When Osborne voted against lifting the cap on tuition fees

For any Liberal Democrats still agonising over which way to vote, George Osborne has a warning from history.

Back in 2004 the then lowly opposition Treasury minister voted against the higher education bill – and the policy of lifting the cap on tuition fees. At a Press Gallery lunch this afternoon he describe the moment as the "most dismal vote" of his time as an MP.

"We mistook opportunity for opportunism", Osborne told a roomful of journalists on the moment the Tory opposition attempted – and failed to inflict – a damaging defeated on the Labour government.

But, says Osborne, deputy prime minister Nick Clegg would never make that mistake. "It takes extraordinary courage to do the right policy even it is difficult politics", the chancellor said, before issuing a warning to those junior members of Clegg's party who are planning to vote against. "If you lose intellectual credibility, the you put yourself considerably further away from political office."

So vote against, and say goodbye to promotion - but does it really matter for the future of the coalition? Asked about how the Conservative Party and the Lib Dems would approach the next general election, Osborne insisted, somewhat incredulously, that he "genuinely had not done a lot of thinking into this."

Nevertheless, he gave the line that most MPs like to hear: "We will fight as separate parties and with separate manifestos."

But with the vote just hours away, Osborne wants his future opponents to be less dismal than he was and get onside with the government.

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