Vince Cable

Sir John Vincent "Vince" Cable (born 9 May 1943 in York, England) is a British politician who 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.

The Right Honourable Sir Vince Cable MP
Leader of the Liberal Democrats
Incumbent
Assumed office 20 July 2017
Deputy	Jo Swinson
Preceded by	Tim Farron
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 – 11 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
Incumbent
Assumed office 9 June 2017
Preceded by	Tania Mathias
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.

Contents

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.

Leader of the Liberal Democrats (2017-present)

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.

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". On 24 May 2019, Cable said he would step down as party leader on 23 July.

Personal life

Cable was a contestant in the BBC's Christmas 2010 Strictly Come Dancing contest. He did not win. Cable was the second politician to appear on the show, after Ann Widdecombe.