This is the sequel to Vince Cable’s widely praised account of the events surrounding the great crash of 2008. It is a lucid, erudite analysis of the global economy, and Britain’s place in it, in the five years between 2010 and 2015, as viewed from the vantage point of someone who was a senior member of the coalition.
It is emphatically not a memoir, although he does offer insights into the tensions between the coalition partners. There are references to “ideologically driven spending cuts”. George Osborne is said to possess “a ruthless eye for party advantage” and Cable nails the lie so assiduously peddled, not only by the Tories but by some of his Liberal Democrat colleagues, that the crisis of 2008 was caused by Labour mismanagement of the public finances: “…not true”, he says.
He warns of the dangers of economic growth driven by house-price inflation, soaring levels of household debt and a financial system where large parts are unregulated. The concluding chapter sets out his prescription for a rebalanced, less debt-ridden economy with greater emphasis on tackling inequality. A pity he wasn’t chancellor.
After the Storm is published by Atlantic (£18.99). Click here to order it for £15.19
