Is Vince Cable losing his touch?

Mostly since Vince Cable, Lib Dem Treasury spokesman, successfully stood in as a temporary leader last year, the old twinkle toes ballroom dancer has been fawned over by the media - so much so that you see him on TV more than his supposed leader Nick Clegg! He also made much of the fact that he had called for Northern Rock to be nationalised 5-6 months before our dithering Labour government decided to just that (whether nationalisation was a good decision is another thing entirely!).

However, it looks like recently he is losing his touch.

Guido has recently been highlighting the slippage of Cable's 'crown' arguing he is overly populist, has been guilty of flip-flopping over bipartisan support, and was overrated in the first place.

And Iain Dale has posted today about how recently Cable had been arguing that the independence of the Bank of England should be respected only for him to change his position on Sunday with a call for interest rates to be cut by 2 whole percent!

This is a serious point. Politicians cannot champion Bank of England independence one minute then try and exert political pressure on the Bank the next when the going gets tough. Cable is once again being populist because he knows his remarks will, and have, generated media coverage. To be fair to Cable he does not want monetary policy back under direct political control. Instead he has argued for the Bank's remit to be broadened from just focusing on keeping a check on inflation to the wider well-being of the economy including its growth.

But the Bank's primary focus should be on inflation. We have all got used to low inflation as a result of cheap goods from China but that does not mean inflation is just an evil relegated to history. Politicians like Cable seem to have rather short memories. And he's an old guy so he should remember the devastation caused by inflation in the 1970s!!!

Moreover, as we have seen with Japan which saw stagnation for 10 years in the 1990s - the 'Lost Decade' - even interest rates set at 0% cannot always rescue an economy.

In short, the Bank should continue to focus on bringing inflation under control (it is well above its 2% target) and politicians like Cable should know better and avoid playing opportunistic, populist games!