More Lib Dems caught off guard

London: More Liberal Democrat ministers have been exposed yesterday as harbouring serious doubts about the fairness of important aspects of coalition policies, especially the trebling of tuition fees and the withdrawal of child benefit from higher-rate taxpayers.

The revelations following Vince Cable's embarrassing indiscretions about the coalition and his self-declared war on Rupert Murdoch will be seen as a sign that some Lib Dem ministers express loyalty to coalition policies in public, but then distance themselves when speaking in what they regard as private conversations with constituents.

Michael Moore, the Scottish secretary, said cutting child benefit for higher-rate taxpayers was "blatantly not a consistent and fair thing to do", while the business minister Ed Davey said he was "gobsmacked" by the decision. Steve Webb, the pensions minister, revealed he had written to George Osborne seeking changes to the policy because "the details aren't right".

In undercover recordings released by the Daily Telegraph yesterday Moore, the Berwickshire MP, describes the increase in tuition fees to a maximum £9,000 (Dh44,100) as "the biggest, ugliest, most horrific thing in all of this a car crash, a train wreck".

Pledge

Speaking to reporters posing as constituents, Moore said: "I signed a pledge that promised not to do this. I've just done the worst crime a politician can commit, the reason most folk distrust us as a breed. I've had to break a pledge and very, very publicly." Moore said the move was "deeply damaging" to Lib Dems, who had promised to abolish fees, but he added: "What we've all had to weigh up is the greater sense of what the coalition is about." He added that Conservative right-wingers "hate us with a passion".

The latest revelations followed the prime minister's decision to strip Cable of responsibility for media policy after undercover reporters had revealed he boasted he had "declared war" on the Murdoch empire over the media magnate's plans to take over all of BSkyB.

Cable's claims, in a secretly recorded conversation, were considered a flagrant breach of his duty, and were declared "totally unacceptable and inappropriate" by Downing Street. Many had expected an angry David Cameron to sack Cable or transfer him to a lesser cabinet role.

In addition to recording Moore, Davey and Webb, the Telegraph reported that transport minister Norman Baker had said the Lib Dems were putting obstacles in the path of Rupert Murdoch's takeover of BSkyB. Baker reportedly said: "We've stopped Murdoch taking over BSkyB ... That would have never happened under the Tories."