Vince Cable

Clarke, mad hatter No1
There is, we are told, 'no such thing as bad publicity'; well, the higher echelons of David Cameron's world, the inner sanctum and the No10 team, may disagree. Ken Clarke is in trouble over a remark he made about his plan for dealing with rape cases. He made the remark during a BBC radio interview in his capacity as Justice Secretary. There is more to the Clarke case than a second rate politico, well past his sell by date, getting bashed because of this remark. In a typically clumsy way Clarke made a mess of a simple situation. Do remember that Clarke goes by the name 'bruiser', a right wing reply to John Prescott, if it were needed, and perhaps it's not. Some would say the style of politics has moved on. There are two main problems here, the man and the remark. Let's start with the man.

If only!
Oh how complicated! The tale of Dr Vince Cable, (see right) the Business Secretary, has enough twists and turns to be, under normal circumstances, the plot of an airport novel. However, with air travel being especially fraught at the moment most readers might prefer the central character to be more deserving of sympathy. For Cable is just self serving and his own worst enemy. Funny how it goes but the last Business Secretary, Peter Mandelson, was the same and mad too. The Daily Telegraph did us all a service when it printed, leaked if you prefer, the details of the MPs expenses' scandal. Just to remind you it was Labour in government then and simple souls might have thought that they were motivated by politics alone; wrong, journalism was the driving force and the fallout, still evident, from that story did damage to parliament and not just one party.