Vince Cable is the public's number one choice for chancellor
Vince Cable has long been treated as the font of all wisdom on the
economy, and now we have a poll to confirm that he is the public's
number one choice to be chancellor.
Cable has not just had a good recession, he's had a great recession. He is virtually untouchable in the eyes of many.
I'm currently reading his latest book - The Storm: The World Economic Crisis and What it Means. It sets out in straightforward language the current economic climate that we find ourselves in. He doesn't brag about the fact he was right and no one wanted to listen.
It's no surprise really that Cable tops the poll for the most favoured to be chancellor with 31%, followed by don't know on 23%, Ken Clarke 16%, George Osbourne 12%, and Alistair Darling 11%.
The Lib Dems know he is their greatest asset. Witness Liverpool Wavertree candidate Colin Eldridge telling viewers on ITV's Party People debate (more on that later) that the party's tax calculations are sound, they must be Vince Cable did them!
No surprise then that it is now being suggested that Labour and Conservatives turn their guns on him.
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Dale Street Associates
David Bartlett
City editor of the Post and Echo covering politics, regeneration, and urban affairs.
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Hold the hero-worship & myth-making, David. It's not really as you claim. Vince Cable did NOT predict the recession. That's why he doesn't brag about it. In his book 'The Storm', Cable says "The trigger for the current global financial crisis was the US mortgage market. The scale of improvident and unscrupulous lending on that side of the Atlantic dwarfs into insignificance the escapades of our own banks." In an interview about the book with the 'Sunday Times' on March 22, 2009, Cable was asked whether he had warned about this. Cable replied, "No, I didnâÂÂt. ThatâÂÂs quite true. But youâÂÂre quite right, and one of the problems of being a British MP is that you do tend to get rather parochial. I havenâÂÂt been to the States for years and years, so I wouldnâÂÂt claim to have any feel for whatâÂÂs been going on there." So he accepts he didn't predict anything, leaving claims that he did to LibDem spin doctors and under-researched journalists.
The level of hero worshipping and ego that surrounds Cable is perplexing. Most economists think very little of him, as does anyone who has looked into what he has actually said or done.