Vince Cable announces he is standing down as an MP at next election
Following the news of a former party leadership candidate set to retire, comes this from a former party leader:
Former Liberal Democrat leader Sir Vince Cable is to step down as an MP at the next general election.
Sir Vince has represented Twickenham since 1997 and served as business secretary in the coalition government.
After losing his south-west London constituency seat at the 2015 general election, the 76-year-old regained it in the snap poll two years later.
He took over Lib Dem leadership from Tim Farron, continuing to lead the party in its opposition to Brexit. [BBC]
Jo Swinson responded to the news saying:
Thank you @VinceCable for your long and dedicated service to both the people of Twickenham and the @LibDems. Your strong leadership, sage advice and foreshadowing of economic and environmental events will be missed in parliament and beyond. It's been an honour. https://t.co/9sjA4cKVQV
— Jo Swinson (@joswinson) August 28, 2019
Note: under the party’s rules, an all-women shortlist would be used to select the next Liberal Democrat PPC (Prospective Parliamentary Candidate).
Sad, sad, sad … and thank you Vince. Someone who actually knew what he was talking about from experience.
One serious Lib Dem hero !
Britain’s loss was not having Vince Cable as its chancellor during the Con/LibDem coalition years after the banking crisis. So many of today’s problems might have been averted, indeed there would have been far less clamour for a referendum, had his preferred Keynesian method of reflating the economy in a more balanced and fairer way, without such a reliance on quantitative easing to recapitalise the banking sector, been pursued.
Thank you for your service to the country, Vince, and for your help in rebuilding our party.
I have gone all over Twickenham, upstairs, downstairs with heavy loads of leaflets for Vince Cable, and I did it with pleasure and felt appreciated.
All the best for Vince from Gent, Belgium !
Conventional wisdom is that: “All political lives end in failure”. Well, Vince’s is definitely the exception to the rule. And it’s has indeed been hard graft for Vince – it took him three attempts to win Twickenham, end even then he temporarily loses his seat in 2015 till regaining it in 2017.
But it’s been on an upwards trajectory since then, ending on a high. God bless you Vince for overseeing our clear and forthright “Bollocks to Brexit” stance, and seeing the results in the excellent local elections results in May, our stunning European elections victory, the valuable and welcome defections of Chuka Umunna and Sarah Wollaston and the Brecon and Radnorshire byelection success.
Vince is certainly going out on a high !
Sorry, correction. Vince was elected to Twickenham in 1997, at his second attempt, having twice previously fought York: “He was the SDP-Liberal Alliance parliamentary candidate for his home city of York in both the 1983 and 1987 general elections. Following the 1988 merger of the SDP and the Liberal Party, he finished in second place at the 1992 general election to Conservative MP Toby Jessel in the Twickenham constituency, by 5,711 votes.”
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vince_Cable
May I add my gratitude and agreement to all the varied comments above.
Vince’s retirement will make parliament all the poorer. He has characteristically told it as it is and has been a welcome voice of reason. His contribution to the coalition government was enormous with his sound economic mind. He took the helm of the party when it was trying to rebuild itself from that coalition, and with more than little help from Tories he reformed the party into an election winning machine. Long may that winning continue and may he enjoy a long well deserved retirement