Sir Vince Cable is in a buoyant mood. As the new leader of the Liberal Democrats, he's about to preside over what he claims will be their biggest party conference in recent times.

A great many attendees will be under-35s who flocked to the Lib Dems last summer after Britain voted to leave the European Union, he says. And he's confident he can win over a fresh wave of young voters who were once die-hard Jeremy Corbyn fans.



"A lot of people who followed Jeremy Corbyn, they’ve already been let down on tuition fees by [him] making outrageous promises, and they’re already being let down on Europe," Cable says, referring to claims in July that the Labour leader had rowed back on a promise on to cancel all student debt. (Corbyn has denied ever promising to do so.)

"There is a pent-up frustration among younger people that their concerns are not properly being taken account of," Cable says.

There is no hint of irony in Cable's comments, despite the fact that he served in the coalition government when tuition fees were tripled to over £9,000 a year in 2010, breaking a Lib Dem manifesto pledge to oppose any rise.



We meet in Cable's office in Westminster's Portcullis House where he is attempting to consume an egg sandwich as politely as he can between questions.

Cable, 74, says he never expected to become party leader at this point in his life, let alone become an MP again so soon after losing his seat in 2015. He won back his long-held Twickenham constituency in Theresa May's ill-advised snap election earlier this year after a two-year hiatus of writing books, lecturing at universities, and twirling around ballrooms across the country.

But he was one of just 12 Lib Dems to win seats as the party slumped to a dismal 7.4% vote share, the apparent surge in support from Remainers after the EU referendum having simply failed to translate into votes. So now it's back to the drawing board, as Cable admits mistakes were made during the election campaign and tries to put together a new offering for voters. Can he rebrand the Lib Dems as the party of young people? "I wouldn't regard that as out of the question, actually," he says.