A pretty obvious statement to make on this site, “In Vince Cable We Trust”, but it’s also the name for a new campaign established by a small group of marketing, communications and technology professionals with the single stated aim of making Vince Cable the next Chancellor of the Exchequer.
The group is apolitical. In fact, despite being the leader of this merry band, I have voted for all three main parties at some point in my life. But with all government departments’ policy making being strangled by the emptiness of the public purse, the role of Chancellor of the Exchequer will be the most important cabinet role in the next parliament. In our opinion the criticality of the situation demands that the role be filled by the person who is best qualified to do the job, no matter which party they represent. Of the three candidates, Vince Cable is that man.
There are others outside of Darling and Osborne who might represent stiffer competition. MSN Money conducted a poll of visitors to its site this month, and Vince Cable came second with 23% to Richard Branson’s 29%. But with 8% and 7% respectively, Darling and Osborne are far from favourites. In fact, with no disrespect at all to their other undoubted talents, if this position was a vacancy in the private sector, neither would be invited to interview.
As a group we will be seeking to use social media tools and services to further our objective by building grassroots support amongst people from all political persuasions – red, blue, yellow, green, rainbow, even none of the above. If anyone in the Lib Dem Voice community is interested in getting involved then please do get in touch via the website. But remember its all about Vince, so please leave your party political affiliation at the door.
In a time of economic crisis we need to take a pragmatic approach to the economy’s management not a dogmatic one. And in Vince Cable we trust!
Website: www.invincecable.org.uk Twitter: @invincecable Hash-tag: #invincecable
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12 Comments
This is all very well, but there is only one sure-fire way to make sure Vince Cable becomes Chancellor – and that’s to vote Lib Dem at the election. Any other vote is a vote in hope of a hung parliament, which may or may not lead to Vince becoming Chancellor as the largest party may try to go it alone.
Surely if this is an independent campaign asking Lib Dems for support, it should go in the “Independent View” section of LDV?
Mostly you are right KL, but in most of the seats that Labour need to hang onto to keep their Commons majority, or Cameron needs to win to get his own, a vote for the Lib Dems is an invitation to the other 80% of voters in your seat to make a decision for you about who forms the next government. Much better in the Lab-Con micro-marginals to vote Tory to remove Brown’s majority, but vote Labour in seats where they start at least 10 points ahead of the Tories in order to block a Tory Commons majority.
Or we can all vote Lib Dem and get what we actually want rather than pissing about with tactical voting and letting the Labservatives back in to keep mucking up the country!
I welcome this development and I wish your group the best of luck.
I appreciate that you are apolitical, but Vince Cable himself is not apolitical. His views are formed out of his personal philosophy based on Liberalism.
It is no accident that Vince Cable is pragmatic. Liberalism is not an economic dogma. We are not free market fundamentalists, nor do we believe in state ownership of the commanding heights of the economy.
The tradition Vince Cable represents is that of Keynes and Beveridge, the great 20th century Liberal economists whose ideas helped the UK recover from the 1930s depression and reduced the gap between rich and poor, and situation not too dissimilar to today.
I dont begrudge you for being apolitical. At least you are not anti-political. The current situation with the economy is perilous and we need people in place to make the right decisions, and that means making a choice. For May 6th at least, if you want Vince Cable, you will have to vote Liberal Democrat.
Surely this has been posted two days early?
Tory government, token Lib Dem Chancellor? No thanks.
Hmm, love the idea but I rather think that personality cults belong in North Korea, not the LDs.
Sorry, but it’s nonsense to suggest that a campaign for the Lib Dem Deputy Leader to be Chancellor is “apolitical”. It may be politically naive, but that’s not quite the same thing. It also ignores the extent to which a Chancellor’s ability to set the agenda is going to be severely constrained by the views of the other people at the Cabinet table, particularly the PM. You don’t seriously think that Gordon Brown or David Cameron would let Vince set financial and economic policy on the principles he’s followed, do you? Even his own party has forced him to compromise on matters like the “mansion tax” and tuition fees.
As we move to further integration with the EU there will be little need of a Chancellor, the budget will be run from Brussels. In fact we could save a whole heap of money by closing down Parliament, we don’t really need them any more. The civil service could run the country with legislation being handled by the EU.
They surely could not make a worse mess than our “elected representatives” have?
The national polling this weekend shows the Liberal Democrats share of votes has increased to 23%,up 4 points, as a result mainly of Vince Cable`s excellent and financially competent performance on the C4 Shadow Chancellor`s Debate last week.
Vince Cable is a national treasure and should be in charge of the national treasury!
It’s a shame that Vince was deluded into supporting membership of the euro, on which he then changed his mind – something we couldn not have done if we had actually joined. For me this shattered the myth of his predictive abilities, and I have a sense that his being made chancellor in a hung parliament would be a disaster for the LibDems given the mess that needs cleaning up and resultant unpopular decisions.