Coming to a theatre near you: Vince Cable

One of the few beneficiaries of the recession has been Vince Cable, the Liberal Democrats' Treasury spokesman, whose sober reflections on the British economy, and his early predictions of its downturn, have won favour among the general public and fellow politicians.

Before the most recent opinion polls predicted a Conservative landslide at the next general election, he was even being tipped for the Chancellor's job in a possible Labour/Lib Dems coalition.

But is he about to blow all that goodwill? The Independent reports that a theatre impresario, Clive Conway, who also represents the disgraced Tory Minister Jonathan Aitken and the former BBC political editor turned ballroom dancer John Sergeant, has booked 64-year-old Cable to appear in a one-man show.

His debut performance comes next month at the Yvonne Arnaud Theatre in Guildford, at which he will give a 45-minute talk about the state of the economy, as well as more general musings about his "life and times". Afterwards, the audience will be given the chance to quiz him on any subject they like.

"It is rather like a reinvention of the public meeting," explains Conway. "I had thought about approaching him for some time. Then he did his Desert Island Discs show, which was great and everyone was talking about him, so we invited him to do it and he accepted."

If the box office receipts are good, Conway says that he will try and entice Cable to do a full tour, but this, he says, will only happen when the economy has calmed down and "he's not so busy”. Some time to come, then.

 ·