LibLink: Vince Cable on one liners, air rifles, and Alesha Dixon

Over at ShortList.com, there’s an interview with Lib Dem deputy leader Vince Cable, which notes that his winning appearance on Channel 4’s Ask the Chancellors helped start the Lib Dems’ 2010 election bandwagon. Here are just a couple of the questions asked and answers given:

So, did you enjoy the first chancellors’ debate?
I didn’t enjoy it – that’s not the word I’d use. I felt increasingly confident as it went on. I felt I had the right arguments and the audience was on my side. It is quite tricky, trying to concentrate on the other two and what they’re saying and concentrating on the chairman, picking up vibes from the audience, looking at the camera and addressing the nerves and trying to balance all those things.

What’s your relationship like with Nick Clegg?
Very good. I didn’t compete for his office and I’m not competing with him. It’s complimentary. He knows I cover the economic areas and he’s very happy to devolve discussion in that area to me. We’re a close partnership. We have a very good talk every couple of days about what’s happening. Sometimes, as we’ve seen with [Tony] Blair and Brown, relationships at the top can be quite difficult if there is tension in the relationship and frustrated ambition. But that’s not the case with us.

So do you look after your own image when out in public?
Not a great deal. I try to be reasonably authentic. Well, this is [points at suit] Suits You, whatever it is, on Hounslow High Street. No, I don’t go in for fashion accessories or anything like that. I wear my baton hat and people tell me it’s a trademark but actually [starts chuckling] it’s just something I feel comfortable in.

You can read the interview with Vince in full here.

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One Comment

  • Surely “complementary”, not “complimentary” in his second answer…although maybe both!

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