So Theresa May isn’t the only leader to resign today.
Vince has just sent this message to party members announcing that he will be handing over to his successor on 23rd July.
The difference between the two departures is that Vince is going as part of a managed transition first announced nearly 9 months ago and is going out on a high. We’ll see just how high on Monday when we know all the results of the European elections.
Vince deserves our thanks for taking on the challenge of leadership and building on what Tim Farron had started. When we think of the bloody mess we were in after the last European elections, we can see how far both men took us.
Here is Vince’s email.
Dear Member,
Last night, the British people finished voting in the European elections. We have fought a very strong campaign and when the votes are counted on Sunday, I expect us to do well.
I want to thank the volunteers who have made that possible I was very touched while campaigning around the country by the enthusiasm and optimism of our members and supporters.
Many who kept going through difficult years for the party are now enjoying our resurgence as a major national force.
Our long and proud tradition of success in local government was revived this month by the best local election results in our party’s history. In the last two years, we have gained 780 more council seats and 15 new councils.
And membership is at record levels with a strengthening base of supporters amongst students and young people.
Together, we have rebuilt the Liberal Democrats – thank you.
I said earlier this year that the time would soon come to hand over the leadership of the party to a new generation. That process begins today: I will be proud to hand over a bigger, stronger party on July 23rd.
If you have friends who would want to vote in the election to choose my successor, urge them to join by Friday 7th June. Every new member can help shape our future.
There are major challenges ahead. One is to win, finally, the battle to stop Brexit. Our campaigning has given hope; now we need to secure a referendum in Parliament, and then win it.
Another is the opportunity created by the conflict and decay within the two main parties to build a powerful, liberal, green, and social democratic force in the centre ground of British politics. We are now in an excellent position to lead such a movement.
As we do so, I am confident that we will regain ground at Westminster, with a big group of MPs and real influence on the national stage.
Thank you, as ever, for all that you do for the Liberal Democrats.
With best wishes,
Vince
Vince Cable
Leader of the Liberal Democrats
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14 Comments
Thanks for all you have done for the Party, Vince. The only regret I have is that you chose not to stand for Party Leader when Ming stood down. I can understand that you might have been concerned about your age because of the way that the media attacked Ming, but your “Stalin to Mr Bean” quip showed that you were easily able to hold your own at PMQs.
Thank you, Vince. I challenge your potential successors to declare support for the UN Rapporteur Philip Alston’s devastating Report on poverty and deprivation in Britain, and pledge to promote our party’s policies to end the wrongs vividly catalogued there without hesitation or delay.
@Katharine
And I would add to that admit that the Coalition went over the top on austerity, and went too far. Also a promise that in any future coalition we will not get to close to the other parties, Rose Garden Love Ins are off the agenda.We will not give on agreed red lines.
“Security! Lock the doors! Under no circumstances is Dr. Vince Cable to be allowed to leave Parliament.”
Sorry to see you give up the reins, Skipper. Thanks for everything that you’ve done, and very best wishes to you & Rachael.
Thankyou Vince for steadying the ship at a critical time. Patience and consistency will hopefully be finally rewarded on Sunday night
Question I would like to ask prospective leaders (and sorry to bring the B word up again), as much as we all (?) want to stay in the EU, if we get to October and it looks like we might crash out without a deal, would we be prepared to compromise our position and support those Tories who still have some grip on reality, Rudd, Stewart, Boles etc ?
Whoever takes over from Cable, and BTW…I think his resignation is at perhaps the worst possible time, will have to deal with a revitalised Farage and a resurgent Johnson.
Brexit will not be settled and our relationship with the EU may well be on the verge of total collapse. Faragage’s standing in the EU speaks for itself and, as the Guardian put it….”There is a rare consensus among the continent’s leaders.. they regard Johnson as a loathsome charlatan, a Trumpian peddler of EU myths with a record of mendacity that stretches back to his 1990s spell as a Telegraph correspondent.”
@Chris Cory
“support those Tories who still have some grip on reality, Rudd, Stewart, Boles etc ?”
Rudd will be too busy trying to hold on to her constituency – she’s sitting on a majority of 346. And….
https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/amber-rudd-conservative-party-boris-johnson-leadership-a8929846.html
Quote:-
“Amber Rudd has hinted that she could work with Boris Johnson if he replaces Theresa May as prime minister, as the Conservative leadership race intensifies.”
@expats
“Whoever takes over from Cable, and BTW…I think his resignation is at perhaps the worst possible time, will have to deal with a revitalised Farage and a resurgent Johnson.”
All the more opportunity for a new leader to differentiate us from them. And if the new leader is wise they will involve Vince in their strategy.
The new leader, whoever s/he is, should ask Vince to be our Shadow Chancellor.
Approaches should also be made to the MP for Eastbourne.
expats 25th May ’19 – 9:07am as the Guardian put it….”There is a rare consensus among the continent’s leaders.. they regard Johnson as a loathsome charlatan, a Trumpian peddler of EU myths with a record of mendacity that stretches back to his 1990s spell as a Telegraph correspondent.
Johnson would be a disastrous choice for the country and the Tory party.
Vince was probably an important reason people people voted for us in the local elections.
The fact that the media ignored LibDems did give an impression of somehow we were failing and so was our leader, but anyone who heard him speak or read the speeches got an idea of his qualities so lacking from the other leaders. At this particular time we
need him to stay.
He will always be King Vince to me and had to put up with some of the worst ageisem I have ever seen from the tabloid press and even sometimes on here. Had this been racism, sexism or homophobia etc. it would have quite rightly been called out but ageism is not taken as seriously. On his last appearance on QT, Vince came across very well on climate change and the other topics as well as the EU.
chris moore 25th May ’19 – 10:11am
expats , Johnson would be a disastrous choice for the country and the Tory party.
As Jerome K. Jerome put it, “‘Everything has its drawbacks, as the man said when his mother-in-law died, and they came down upon him for the funeral expenses.