UK Edition
Nick Clegg and George Osborne spotted enjoying a 'private lunch' near Westminster
Nick Clegg and George Osborne were spotted enjoying a "private lunch" together on Tuesday afternoon, in a move which has fuelled speculation they could be working together to prevent a hard Brexit.
The former deputy prime minister and former chancellor were caught on camera by LBC journalist Vincent McAviney having a glass of wine at the Cambridge Street Kitchen near Westminster.
Mr Clegg has previously described Mr Osborne as a "very dangerous man" whose behaviour was “very unattractive, very cynical”.
A witness to the lunch described how the pair "were drinking wine though and the conversation was animated".
However, footage of the meeting obtained by LBC, showed the two men catching up over an amicable lunch.
Mr Clegg, the Lib Dem's Brexit spokesperson, has already joined up with pro-EU Tory MPs to demand the right to block Brexit with a vote in Parliament if it means leaving the single market.
Mr Osborne has cast himself as the Tory opposition to a"hard Brexit" as he called Theresa May to negotiate the "closest possible" relationship with the EU.
A source close to Mr Clegg told the Telegraph it was a "private lunch". Mr Osborne's office declined to comment.
It comes after Mr Osborne revealed he was considering a possible return to frontline politics.
Using a phrase coined by Boris Johnson in 2013 to deflect questions about his ambitions to become Prime Minister, Mr Osborne mocked the Foreign Secretary as he told the Financial Times: “If the ball came loose at the back of the scrum, I wouldn’t fumble it."
But he insisted he was “not angling” for a return to the new prime minister's cabinet.