Vince Cable #fail

Politicians should be able to duck a tricky question, but Vince Cable made a gaff last night.

At the North West IoD dinner Michael Taylor, Editor of North West Insider, asked Vince Cable about Regional Development Agencies – a potentially tricky subject. In his answer he said that he was ‘undecided’ if the RDAs should be abolished.

Surely the worst thing a politician could be is “undecided”? Indecision is the enemy of leadership, a problem area for the Lib Dems in the polls. A bit of media training would have taught Vince to avoid a core party weakness.

We offer our clients media training where interview skills are drummed into spokespeople. Surely the right response was to skilfully duck the question, or – shock horror – have an opinion.

Typical Lib Dem stuff! Vince, if you want some media training, get in touch!

Here is the copy from today’s North West Insider update.

Vince Cable – undecided on RDAs

The Liberal Democrats shadow treasury spokesman Vince Cable is now undecided as to whether to abolish regional development agencies (RDAs). Asked by Insider after his gloomy speech on the economy at the Institute of Directors dinner last night, Cable said he was impressed by the regeneration work of the Northwest Regional Development Agency (NWDA) and OneNorthEast, but “the further south you go, the worse the performances of the RDAs”. He added that the track-record of all RDAs on “industrial training” had been “poor” and that savings will need to be made. Cable had been sitting next to NWDA chairman Robert Hough during the dinner held at Manchester’s Lowry Hotel. His speech called for “new models” of infrastructure funding and trotted out praise for entrepreneurs.