cable ride
Vince Cable, the coalition’s secretary of state for business, innovation & skills, is truly deluding himself if he thinks the British public at large regard him as “the politician bloke who appeared on Strictly Come Dancing”. This dangerous and manipulative use of self-deprecation, from someone who was widely regarded (in opposition) as everyone’s favourite straight-talking uncle, sees Vince attempting, and failing miserably, to deflect justified criticism in the wake of the Royal mail debacle. Most people will now justly remember him as the minister who grossly undervalued Royal Mail before its sell-off, failed to appreciate the short-term nature of many of the government’s chosen and preferential ‘long-term’ investors, and then proved to be too arrogant to admit his mistake.
Twelve of the ‘lucky 16’ investors sold up immediately after the share price had jumped by a third on their first day of trading, including Lazard, the bank that advised the government on the sell-off and set the 330p float price, and who subsequently made a cool (and very easy) £8,000,000 profit. Nice work if you can get it. Deep down, Uncle Vince knew that that the taxpayer was being taken for a ride.
