Vince Cable

The original Mr Bean

Poor old Vince Cable. Like his party his fortunes are on the way down. The Liberal Democrats look to be stuck as the fourth party in UK politics several points below UKIP for the foreseeable future. While the performance of the LibDem Leader, Nick Clegg, must be responsible for some of this he cannot shoulder all the blame; so attention switches to the coalition Business Secretary, Vince Cable. The National Audit Office says that the Royal Mail privatisation was wrong to sell the shares too cheaply and this has cost the taxpayer £750 million.

However, Cable is very proud of the way he handled the sell-off and has refused to resign. Perhaps we have to feel a little sorry for Cable as way back in late 2007 he was the Leader of his party and in a position to dish it out to Gordon Brown. It was during a debate on defence that Cable said -

We now see that having a go at Brown was not only easy, he was a natural target, but the high-water mark for Cable. What a turn-around that Cable now finds himself being biffed by Chuka Umunna, the shadow business secretary.

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.