Blackfriar: City gives backing to 'strange and unexpected' coalition

He duly accepted the post, had a chat with Nick 'n' Dave, then left to get on with the job.

But apparently there was much confusion as he exited No 10 and it took some time before he realised that the nice shiny Jag parked up was actually for him.

Yes, previous incumbent Lord Mandelson has had to part with his ministerial vehicle and return from whence he came.

It will be interesting to see what Mr Cable chooses to do with the Jaguar – that ultimate symbol of Labour indulgence after Lord Prescott achieved the nickname of 'Two Jags'.

Blackfriar sincerely hopes Mr Cable will be trading it in for a much cheaper, greener car in keeping with his party's beliefs.

All in all, the City was rather impressed with the new cabinet line up.

Appointing Mr Cable as business secretary is an inspired choice.

Here is a former economist who warned of the dangers of the banking system before a single pound was removed from Northern Rock.

But there had been deep misgivings about rumours that he could have been appointed to a more senior role such as Chancellor of the Exchequer or another senior financial position.

Mr Cable's ideas about breaking up the banks and capping bonus payments are simplistic.

Right now Britain needs a strong banking sector. It needs Royal Bank of Scotland and Lloyds to start making real money again.

Not only to boost the Treasury's coffers with increased taxes, but this is the only way the taxpayer has a chance of getting back their multi-million pound investment and seeing it increase manifold.

As for Nick 'n' Dave, their first joint press conference in the rose garden at Downing Street yesterday afternoon looked more like an American wedding ceremony.

They even had birdsong in the background.

Nick Clegg's speeches have been likened to US President Barack Obama's and without doubt he has a lot of Mr Obama's natural charm.

He will be a very useful spokesman for UK PLC in its dealings abroad.

The City gave the two leaders the thumbs up yesterday and the FTSE 100 closed up 49.2 at 5383.4.

City commentator David Buik of BGC Partners summed up the mood in the Square Mile: "There is an upbeat feeling that this strange and unexpected coalition might work and the market is prepared to give it the benefit of the doubt until there is more meat on the bone – or not as the case may be."

The sorry case of Cattles reached a new low yesterday.

Long suffering shareholders were told that the company actually made a loss of 745m in 2008, not the 555m loss previously thought.

Yesterday chairman Margaret Young said the group is looking at making claims against third parties – which could include the six sacked directors and former auditor PwC.

But shareholders should not hold their breath. Their shares are already worthless and these claims often tend to come to nothing.

Chances are that the main Welcome business will be wound down and the two other businesses, Lewis and Cattles Invoice Finance, will be sold.

In that case Cattles would no longer exist and there would be no one to make the claim.

Which leaves it up to shareholders to decide whether they can go through the torturous process of launching their own lawsuit.