'Management Today' interviews Vincent Cable

6.25.00pm GMT Mon 8th Sep 2008

[Sep 01]: THE deputy leader of the Lib Dems and former chief economist at Shell has won widespread regard for his wise commentaries on the downturn and his independence of mind . . [he] is that rarest of creatures, a politician who not only knows what he is talking about but also believes in giving it to his public straight, no chaser.

In the storm of outraged blather that has accompanied the nation's recent descent into economic gloom - ranging from impossibly sugared pills at one extreme to verbal cyanide capsules at the other - his informed, no-nonsense commentaries have sounded a welcome note of reason. Offering pithy, straightforward prognoses of situations like the collapse of Northern Rock (he was calling for nationalisation months before the Government finally made its mind up), the rise in inflation and the collapse in house prices has made the 65-year-old deputy leader of the Liberal Democratic party into a national treasure - 'the only MP really worth listening to on the economy', as one prominent blogger put it.

It's an expertise that is a product of his 'other' life - before his entry into Westminster in 1997, Cable spent 30 years as a financial prognosticator for organisations as varied as the Kenyan government, the Royal Institute of International Affairs at Chatham House and the World Bank. But the peak of his career was a two-year spell as chief economist for oil giant Shell in the mid '90s. That's a big job, and gives him a depth of commercial experience and understanding pretty much unrivalled in politics.

He clearly enjoys his new-found reputation, but is too wily to be drawn into any crowing: "There's an element of ' . . In the land of the blind, the one-eyed man is king . . ' about it. There are 20 or 30 other MPs with a reasonable grounding in business . . " he says, with a twinkle that invites you to draw your own conclusions about the adequacy of that number, less than 5% of the total House of Commons membership.

Waspish humour aside, it's clear that he takes his brief - he's the party's chief treasury spokesperson as well as deputy leader - very seriously . . '

Related Links:

• Interview in full from 'Management Today'

• [Sep 12]: Vince Cable . . as seen by his wife, his dance tutor and the political blogger Iain Dale [Guardian video]