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| Version 3 | Version 4 |
|---|---|
| Brown offered Ashdown Cabinet job | Brown offered Ashdown Cabinet job |
| (10 minutes later) | |
| Prime Minister-in-waiting Gordon Brown offered former Lib Dem leader Lord Ashdown the Cabinet post of Northern Ireland secretary, the BBC has learned. | |
| Lord Ashdown said the offer was made on Wednesday - after Lib Dem Leader Sir Menzies Campbell said no member of his party would join Mr Brown's government. | Lord Ashdown said the offer was made on Wednesday - after Lib Dem Leader Sir Menzies Campbell said no member of his party would join Mr Brown's government. |
| The peer said he could not have considered taking a Cabinet post without Sir Menzies' approval. | The peer said he could not have considered taking a Cabinet post without Sir Menzies' approval. |
| And he said that he would not have been in favour of the proposal anyway. | And he said that he would not have been in favour of the proposal anyway. |
| BBC political editor Nick Robinson said a meeting on Monday between Sir Menzies and Mr Brown included discussions about junior roles for Lord Ashdown and another Lib Dem peer, Baroness Neuberger. | BBC political editor Nick Robinson said a meeting on Monday between Sir Menzies and Mr Brown included discussions about junior roles for Lord Ashdown and another Lib Dem peer, Baroness Neuberger. |
| 'Could not conceivably consider' | |
| He said the Lib Dem leader had not been aware that a direct offer of a Cabinet post was being made to Lord Ashdown. | He said the Lib Dem leader had not been aware that a direct offer of a Cabinet post was being made to Lord Ashdown. |
| It would have been unprecedented in modern times for a government with a clear majority, as Labour has, to give a Cabinet job to a member of other parties. | |
| Education Secretary Alan Johnson, frontrunner to be Labour's next deputy leader, told the BBC he did not think Lib Dems would sit in Cabinet for another 100 years. | |
| However he said Lord Ashdown had done a good job in Bosnia and "whether there is a specific job for him to do in government is another matter". | |
| Sir Menzies had ruled out any Lib Dem serving in a Brown Cabinet after Wednesday's Guardian newspaper reported that Mr Brown was considering such an offer. | Sir Menzies had ruled out any Lib Dem serving in a Brown Cabinet after Wednesday's Guardian newspaper reported that Mr Brown was considering such an offer. |
| I told him that I could not conceivably consider such a position unless my leader told me that he thought it was a good idea and even if he did, I didn't Lord Ashdown | I told him that I could not conceivably consider such a position unless my leader told me that he thought it was a good idea and even if he did, I didn't Lord Ashdown |
| Lord Ashdown told Today that he had been offered the job by Mr Brown later on Wednesday. | Lord Ashdown told Today that he had been offered the job by Mr Brown later on Wednesday. |
| In a statement to the programme he said: "It is true that Mr Brown suggested... that I might take a position in the Cabinet. | In a statement to the programme he said: "It is true that Mr Brown suggested... that I might take a position in the Cabinet. |
| "I told him that I could not conceivably consider such a position unless my leader told me that he thought it was a good idea and even if he did, I didn't." | "I told him that I could not conceivably consider such a position unless my leader told me that he thought it was a good idea and even if he did, I didn't." |
| There has been long-running speculation that Lord Ashdown and Sir Menzies Campbell were close to joining Tony Blair's first Cabinet when he came to power in 1997. | There has been long-running speculation that Lord Ashdown and Sir Menzies Campbell were close to joining Tony Blair's first Cabinet when he came to power in 1997. |