It doesn’t matter where Cable sits at Lib Dem conference, if he continues to sit around the Cabinet table

Nick Clegg has spent this morning touring the TV and radio studios to hold a debate about a debate, discussing the significance of whether or not Vince Cable turns up to support the party leadership in a vote on the economy. If it sounds pathetic, that’s because it is. Vince’s efforts to maintain his pose as the conscience of his party won’t wash. It doesn’t matter what seat he sits in at Lib Dem conference if he continues to occupy a seat around the Cabinet table.

Vince Cable is still trying to act as if the failures of the last three years of Tory-led Government are nothing to do with him – as if it’s ok for a Lib Dem to implement Conservative policies so long as he looks glum while he does it. Poor old Vince, the man forced against his will to treble tuition fees and implement an economic policy he spent years campaigning against, with nothing but a government department and a ministerial car and salary to ease the pain.

But at Liberal Democrat Conference every year, Vince comes out of his shell, the Old Testament prophet railing against those Tory policies he works so hard to put into practice in Westminster. It would be more convincing if the acts matched the rhetoric.

Should we listen to Vince Cable the angry opposition politician, warning in his 2008 conference speech that “the coward’s way is to sack or squeeze the pay of low paid public sector workers”, or Vince Cable the government minister, sacking public sector workers and freezing their pay?

Should we listen to 2009 Vince Cable, warning that “slash and burn” cuts would do “great damage to local and national services”, or 2010 Vince Cable, telling his audience “This is bound to hurt. Strong disinfectant stings”?

Vince’s speeches might work at the time. They might convince a Lib Dem audience that he is the man to speak truth to power. But he isn’t just a commentator. He’s a cabinet minister. And time after time, he doesn’t stand up for his principles, he votes against them.

Take, for example, the mansion tax. Vince spoke in favour of a mansion tax in his conference speech in 2009. He spoke in favour of a mansion tax in 2010. He spoke in favour of a mansion tax in 2011. He spoke in favour of a mansion tax in 2012. In 2013, he and the rest of the Lib Dems were given the opportunity to vote for a mansion tax, in the House of Commons, when Labour invited them to support our motion to introduce “a mansion tax on properties worth over £2 million, to fund a tax cut for millions of people on middle and low incomes”. Guess which way Vince and the Lib Dems voted? That’s right – given the chance to stand up for their principles, they didn’t. This week, maybe he’ll speak in favour of it again. If he does, remember – it’s just talk.

Or take tax policy. In 2009, Vince warned that “The Tories’ top priority is to cut taxes on millionaires.” Even as late as 2011, he mocked the idea that “all those British billionaires who demonstrate their patriotism by hiding from the taxman in Monaco or some Caribbean bolt hole will rush back to pay more tax but at a lower rate”. Yet George Osborne’s 2012 Budget, which cut the top rate of tax from 50p to 45p, handing an average of £100,000 to just 13,000 millionaires, was Vince Cable’s Budget too. He backed it. He voted for it. Why should we listen to him now?

Even in the policy area he has direct Cabinet responsibility for, business, Vince talks big but acts small. In 2010, he won headlines by taking the bankers on, saying, “I make no apology for attacking spivs and gamblers who did more harm to the British economy than Bob Crow could achieve in his wildest Trotskyite fantasies, while paying themselves outrageous bonuses underwritten by the taxpayer. There is much public anger about banks and it is well deserved.” It sounded good. But just a year later, he sheepishly returned to his conference to admit, “I regret this year that we did not secure tighter control on bank pay and bonuses. A bad message was sent: that unrestrained greed is acceptable.” If he can’t even do his own job properly, what is he for?

Vince will no doubt win applause from Lib Dem members in Glasgow again this year, but his act is wearing thin. You can’t protest against the actions of a government in which you’re a senior minister. You can’t demand policies you then vote against. You can’t expect people to be satisfied, year after year, with rhetoric you can’t back up with actions. If the public stops listening to Vince Cable, he has only himself to blame.