Strictly Come Retreating !

Poor Vince Cable. A year ago Britain’s greatest financial Cassandra, top of the popularity polls and the man who was going to bash the bankers good and proper, given the chance. Well he was given the chance and he has, it seems, bottled it. He appears a somewhat marginalised figure these days. The rakish angle of his hat and the fashionable long coat flapping in the breeze cannot disguise the fact that he looks like yesterday’s man even before yesterday is over. And recently, of course, he was caught boasting inadvertently to an under cover Daily Telegraph reporter that he could bring the coalition down if he were to resign. The question has to be – why has he nor resigned over tuition fees or over the lack of action on bankers’ pay and bonuses or the restructuring of the banking system ? So, what happened ?
The easy, trite explanation is that he has been seduced by the trappings of power, the ministerial car, the kowtowing officials, the trips abroad (how uncomfortable he looked meeting the Chinese leadership recently). A more kindly interpretation is that he has set aside his principles for the sake of the preservation of the coalition, a cause which Paddy Ashdown and Shirley Williams, two Lib Dem grandees (yes, even the Lib Dems have grandees these days) have claimed to be in the greater national interest. In the spirit of coalition politics, let’s compromise by suggesting that Vince simply knows he will not persuade George Osborne on tuition fees or reform of the banks so he has simply stopped trying. I met Dr Cable several times in the past few years and, like everybody else, was impressed by the clarity of his thought, the quality of his analysis and the sincerity of his views. I am, therefore, more than surprised by his performance in office.
The danger is that the ‘fall’ of Vince Cable will become a paradigm for the fortunes of the whole Lib Dem party. If this pattern of retreat continues, Vince might soon be heard crying, “I’m a political celebrity, get me out of here”. More likely, expect him to make even more appearances on Celebrity Come Dancing next year. He will certainly outdance Anne Widdicombe........ especially backwards !