11:20

Sir Vince Cable, the only candidate applying (so far) to replace Tim Farron as Lib Dem leader, spoke at a press gallery lunch today. He argued that Theresa May’s offer to other parties to bring forward policy ideas was creating a “very British version of a German grand coalition” with Jeremy Corbyn’s Labour over Brexit:

Of course it is ludicrously implausible to imagine Mr Corbyn going to the Rose Garden and signing up as a deputy prime minister but nonetheless there is a coalition of interest on the big issue of the day and if they are determined to discipline their own parties and force through this hard Brexit option -that is the thing that will make him happen. As far as my party is concerned that leaves us in the right and potentially in a strong position.

Cable reiterated his belief that Brexit may not happen arguing that issues like Euratom that people hadn’t thought of would cause problems.

We’ve got Euratom x100 out there.

He said there were 20-25% of people who shared his party’s values as “outward looking, liberal, instinctively supportive of a mixed economy ... pro business but support public services”.

Cable argued that his party got almost all those votes in 2010 but since fell well short, saying his priority was to target those voters again by differentiating the Lib Dems from the Tories and Labour.

Ten years’ work by David Cameron to detoxify the brand has been trashed by what they are now doing, clinging to power, the DUP. And on the other side - we all have to admire what Jeremy Corbyn did, he massively outperformed everyone’s expectation. There is something inherently implausible about a modern party competing for promise on a programme of Venezuelan socialism - simply unreal.

Cable also said low interest rates were like a “life support system”.

The way I characterise the underlying economic problems it is a medical metaphor - back in 2008/09 the country had an economic heart attack. And sure, we have recovered, we are walking around, the economy has many elements to the norm - but almost 10 years later we are still attached to a life support system - which is ultra cheap money - without historical precedent.

On a second Brexit vote, Cable said:

It may well be at the end of the day if there were a second referendum a majority of people would say ok to Brexit and that would kill the issue forever.

On the voters who backed Brexit, Cable said:

I spent most of the referendum campaign in the south - church halls in Hampshire and Dorset and they were overwhelmingly elderly people who were obsessed with the worry of 80m turks coming to live in their village. Immigration was a massive issue for them, though they never actually encountered any. That age group, mainly Conservative voting - there was a sense of nostalgia - the Britain they had been brought up in and loved and felt comfortable with - was no longer there. There were in addition undoubtedly the left behind. Not the first tier cities in the north of England - Newcastle and Sheffield and others that were on the edge or pro remain but smaller towns - Blackpools, and Blackburns and Hartlepools that is a deep rooted problem we need to address.

Cable pointed out that the Lib Dems favoured a second referendum on one topic, but not another.

We make a distinction - we are in favour of a second referendum on the European question and not on Scottish.

This is what Cable said about George Osborne, the former Conservative chancellor who served with him in the coalition cabinet.

It was one of the high points of the campaign. I got this text, ‘My son would like to canvas for you. G.’ And I struggled to work out who G might be ... I thought that was great. I’m a fan of George - I think he is a civilised guy. He [Osborne’s son] came and went out canvassing with my grandson - same school and as far as I know it he is still one of our supporters. If the Evening Standard starts developing yellow tinges you know where it started.

And this is what Cable said about his age (74).



I’ve been lucky with my health and I’m very painfully conscious of the effect of age on some and not others. I keep very fit, I cycle, I go to one of Richard Branson’s gyms a few times a week.