Vince Cable: the wit and wisdom of the Liberal Democrats' new business secretary

Vince Cable, who was today appointed Britain's new business secretary , has been a leading critic of the UK banking sector over the last few years. As Liberal Democrat Treasury spokesman he demanded a clampdown on banking bonuses, and called for fundamental reform to prevent "casino banking" threatening the wider economy. And during his time on the opposition benches he famously dubbed Gordon Brown Mr Bean, as the prime minister's stint in Number 10 hit trouble. Cable will have special responsibility for the banks in his role at the head of the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills. This was formerly the DTI, which eight years ago Cable suggested should be abolished. Here's a taste of Cable's thoughts from the last few years: • His descriptions of bankers: "Scargills in pinstripes." • On learning RBS was planning to pay bonuses just weeks after being bailed out: "The government said they would attach strict conditions on bonuses and it is very clear they are doing nothing of the kind. The banks are just making complete monkeys of them." • On the financial crisis : "Failed banks have become the financial equivalent of Chernobyl. The central issue is that these big, global banks, which do ordinary banking in Britain and are global casino operations, have to be split up so that if they do get into serious trouble in the future, the British taxpayer is not underwriting them." • On reforming the City : "The principles should be clear. Full compulsory disclosure of all pay, bonuses and perks for those earning more than the prime minister. The break-up of the big banks which are currently too big to fail, so that the taxpayer is no longer underwriting casinos. Casinos belong in Las Vegas, not in banking. We want straightforward, simple banks which do the basics well; not laboratories for financial rocket scientists." • Suggesting the state controlled banks should remained government-owned for as long as 10 years : "Restrictions on lending to sound companies by all banks is preventing a sustained economic recovery and thereby compounding the risk of growing bad debts, Behaviour which appears sensible to individual banks is disastrous when pursued collectively." • On the Department of Trade and Industry, in 2002 : "Why does it exist? What is its £5bn budget actually for? Is it actually a useful level of expenditure?" • On Gordon Brown in November 2007 : "The house has noticed the prime minister's remarkable transformation in the past few weeks from Stalin to Mr Bean." • On David Cameron, the "Liberal Conservative", in 2006 : "The ghastly thought is beginning to dawn on the Conservative party – as well as on New Labour and ourselves – that perhaps he means what he says. It is worth recalling that his inspiration, Gladstone, was once described by the historian Thomas Macaulay as the "rising hope of stern and unbending Tories" before embarking on a long migration to liberalism. "Tebbit, whose nostrils are acutely sensitive to the faintest whiff of ideological betrayal, has publicly expressed his concerns. Eric Forth has worried out loud about the abandonment of tax cuts. The Conservatives I meet are less than ecstatic when I greet them with the Cameroonian embrace of "fellow liberalism". Cynics will say that none of this matters. Power is everything. If it helps to win back government, even the dyed-in-the-wool Tories will swallow their pride and principles." • On relaxing away from Westminster in summer 2008 : "As an urban and suburban man, I have discovered, late in life, the sounds of birdsong and wind in the trees and grass and the simple pleasures of walking in fields and woods among deer, horses and cattle. "As I struggle to get my head round collateralised debt obligations, peak oil theory and the real, effective dollar exchange rate, it is an occasional relief to be summoned from my work to admire the bull's testicles and look for signs of his nocturnal activities with a rather unattractive young lady with flies on her nose. Somehow, a new chapter of the book is completed."