Sir John Vincent "Vince" Cable (born 9 May 1943 in York, England) is a British politician. He was the Leader of the Liberal Democrats from 2017 to 2019. Cable was the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills in the Conservative-Liberal Democrat coalition government. He is the Liberal Democrat Member of Parliament (MP) for the constituency of Twickenham.
Early life
Vince Cable studied economics at university and became an economic advisor to the Kenyan government in 1966.
Early career
He was an advisor to the British government and to the Commonwealth Secretary-General in the 1970s and 1980s. He served as Chief Economist for the oil company Shell from 1995 to 1997. In the 1970s, Cable was active in the Labour Party and became a Glasgow councillor. However, in 1982, he joined the Social Democratic Party (SDP) which would go on to form the Liberal Democrats and he unsuccessfully contested seats in the elections of 1983, 1987 and 1992 until being elected as the MP for the London constituency of Twickenham in the 1997 general election.
Before the leadership
He was the main economics spokesperson for the Liberal Democrats from 2003 to 2010 and became the Liberal Democrats' Deputy Leader in 2006. In May 2010, a coalition government was formed between the Conservative Party and the Liberal Democrats and Vince Cable was made the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills. He has promised a 'very radical overhaul' of the state pensions system. He resigned from his position as Deputy Leader in May 2010.[2]
Leader of the Liberal Democrats (2017-2019)
After Tim Farron resigned, Cable said he would stand for leader. No other MP decided to stand against him and Cable became leader on 20 July 2017. [3]
Cable announced in September 2018 that he would resign as Leader of the Liberal Democrats in May 2019. He later changed his retirement date to whenever "Brexit is resolved or stopped".[4] On 24 May 2019, Cable said he would step down as party leader on 23 July.[5] He was replaced by Deputy Jo Swinson on 22 July 2019.
Personal life
Cable was a contestant in the BBC's Christmas 2010 Strictly Come Dancing contest. He did not win.[6] Cable was the second politician to appear on the show, after Ann Widdecombe.[7]
References
