Vince Cable

**Vince Cable** (born 9 May 1943) is a British academic, company director, writer and former politician. He led the Liberal Democrats from 2017 to 2019. He was the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills and President of the Board of Trade in the Conservative–Liberal Democrat coalition government from 2010 to 2015. He served as the Liberal Democrat Member of Parliament (MP) for Twickenham for 20 years. He retired from Parliament in 2019.

## Early life and education 
Cable went to Nunthorpe Grammar School in York. He studied natural sciences and economics at the University of Cambridge. He was also President of the Cambridge Union.

## Career 
### Early career 
He worked as an economist. His first job was as an ODI Nuffield Fellow, serving as a Finance Officer in the Kenya Treasury. He taught Economics at the University of Glasgow (while studying part-time for a PhD). He was a First Secretary in the Diplomatic Service and Director of Research at the Overseas Development Institute. He was also a Special Adviser to the Commonwealth Secretary-General, then Head of International Economics at Chatham House. He worked in Shell’s planning department before becoming Shell’s Chief Economist. He helped write Gordon Brown's Red Papers on Scotland and later advised John Smith when he was Trade Secretary under Prime Minister James Callaghan. In 1982, he joined the Social Democratic Party (SDP), which later formed the Liberal Democrats. He ran for Parliament in York in 1983 and 1987, and in Twickenham in 1992, but did not win. In 1997, he was elected as the MP for Twickenham.

### Parliament and Cabinet
He was the main economics spokesperson for the Liberal Democrats from 2005 to 2010. In 2006, he became the party's Deputy Leader, and in 2007, he served as Acting Leader. He helped write the *Orange Book* and often spoke out against risky banking practices and growing debt before the financial crisis. His book *The Storm*, which explained the crisis, became a Sunday Times Number One Bestseller.

In May 2010, there was no overall majority in the general election, so the Conservatives and the Liberal Democrats formed a Coalition government. Cable became Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills and President of the Board of Trade, and he stepped down as Deputy Leader of the Liberal Democrats. He later wrote about this period in *Partnership and Politics in a Divided Decade* (with his wife, Rachel Smith) and in *After the Storm*.

During his five years in office, his first goal was to push banks to lend more to businesses after the financial crisis. He introduced rules to ring-fence high-risk lending from other banking activities and helped create the British Business Bank. In 2011, he launched the coalition's Industrial Strategy, which included the Aerospace Growth Partnership and the Automotive Propulsion Centre. He set up the Green Investment Bank and the Catapult network and greatly expanded apprenticeships.

He passed laws to set up a register of beneficial ownership, control zero-hour contract abuses, require shareholders to vote on executive pay, extend the time before unfair dismissal claims apply, allow shared parental leave and flexible working requests, protect supermarket suppliers and pub owners, and strengthen copyright protection. He also led the controversial privatisation of the Royal Mail. He worked with the Universities Minister, David Willetts, to change university funding, which included the unpopular increase in tuition fees.

Within the coalition, Cable often argued with Conservative colleagues about the EU, immigration, workers' rights, housing, and public investment. He almost left the government when a private conversation was made public in which he criticized Rupert Murdoch while handling the BSkyB takeover bid.

### Leader of the Liberal Democrats
After Tim Farron resigned as Liberal Democrat Leader after the 2017 general election, and Cable returned to Parliament, he became Leader of the party without any opposition. His time as Leader was dominated by Brexit, and he committed the Liberal Democrats to supporting the People's Vote campaign for a new referendum on Brexit.

He had a minor stroke and announced he would resign. However, in 2019, he led the party to its best local election results in 20 years, winning 700 seats and 11 councils. In the June 2019 European elections, he used the slogan "Bollocks to Brexit", and the party won 16 seats with 20% of the vote. He stepped down as Leader on 22 July 2019, and his Deputy, Jo Swinson, took over. He did not win, but he received a “ten from Len.” He was the second politician on the show (after Ann Widdecombe) but the first to compete while still serving as a government minister.

Since leaving Parliament, he has been active in universities and in business. He has been a Professor in Practice at the LSE School of Public Policy, a Distinguished Fellow at the Overseas Development Institute, an Honorary Fellow at Fitzwilliam College, Cambridge, and a Visiting Professor at the University of Nottingham and St Mary's University. He also has an Honorary Doctorate from Kingston University.

In business, he is the Chair of the Board of Element 2 (a hydrogen infrastructure company) and the Chair of the eFreight 2030 consortium.

His most recent books include *Open Arms*, a novel, *Money and Power*, the *Chinese Conundrum*, *Partnership and Politics in a Divided Decade*, and *How to be a Politician*.

## References