Vince Cable

Vince Cable (born 9 May 1943) is a British academic, company director, writer and former politician. He led the Liberal Democrats from 2017 to 2019. He was the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills and President of the Board of Trade in the Conservative–Liberal Democrat coalition government from 2010 to 2015. He served as the Liberal Democrat Member of Parliament (MP) for Twickenham for 20 years. He retired from Parliament in 2019.

The Right Honourable Sir Vince Cable MP
Leader of the Liberal Democrats
In office 20 July 2017 – 22 July 2019
Deputy	Jo Swinson
Preceded by	Tim Farron
Succeeded by	Jo Swinson
Liberal Democrat Treasury Spokesperson
In office 8 May 2017 – 20 July 2017
Leader	Tim Farron
Preceded by	The Baroness Kramer
Succeeded by	The Baroness Kramer
In office 12 June 2003 – 11 May 2010
Leader	Charles Kennedy Menzies Campbell Nick Clegg
Preceded by	Matthew Taylor
Succeeded by	Danny Alexander (2015)
Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills President of the Board of Trade
In office 12 May 2010 – 8 May 2015
Prime Minister	David Cameron
Preceded by	The Lord Mandelson
Succeeded by	Sajid Javid
Leader of the Liberal Democrats Acting
In office 15 October 2007 – 18 December 2007
Preceded by	Menzies Campbell
Succeeded by	Nick Clegg
Deputy Leader of the Liberal Democrats
In office 2 March 2006 – 26 May 2010
Leader	Menzies Campbell Nick Clegg
Preceded by	Menzies Campbell
Succeeded by	Simon Hughes
Liberal Democrat Trade and Industry Spokesperson
In office 9 August 1999 – 12 June 2003
Leader	Charles Kennedy
Preceded by	David Chidgey
Succeeded by	Malcolm Bruce
Member of Parliament for Twickenham
In office 9 June 2017 – 6 November 2019
Preceded by	Tania Mathias
Succeeded by	Munira Wilson
Majority	9,762 (14.7%)
In office 1 May 1997 – 30 March 2015
Preceded by	Toby Jessel
Succeeded by	Tania Mathias
Personal details
Born	John Vincent Cable (1943-05-09) 9 May 1943 York, England
Political party	Liberal Democrats (1988–present)
Other political affiliations	Liberal (Before 1965) Labour (1966–1982) Social Democrats (1982–1988)
Spouse(s)	Olympia Rebelo (1968–2001) Rachel Smith (2004–present)
Children	3
Alma mater	Fitzwilliam College, Cambridge University of Glasgow
Website	Official website
a. ^ Office vacant from 12 May 2010 to 7 January 2015.

Early life and education

Cable went to Nunthorpe Grammar School in York. He studied natural sciences and economics at the University of Cambridge. He was also President of the Cambridge Union.

Career

Early career

He worked as an economist. His first job was as an ODI Nuffield Fellow, serving as a Finance Officer in the Kenya Treasury. He taught Economics at the University of Glasgow (while studying part-time for a PhD). He was a First Secretary in the Diplomatic Service and Director of Research at the Overseas Development Institute. He was also a Special Adviser to the Commonwealth Secretary-General, then Head of International Economics at Chatham House. He worked in Shell’s planning department before becoming Shell’s Chief Economist.

He first took part in politics as a member of the Labour Party. He served on Glasgow City Council and stood for Parliament in Glasgow Hillhead in 1970. He helped write Gordon Brown's Red Papers on Scotland and later advised John Smith when he was Trade Secretary under Prime Minister James Callaghan. In 1982, he joined the Social Democratic Party (SDP), which later formed the Liberal Democrats. He ran for Parliament in York in 1983 and 1987, and in Twickenham in 1992, but did not win. In 1997, he was elected as the MP for Twickenham.

Parliament and Cabinet

He was the main economics spokesperson for the Liberal Democrats from 2005 to 2010. In 2006, he became the party's Deputy Leader, and in 2007, he served as Acting Leader. He helped write the Orange Book and often spoke out against risky banking practices and growing debt before the financial crisis. His book The Storm, which explained the crisis, became a Sunday Times Number One Bestseller.

In May 2010, there was no overall majority in the general election, so the Conservatives and the Liberal Democrats formed a Coalition government. Cable became Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills and President of the Board of Trade, and he stepped down as Deputy Leader of the Liberal Democrats. He later wrote about this period in Partnership and Politics in a Divided Decade (with his wife, Rachel Smith) and in After the Storm.

During his five years in office, his first goal was to push banks to lend more to businesses after the financial crisis. He introduced rules to ring-fence high-risk lending from other banking activities and helped create the British Business Bank. In 2011, he launched the coalition's Industrial Strategy, which included the Aerospace Growth Partnership and the Automotive Propulsion Centre. He set up the Green Investment Bank and the Catapult network and greatly expanded apprenticeships.

He passed laws to set up a register of beneficial ownership, control zero-hour contract abuses, require shareholders to vote on executive pay, extend the time before unfair dismissal claims apply, allow shared parental leave and flexible working requests, protect supermarket suppliers and pub owners, and strengthen copyright protection. He also led the controversial privatisation of the Royal Mail. He worked with the Universities Minister, David Willetts, to change university funding, which included the unpopular increase in tuition fees.

Within the coalition, Cable often argued with Conservative colleagues about the EU, immigration, workers' rights, housing, and public investment. He almost left the government when a private conversation was made public in which he criticized Rupert Murdoch while handling the BSkyB takeover bid.

Leader of the Liberal Democrats

After Tim Farron resigned as Liberal Democrat Leader after the 2017 general election, and Cable returned to Parliament, he became Leader of the party without any opposition. His time as Leader was dominated by Brexit, and he committed the Liberal Democrats to supporting the People's Vote campaign for a new referendum on Brexit.

He had a minor stroke and announced he would resign. However, in 2019, he led the party to its best local election results in 20 years, winning 700 seats and 11 councils. In the June 2019 European elections, he used the slogan "Bollocks to Brexit", and the party won 16 seats with 20% of the vote. He stepped down as Leader on 22 July 2019, and his Deputy, Jo Swinson, took over.

Personal life

He married Olympia Rebelo in 1968, and they had three children: Paul, Aida, and Hugo. She died in 2001. In 2004, he married Rachel Wenban-Smith.

He took part in the BBC’s Christmas 2010 Strictly Come Dancing show. He did not win, but he received a “ten from Len.” He was the second politician on the show (after Ann Widdecombe) but the first to compete while still serving as a government minister.

Since leaving Parliament, he has been active in universities and in business. He has been a Professor in Practice at the LSE School of Public Policy, a Distinguished Fellow at the Overseas Development Institute, an Honorary Fellow at Fitzwilliam College, Cambridge, and a Visiting Professor at the University of Nottingham and St Mary's University. He also has an Honorary Doctorate from Kingston University.

In business, he is the Chair of the Board of Element 2 (a hydrogen infrastructure company) and the Chair of the eFreight 2030 consortium.

His most recent books include Open Arms, a novel, Money and Power, the Chinese Conundrum, Partnership and Politics in a Divided Decade, and How to be a Politician.