In an interview with the Financial Times today, Vince Cable made some intriguing comments about the future of the Liberal Democrats. Asked whether he would ever run for the leadership of the party, he said:
I don’t exclude it – who knows what might happen in the future.
He also said:
The worship of youth has diminished – perhaps generally – in recent years.
and hit back at attempts to portray him as far too left-wing, criticising the “macho right” of the Tories:
When I made my statement on executive remuneration and responsible capitalism, I had some of those backbenchers jumping saying this is socialism or Marxism, they just completely don’t get it.
So, to recap, Vince Cable is not ruling out leading the Lib Dems, doesn’t think he’s too old to do so at 69, and is keen to talk about how he speaks out on City pay and capitalism, but isn’t a frothing left-winger.
Of course, none of this means he is anything less than totally supportive of Nick Clegg, who is
doing a good job and is standing up to the pressures.
PS. The FT interview is well worth a read in full, if you have a subscription. There’s a touching section on his two marriages and his love of “strong women:
Olympia, who died of cancer in 2001, was the first of two strong women in Cable’s life. “She would let me watch Match of the Day if I did the ironing at the same time,” the minister jokes. Rachel, the second, keeps horses in the New Forest. Today Cable wears two wedding bands on his finger.
Cable also likes working with strong women. Four out of five of Cable’s private secretaries are female, and when he recently held a meeting to discuss curbs on excessive pay in Britain’s male-dominated boardrooms, four out of the six advisers in the room were women. Cable says he does not have a deliberate policy of employing female staff, but adds: “I’ve always been comfortable working with women and I’ve had two happy marriages. Draw what conclusions you like from that.”
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