The political insider who warned David Cameron about Israel TEN years ago | Sir Vince Cable

The man in charge of Britain’s arms exports to Israel during the last Gaza war tells Declassified about his time at the heart of government making critical decisions on which countries could buy UK weapons. Speaking at the Liberal Democrat conference in Brighton on Monday, the party’s former leader Sir Vince Cable reflected on his time at Business Secretary from 2010-15. From Tel Aviv to Riyadh, Cable’s decisions had serious consequences for wars in Palestine and Yemen. Yet his authority to make these calls was constrained, he says, by Conservatives in David Cameron’s coalition government who wanted a more hawkish approach. Still, during the conflict in 2014, the coalition reached an agreement to suspend some arms for Israel about a month into the fighting. This time, it took the UK government 11 months before announcing a partial arms embargo - and only after the Conservatives had lost power. “I’m surprised,“ Cable said, criticising th