Former business secretary says anti-Brexit message did not resonate with voters and party needs to offer ‘hope and inspiration’

Vince Cable, the only declared contender for the Liberal Democrat leadership, says his party should try to mimic the success of Emmanuel Macron in the French presidential race and offer “hope and inspiration”, after its anti-Brexit message failed to cut through at the general election.

The 74-year-old former business secretary, who began his political life in the Labour party, regained his Twickenham seat on 8 June, having lost it two years ago, and almost immediately threw his hat into the ring to lead the party when Tim Farron resigned.

Cable said his party’s relentless focus on opposing Brexit had not resonated with voters. “The Europe message no longer worked in quite the way that we had assumed it would – it was no longer a binary issue. The idea that remainers would vote for the Lib Dems didn’t work,” he said.

Rather than tearing up the Lib Dem manifesto and starting from scratch, though, Cable, who served in the cabinet throughout the 2010-15 coalition government, said his party should learn some lessons on delivery from France’s new centrist president. “We do need to think about the messages that we’re giving, particularly to young people – something much more upbeat, positive. We’ve seen what happened in France: if you can get the formula right, you can break through,” he said.

Cable admits that he and Macron, the dynamic former economy minister who swept to victory over Marine Le Pen and led his En Marche party to an overwhelming majority in the parliamentary elections, are not of the same vintage, but he believes their centrist policies have much in common.

“He’s not quite my generation, but I did deal with the guy when I was in government. He was my opposite number, and we had some very good exchanges, actually. He was very intellectually curious, really interested in what we were doing. He was fascinated by the industrial strategy, thought it was great,” he said.

Cable added: “I can probably claim a bit of credit for one of the things he’s doing: he’s trying to change the takeover rules. Because I talked to him quite a lot at the time of Pfizer, and said it’s very disappointing that we can’t stop this nonsense.”

The Lib Dems increased their number of MPs from nine to 12 at the general election, but they lost some seats, including Zac Goldsmith’s Richmond Park constituency, and their performance fell well short of the “fightback” many had hoped for.

Nick Clegg, the former leader and deputy prime minister, was the night’s biggest casualty, usurped from his Sheffield Hallam seat by Labour’s so-called “youthquake” which also removed Greg Mullholland in Leeds North West and ended hopes of many Lib Dem gains or returns in London and Manchester.

Farron’s strategy was to pledge a referendum on the final Brexit deal, hoping to scoop up former Labour voters in pro-remain seats. A committed Christian, he was challenged repeatedly in the campaign’s early weeks about his beliefs on issues including homosexuality and abortion.

Cable blamed this “personal issue” for dogging the beginning of the election campaign, as well as the Lib Dems’ failure to get their Brexit policy across, for the party’s disappointing performance.

“For whatever reason, it didn’t cut through with the electorate, so we didn’t get off to a great start. That message didn’t resonate – and then Tim got stuck a bit with this personal issue, which meant that he wasn’t on the front foot in the early stage of the campaign,” he said. “And we underestimated the extent to which Jeremy Corbyn would turn things around politically.”

Cable was speaking in his new, small, office in Portcullis House, where no telephone had yet been installed. He had scrawled his hastily arranged schedule for the day on to a sheet of brown card – a legacy, he said, of his days in the business department, when a diary secretary would hand him a card with the day’s engagements on it.

He said he had been enjoying retirement, after losing his seat in 2015 – but none of the professorships and business interests he had taken on matched the “buzz” of politics. “I was very uncomfortable coming back here after I’d lost; you didn’t belong any more,” he said. “Coming back, I’m suddenly part of it all again, and there’s a nice feeling that goes with that, quite a deep feeling.”

His two years outside Westminster have given him the time to write a novel – a “political thriller”, to be published in the autumn, which he expects to be “contentious”. It is not racy, however. “I don’t think I would have dared to put myself forward as leader if I had written an Edwina Currie,” he said.

As well as offering a more positive message, he believes he can strengthen the Lib Dems’ position by bringing the extra gravitas that comes with having served in government – despite the risks of being caricatured as a handmaiden of Tory austerity.

“Being in the coalition: I’m not apologetic about it. There were things that I disagreed with, there are things that did us political damage, but overall it was the right thing to have done. I think it has given us serious credibility as a party that can run the country in difficult times, and in general make a good job of it,” he said.

Over time, he hopes that will allow his party to begin to rebuild its position. “The ingredients are there, which is a Tory government becoming increasingly unpopular and discredited, which I’m sure is going to happen, when the economic pain kicks in. The DUP thing has left a very nasty smell. And on the other hand, for all Jeremy’s surprisingly effective leadership qualities, there’s two big problems that the Labour party has. One is on Europe, trying to be on both sides of the argument at the same time, and secondly, this gaping weakness in terms of economic credibility.”

He says he is “ambitious” about the Lib Dems’ prospects, and points to a number of seats the party lost by narrow margins earlier this month. “It’s very difficult in the short run to see how we get back to 64, but you could double what we have, plausibly, with effective targeting and a good following wind. We’ve got to be ambitious.”

Some of the party’s members had hoped Jo Swinson, the Scottish MP and former minister who also regained her seat on 8 June, and is half Cable’s age, would stand as leader. But she has ruled herself out – as have the other most likely challengers, Ed Davey and Norman Lamb.

Cable said of Swinson: “She’s a very thoughtful, very considered, very mature person. She’s got a family, and she wants to develop her career in a sensible way. She’s got bags of opportunities in future.”

Asked if he would be willing to serve as his party’s leader for a full five-year parliament, if Theresa May manages to last that long, he said: “If necessary. I wouldn’t have put myself forward if I wasn’t willing to do it.”

He adds that Corbyn is “slightly younger than me, but not enormously”, and gestures at a picture of Gladstone freshly hung on his wall: “The gentleman behind you is an inspiration. He won an election at 82.”