Vince Cable's Bean jibe stings Gordon Brown

7.00.00am UTC (GMT +0000) Sat 1st Dec 2007

"Gordon Brown has gone from Stalin to Mr Bean" says Vince Cable

The Liberal Democrat Party's deputy leader, treasury spokesman and now acting leader has proved exceptionally adept at the job. Gone are the panto-style groans that have greeted previous Lib Dem leaders when they stand to take their turn in the Commons hurly-burly of question time. Instead this week he brought the House down, with his quip about the "prime minister's remarkable transformation in the last few weeks from Stalin to Mr Bean, creating chaos out of order rather than order out of chaos". It was the kind of ridicule politicians fear as it might just stick.

Vince Cable - exceptionally adept

Add to that his deft handling of questions over the Northern Rock crisis and the privatization of Qinetiq, the former defence research establishment, and it adds up to an impressive period in the hot seat for the former economist. Dr Cable has been Lib Dem MP for Twickenham in West London since 1997. He first stood for Parliament in 1970 but spent most of his pre 1997 years in business and economics. He was chief economist for Shell International, and also had international experience advising the United Nations and the Commonwealth.

He has the advantage that when it comes to the economy he knows what he is talking about and he has been warning about the dangers of cheap credit and personal debt for years. During his few weeks as acting leader he has managed that tricky third party task of getting himself noticed and heard.

It began with his probing of the government over its handling of the Northern Rock collapse. In the Commons he asked: "Can the prime minister confirm that the Government have now lent £24 billion of taxpayers' money to that small mortgage bank? Twice the amount of public expenditure on primary schools every year, and four times the aid budget?"

He refused to meet the Saudi King during his state visit in protest at the country's human rights record. And, of course, he hit the bullseye, and managed to diminish the prime minister's stature, with his "Brown Bean" moment.