Partnership and Politics in a Divided Decade by Vince Cable & Rachel Smith
£12.99
Paperback
Real Press
29 September 2022
"Adds perspective ...political activity in a 'normal' setting... It humanises politics... I was left with a feeling of sadness at the fate of the Lib Dems post 2015... We have slid down the longest snake on the board and there are a lot of ladders ahead of us." Norman Baker, former Lib Dem MP for Lewes
The decade of the 2010s produced Britain’s first post-war coalition government, plus the Brexit referendum and three years of Brexit debate, as well as the long and painful experience of post-crisis economic ‘austerity’.
The politics of the decade is described in a unique way in Politics and Partnership in a Divided Decade. Vince Cable was a leading figure in the Lib Dem-Conservative coalition cabinet, a Remainer and leader of the Liberal Democrats. His wife Rachel kept a diary of the period, mostly as a way of processing her thoughts and feelings at the time.
They jointly portray the political history of the decade as experienced through their own partnership: seeing the same events in different ways or seeing different things; feeling the emotions behind the dry political facts - experiencing together the ups and downs of a political career...