#114 - Vince Cable - Reform v Lib Dems - The UKs Political Future
The Peter McCormack Show
Peter McCormack
4.7 • 2.8K Ratings
🗓️ 18 September 2025
⏱️ 70 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Sir Vince Cable served as Secretary of State for Business in the coalition government and later became leader of the Liberal Democrats.
We discuss: – Why the UK economy is fundamentally broken – The failures of the Conservatives & Labour – Whether the Lib Dems have a future – Why growth has stalled & public trust collapsed – Coalition government, tuition fees & political regret – Liz Truss, Brexit & the case for honesty in politics – Localism, China, Trump & new global superpowers
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TIMESTAMPS: 00:00:00 – Intro 00:02:43 – Are Labour and Tories Finished? 00:04:05 – Why the Public Feel Lost 00:07:19 – Political Failure & Overpromising 00:11:13 – What Business Teaches Politics 00:16:06 – Why the Economy Won't Grow 00:19:59 – A Crisis of Leadership 00:21:11 – Why Both Parties Failed 00:25:01 – Lib Dems' New Opportunity 00:29:32 – Voter Disillusionment Grows 00:32:42 – Did Coalition Government Work? 00:36:55 – Why Politics Is Hard 00:40:00 – What Makes Politics Worth It? 00:45:13 – The Bank of England Wasn't the Enemy 00:48:19 – Civil Service & "The Blob" 00:54:53 – The Case for Decentralisation 00:56:57 – China Is More Decentralised Than UK 01:00:00 – America's Local Power Advantage 01:01:46 – If Vince Cable Was PM... 01:03:31 – Tax Honesty & Scandinavian Model 01:07:04 – What He's Doing Now 01:09:10 – Closing Thoughts
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EDITED BY CONOR MCCORMACK › https://x.com/ConorM04
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | We're probably at one of those big historical turning points. |
| 0:03.0 | I look back to, you know, in 1923, 24, after the First World War, |
| 0:08.0 | the country was very unsettled and all kind of issues arising from the war. |
| 0:13.0 | And the Liberal Party just disappeared, more or less, in the space of a couple of elections. |
| 0:17.0 | It had been the, you know, dominant party for a century and they just went. |
| 0:21.8 | And they've come back in as part of the Lib Dems, but actually the party died, really, and |
| 0:27.2 | was replaced by the Labour Party. And I think we're maybe at that kind of turning point again. |
| 0:31.6 | I think it's very plausible to imagine that reform are one of the two parties that will emerge |
| 0:37.3 | from all this. I would like to think the Lib Dems are the two parties that will emerge from all this. |
| 0:38.0 | I would like to think the gems are the other, but yeah, I take the basic point that I think |
| 0:43.7 | we're in a state of potential upheaval. |
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| 1:31.0 | we've really enjoyed being involved in non-league football and i don't know i find myself watching |
| 1:37.4 | the premier league less yeah well i occasionally get to the emirates okay i've got a friend who |
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