Vince Cable rules out standing as MP again

http://www.theguardian.com/politics/2015/may/13/vince-cable-rules-out-standing-as-mp-again

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Vince Cable, the former business secretary who lost his seat in last week’s election, has said that he will not stand again.

A few days after he celebrated his 72nd birthday, Cable told the Richmond and Twickenham Times that a “politics of fear” had been responsible for the Tory victory.

He had served as a Liberal Democrat MP for Twickenham for 18 years until he lost his seat to Conservative Tania Mathias last week. He told the paper that he would not be running again.

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“I am naturally very disappointed and not specifically for myself because most of my parliamentary colleagues were defeated as well,” he said.

“The fundamental reason for that was a politics of fear – people were told in this endless barrage of target mail and telephone calls that if they didn’t vote Conservative, we were going to get Ed Miliband and the SNP. Large numbers of people were persuaded by that message, that is the crux of it.”

Cable said that he plans to follow up his book, The Storm, which analyses the economic crash. “I’m not rushing into any personal planning, this has been a massive disruption. I have time to finish my book now, which is a follow-up to The Storm, so that will keep me busy for the time being,” he said.