of simmering discontent on the Lib Dem backbenches.

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