Prime Minister David Cameron was 'right to strip Vince Cable of his powers' to rule on Murdoch's BSkyB - according to RTT website poll

In a poll on our website, 67 per cent of people thought David Cameron's response to the Twickenham MP's comments that he was "at war" with Rupert Murdoch had been right.

Twenty-six per cent believed Mr Cameron did not make the right decision, while 7 per cent had no opinion.

In a separate vote on the Richmond and Twickenham Times' sister website - Your Local Guardian - the majority agreed it was right that Dr Cable had kept his cabinet job.

Forty-four per cent said he should keep his role as Business Secretary, while 29 per cent said he should go.

Dr Cable's Department for Business, Innovation and Skills was stripped of responsibility for media competition and policy issues but he has kept his cabinet post.

It followed secret recordings made by the Daily Telegraph - and later made public by the BBC - in which Dr Cable said he was "at war" with Mr Murdoch.

In other comments made during an interview at his Twickenham constituency office, he told reporters the coalition was "like fighting a war".

He added: “They know I have nuclear weapons, but I don’t have any conventional weapons.

“If they push me too far then I can walk out and bring the Government down and they know that.

“So it is a question of how you use that intelligently without getting involved in a war that destroys all of us. That is quite a difficult position to be in and I am picking my fights. Some of which you may have seen."

Senior Conservative backbenchers continued to call for Dr Cable to be sacked today and complained of Mr Cameron's "preferential treatment" for the Liberal Democrats after the Twickenham MP kept his job.

They condemned the decision to keep him in the cabinet as the latest sign the Prime Minister would “go the extra mile” to keep the rival party inside the Government.

As well as dominating national headlines throughout yesterday, the story has caused a stir on social media sites such as Facebook and Twitter.

Comments about Dr Cable have been largely negative, according to analysis from social media monitoring agency Brandwatch.

Since the MP's news first emerged on Monday, the agency has picked up 9,000 mentions of his name across social media platforms, with the largest proportion of those on Twitter, at 3,517.

The number of mentions peaked yesterday, when news broke that Dr Cable had said he was "declaring war" on Mr Murdoch.

Brandwatch found that 64 per cent of the mentions were negative, while 36 per cent were positive.

Yesterday a media scrum formed around Dr Cable's Twickenham house as he chose to work from home rather than Westminster.

The MP's wife Rachel emerged to buy a newspaper and, asked if her husband had offered to resign, she said: “As far as I know, not.”

The Richmond and Twickenham Times has been unable to contact Dr Cable, but in an earlier statement he said: "I fully accept the decision of the Prime Minister and Deputy Prime Minister.

"I deeply regret the comments I made and apologise for the embarrassment that I have caused the Government."

Downing Street said Mr Cameron made clear to Dr Cable that his comments were "totally unacceptable and inappropriate".

The Daily Telegraph published further secretly taped interviews with several more senior Liberal Democrats today.

Undercover journalists taped Transport Minister Norman Baker and Deputy Leader of the House, David Heath.

Mr Heath said: "George Osborne has a capacity to get up one's nose, doesn't he?", while Mr Baker said: "I don't like George Osborne very much."

Also recorded were Care Minister Paul Burstow and Local Government Minister Andrew Stunell.

Mr Burstow told the reporters: "I don't want you to trust David Cameron... in the sense that you believe he's suddenly become a cuddly liberal. Well, he hasn't.

Mr Stunell said he did not know where Mr Cameron stood on the "sincerity monitor".

They have all since apologised.

Since the comments were made public senior members of the coalition have tried to play down any rift.

Conservative and Government policy chief, Oliver Letwin, said a "deep bond of trust" had formed between both coalition parties - whose policies, he said, have a huge amount of overlap.

Read the full digital edition of this week's Richmond and Twickenham Times - which will only be available online as an e-edition - right here on Christmas Eve.