Sir Vince Cable Is The New Lib Dem Leader

Sir  Vince Cable  is the new leader of the Liberal Democrats - and the oldest in the party's history at 74 years of age. His position became official on the 20th of July 2017 when nominations closed at 4pm.

The Liberal Democrat Member of Parliament for Twickenham from 1997 to 2015, he is returning to politics to replace former leader Tim Farron, who stepped down following the recent General Election. Sir Vince was the only candidate on the ballot paper, with the early favourite for the job, Jo Swinson, standing aside to instead become deputy leader.

A recognisable and influential figure, Sir Vince is a sought-after conference speaker on business, economics, the emerging markets and finance. In his first speech as leader, he was quoted stating that British politics was “more polarised and divided than at any time any of us can remember".

Before entering politics, the former Business Secretary was an economist, lecturer and adviser to the Kenyan government and senior Labour politicians, and chief economist at oil giant Shell.

He stood in as Lib Dem leader when Sir Menzies Campbell quit in 2007; and served as Business Secretary in the coalition government between 2010 and 2015, before losing his seat. He was knighted in 2015.

At a press conference, Sir Vince said the Lib Dems had a real opportunity to occupy the “gigantic space in the middle of British politics” left by the two main parties’ move to the extremes.

He has also promised to offer voters the chance of an “exit from Brexit”, through a second referendum on EU membership, after any deal is agreed; and he is about to publish his first novel, a political thriller about a post-Brexit future called Open Arms.

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Sources:

• The Guardian
• BBC News
• The Independent