Vince Cable seems to enjoy a better reputation than most politicians. Maybe it was his warnings of a financial crisis years before it actually occurred, or maybe it’s just the ballroom dancing. Either way, Cable is spared the opprobrium that some of his Liberal Democrat colleagues suffer. Listening to Cable address a public policy event on inequality and speaking to him afterwards, one starts to understand why he is thought of in such a way: Cable is unfailingly, infuriatingly, diplomatic and level-headed. 

Take the case of NUS President Malia Bouattia, and her controversial comments regarding Birmingham University becoming a "Zionist outpost", amongst other things. Cable admits that she “became rather obsessed with the Palestine issue, said some things which were probably unacceptable in terms of normal discourse”, but was equally keen to stress that he did not know the ins and outs of the issue. 

This even-handedness permeated Cable’s attitude in government; he strongly opposed the ‘Prevent’ strategy, designed to prevent extremism in schools and universities. “I think this concept of non-violent extremism is quite dangerous because one person’s extremist is another person’s moderate. What is a non-violent extremist? Is it some Muslim radical or is it Nigel Farage? Where do you draw the line?”. 

When discussing his time in government more widely, Cable seems to take a slightly different attitude to other former Lib Dem ministers. Nick Clegg, for example, spent much of his time at the Union earlier this term defending their record, and arguing that things would have been far worse had they not been in government. Cable on the other hand opts for humility, admitting that the Coalition could have done more to tackle inequality. 

His views on where the Lib Dems go from here is also characterised by a certain pragmatism, calling the fact that they only have eight MPs “a crippling disadvantage”.

“The media tend to choose spokesmen on the basis of the number of parliamentarians you have, and so Tim Farron, who’s very good, is not getting an airing. I tend to get more publicity than he does, simply because I’ve been in government. That is a very serious problem, and there’s no easy way around it other than by building up our strength again, through by-elections or whatever.”

Not that Cable entirely deviates from the standard Lib Dem answer to the issue of whether they can ever become a meaningful political force again: “there is an enormous unoccupied space between the Tories, who I think will become increasingly loathed as time goes on, and the Corbynite Labour Party. They’re going to do very badly, and people desperately want an alternative to the Tories. That’s the space the Liberal Democrats should be moving back into.”

Cambridge turns out to be an appropriate place to be having this discussion, as Cable cites it an example of the way the Lib Dems can move forward. “We still have a strong local government base to build on, and I think that’s the way the comeback will come.”

Cable also sticks to the Liberal Democrat policy of being wholeheartedly for remaining in the EU. Coming from such an idealistically pro-European party though, what does Cable make of the accusations that have been made against the Remain side that they are running with ‘Project Fear’?

“Sometimes you have to hold your nose a bit, but actually the campaign has been very powerful, and I think very effective in bringing home what is a very strong economic case. Brexit would have very damaging economic consequences, and that message has been hammered home remorselessly.” 

Pressed on the matter, he does admit however that “there are things I don’t like, I think using house prices was pretty nasty. After all, we could do with lower house prices.”

In terms of the outcome of the referendum, one of the chiefs concerns for remainers like Cable is that young people, who are generally thought to be the demographic most in favour of staying in the EU, will not turn out in enough numbers for the result they want to transpire. 

“Whenever I speak at a public meeting, the people who turn up tend to be grey-haired. I always remind them that there is a big disparity between the preferences of young people, and those of old people who want to leave.”

But why exactly aren’t young people turning up to vote in anyway near the same levels as their grandparents’ generation?

“I honestly don’t know. Maybe it’s a kind of fatalism about their ability to influence events. I think probably one factor is a kind of psychological change. When I was young, people used to vote out of a vague sense of civic duty. These days it’s much more instrumental: people say ‘is my vote actually going to change the outcome? Why bother?’ The problem is that’s true for an individual but collectively it is disastrous.”

It is a rare moment of passion from Cable. For all of his calm and rational approach may have won him admirers both within and outside of politics, one but cannot wish that he showed a few more glimpses of what really gets him worked up.