Vince Cable is responsible for the UK car industry, so what was he doing driving around his constituency in a sporty Japanese car? It seems the Guardian had invited him to check out a Mazda MX-5 as a guest passenger for their weekly motoring column. As Laura Barton says:
It has a sleek, muscular grace, and runs thrillingly low to the ground [that’s the Mazda, not Vince] – though taller passengers such as Cable have some trouble exiting.
This was evidently an opportunity for a relaxed chat about vehicles. Vince describes his own Astra as “unspectacular, solid, 100,000-plus miles on the clock” and explains that he usually cycles around his constituency, and travels to Westminster by train, but “not first class, and I almost invariably stand”.
As we head towards Hampton, Cable recalls the time a buffalo charged his car. It was the late 1960s, and he was working as an economic adviser to the Kenyan government. “Fortunately,” he says, “it was a glancing blow rather than head-on, otherwise I would have been in serious trouble.” He pauses. “Left at the mini roundabout.”
He gets a chance to talk about driverless cars.
“I’ve had my first outing in one. It was weird, but very safe. And we want the UK to be a leader in the field.”
* Newshound: bringing you the best Lib Dem commentary in print, on air or online.
Follow @libdemvoice.org on Bluesky
Like us on Facebook
Subscribe to our feed
Sign-up for our daily email digest
The Joy of Six 1573
The thirsty businesses using billions of litres of public water in drought-hit England
Ageing and Protein Production (the homeostasis of transcription)
Neil Sandison
Peter Davies
Tristan Ward
David Allen
Craig
One Comment
He gets a chance to talk about driverless cars.
Does he make comparisons with being in a leaderless political party?