While Boris was busy upstaging everybody at the Olympic victory parade, Vince Cable was giving a rather earnest statement on industrial strategy in the Commons chamber. Cable didn’t reveal that much about what he will say tomorrow, simply calling it ‘a gradual evolution of policy’ and making clear that it does not mark a return to picking winners.
But as with all Vince appearances these days, Labour tried to woo him while various Tories questioned his coalition fidelity. Chuka Umunna pointed out that while Vince Cable had been working for John Smith, Michael Fallon had been part of Margaret Thatcher’s team. One Labour MP after another then questioned whether Cameron and Osborne would sabotage his approach.
For their part, Tory backbenchers were largely supportive with two notable exceptions. Rather naughtily, Julian Lewis asked the Business Secretary to elucidate on how much happier he was to be developing this policy with the Tories than Labour.
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