It’s been an open secret for some days now that Tory grandees and diehards see Vince Cable as a cuckoo in the Coalition nest. And there are so many aggregate corroborations of the former Labour man’s discomfort at being part of a Tory administration, one can’t put it all down to evil Labour spinners.

There was disturbing news from Europe yesterday when Mr Cable told a news agency stringer that his view on the banking bailout levy was “The more countries that join, the better”. This is fair comment if it means Vince hopes to reduce the whopping 60+% of the total that Britain is being asked to pay. But The Slog understands that he’s all for levies that punish banks. I’m all for taxes that punish idiot bankers, but surely Vinny knows by now that the UK banks (as only just solvent institutions) can least afford to pay.

Yesterday, George Osborne ruled out creating a dedicated fund in the UK to pay for the winding up of failing banks, putting Britain at odds with both Cable and Brussels.

However, the report that appears to have got William Hague a bit wound up is of Cable ‘ruling out’ taking powers back from the EU, saying the coalition Government would pursue a “deregulation agenda” at EU meetings and summits, adding: “It is a way of making European processes work in a less cumbersome way, rather than reopening treaties. We are not at the moment specifying powers that need to be repatriated. We think we can operate within the framework we’ve got.”

Err….well you might VC, but your enthusiasm for acceptance of the Lisbon ‘treaty’ is not widespread among Tory coalitionists. A senior LibDem source contacted Slogger’s Roost the night before last to suggest that the reluctant Vince is “looking for opportunities to either get his way, or get fired”. But then, LibDems not in the Government do have all kinds of agendas.

So perhaps a more telling comment comes from within Cameroonian ranks, where a usually reliable source told us yesterday evening, “Vince is something of a loose cannon engaged in friendly fire. Also the Treasury think he might be mad”.

Some would take that as a compliment. But being objective about this, the general view seems to be that Cable is gambling on a Cleggeron unwillingness to ditch him, given the generally positive nature of his public profile.

We shall be watching the situation closely.