Is Vince Cable really an economic guru?

Who has the most over-inflated reputation in British politics? Theresa May’s air of calculating caution is long gone, no one has believed in Boris Johnson’s connection with ordinary voters for a while, and if anyone still thinks the dwindling tribe of hardcore Blairites blathering on about the radical centre know anything about what is going on they are keeping themselves well-hidden. But for some strange reason, Sir Vince Cable’s reputation for being able to read the economy with lethal accuracy remains intact.

To much of the media, he remains the ‘man who saw the crash coming’. As the so-called Sage of Twickenham becomes leader of the Liberal Democrats later today, we will no doubt hear a great deal more about it. And as Brexit unfolds, he will no doubt be wheeled out to warn us constantly of damage being done to the pound, jobs, and prices if we aren’t in the Single Market or the Customs Union, or whatever version of EU-lite is being peddled that particular day.