Vince Cable at St Albans Lib Dem Annual Dinner

12.00.00am GMT Mon 26th Nov 2007

Sandy Walkington proudly introduces Acting Lib Dem Leader to St Albans

Vince Cable was long planned to be guest speaker at the St Albans LibDem annual dinner last Friday - before Ming Campbell resigned and we had a leadership election. So Vince - who was booked in his capacty as deputy leader - came as Acting Leader hard on the heels of the two candidates to succeed him as elected Leader who appeared at the hustings on the night before. Confused?

However it was a full house of 131 LibDems who crammed into the banqueting suite of the Quality Hotel in London Road, St Albans, to hear Vince - a former chief economist for Shell - give his powerful insights into Northern Rock, the child benefit data disaster, the mis-selling of Quinetiq, and the shameful way our government has failed to challenge Saudi Arabia on the judicial flogging of a rape victim.