Vince Cable's morality

I was listening the other day to an interview with Vince Cable by Jeremy Paxman. The subject was executive pay. At one point Paxman asked him whether he considered excessive executive pay to be a 'moral' issue. Now I have had several conversations with Vince Cable and know that he does. He is, after all, from the social democrat tradition of the Lib Dems, and a former member of the Labour Party. Cable chose to evade the question. 'Yes', he said to Paxman, 'it is a moral issue', but he refused to be drawn on his view of the issue. He simply reiterated the coalition policy. He then said that his own moral outlook had nothing to do with it. I felt my hackles rising instantly, and had a good view of Paxman's, who looked aghast at this response. The implication is clear. Cable belives that his own moral outlook should not inform policy. Taking this one stage further, it implies that morality has no place in politics. What a state British politics finds itself in if a politician's moral compass does not influence policy! Cable's clear fear - that he should not contradict the coalition's morality-free zone - was greater than his own visecral reaction to the subject. The fact that contemporary British politics is largely 'managerial' in character should not be in dispute. Currently the obsession with 'managing' the budget deficit has overwhelmed any idea that government should promote welfare and justice. Contrast this with the French presidential campaign which presented a genuine choice betrween this managerial approach and a new contract with the public sector. The Americans, too, will shortly be presented with a a clear ideological choice. All we British can hope for is a choice between two teams who compete on the basis of effectiveness and efficiency. Vince Cable represents that degradation of the political process.