Our diplomatic editor Howard K. Elston files another political scoop

Vince Cable has stunned the world by announcing he will run in the next Republican primary election in Hoboken, New Jersey.

His comments come as the politician, once the darling of the soft-ish mid-leftish kinda radical but not really wing of the Libdems, lambasted the coalition (which he is an integral part of) for lacking any vision in the direction the UK is taking.

The Business Secretary has told his boss David Cameron that the government cannot rely on markets alone in its campaign for economic recovery.

He has now said he will leave on a Laker flight to New York tonight to take on Mitt Romney, Rick Santorum and Newt Gingrich. He told me over a cup of hot cocoa in the Members Bar: ‘Rick, Newt and Mitt are dead in the water once I land at Idlewild Airport in the Big Apple.’

‘I am a man of principle- no matter whose party I join.’

US bound

Once in the States, he will travel directly across the Hudson River to New Jersey where he will meet with Bruce Springsteen to try and get the entertainment world behind him. Supporters believe his ‘Cablevision’ will go down well with Republicans.

Professor ML Tang, a political analyst based in Glasgow, said: ‘Vinnie was once a councillor here in Scotland. He is well known to swing with the wind in order to grasp the greasy pole of power. He will do well in the Republican bunfight.’

Mr Romney’s camp last night would not make any statement following its candidate’s lukewarm victory in Super Tuesday.

But Mr Gingrich’s press side, Nigel from Tyneside, said: ‘If Mr Cable is a Christian, we welcome him into the fold of God’s party. But I suspect he is really a Communist in Libdem clothes. After all, he comes from England, UK, and therefore believes in Euro-socialism, foreign languages and soccer.’