John Vincent "Vince" Cable (born 9 May 1943) is a British Liberal Democrat politician and economist who is currently the Business Secretary in the coalition cabinet of David Cameron. He has been Member of Parliament for Twickenham since 1997.

Cable studied economics at university and became an economic advisor to the Kenyan government in 1966. He was an advisor to the British government and to the Commonwealth Secretary-General in the 1970s and 1980s. Later, he served as Chief Economist for the oil company Shell from 1995 to 1997. In 1970s, Cable was active in the Labour Party and became a Glasgow councillor. However in 1982, he joined the Social Democratic Party which would later join the Liberal Party to form the Liberal Democrats, and he unsuccessfully contested seats in the elections of 1983 (York), 1987 (York) and 1992 (Twickenham) until being elected as the MP for the London constituency of Twickenham in the 1997 general election.

Cable was the Liberal Democrats' senior economic spokesperson from 2003 to May 2010. He was elected Deputy Leader of the Liberal Democrats in the House of Commons in March 2006, and following Sir Menzies Campbell's resignation, he was Acting Leader for two months—from October 2007 until the election of Nick Clegg. He resigned from his position as Deputy Leader in May 2010.

Edward Michael Balls, (born 25 February 1967) is a British Labour politician, who has been the Member of Parliament (MP) for Morley and Outwood since 2010, and is the current Shadow Chancellor of the Exchequer. From 2005 to 2010, he was the MP for Normanton and he served in the Cabinet from 2007 to 2010.

Balls is married to current Shadow Home Secretary and fellow Labour MP Yvette Cooper. In 2008 they were the first married couple to serve together in a British Cabinet.

Balls' father is the zoologist Michael Balls, criticised for campaigning against the grammar school system in Norfolk, then sending his son to fee-paying schools. Balls was born in Norwich and educated at Bawburgh Primary School in Norwich, Crossdale Drive Primary School in Nottinghamshire, and then the private all-boys Nottingham High School, where he played the violin. He went on to attend Keble College, Oxford, where he gained a First in Philosophy, Politics and Economics (graduating ahead of David Cameron), and later Harvard, where he was a Kennedy Scholar specialising in Economics.

Jeremy Dickson Paxman (born 11 May 1950) is an English journalist, author and broadcaster. He has worked for the BBC since 1977. He is noted for a forthright and abrasive interviewing style, particularly when interrogating politicians. His regular appearances on the BBC2's Newsnight programme have been criticised as aggressive, intimidating and condescending, and also applauded as tough and incisive. He is also the question master of University Challenge, succeeding Bamber Gascoigne when the programme was revived in 1994.

Paxman was born in Leeds. His mother, Joan, born 1920, was a housewife. Paxman is the eldest of four children and has two brothers, one of whom, Giles, is the British Ambassador to Spain (having previously been ambassador to Mexico), and a sister, Jenny, a producer at BBC Radio.

He was brought up in Yorkshire and Peopleton, near Pershore, Worcestershire. In 1964, he went to Malvern College and read English at St Catharine's College, Cambridge, where he edited the undergraduate newspaper Varsity. While at Cambridge, Paxman was briefly a member of the Labour Club.

Nicholas William Peter "Nick" Clegg (born 7 January 1967) is the British Liberal Democrat Leader since 2007 and currently the Deputy Prime Minister and Lord President of the Council (with special responsibility for political and constitutional reform) in the coalition government of which David Cameron is the Prime Minister. Clegg has been the Leader of the Liberal Democrats since 2007, and a Member of Parliament (MP) representing Sheffield Hallam since 2005. He was previously a Member of the European Parliament (MEP) and an award winning journalist for the Financial Times.

Clegg was elected to the House of Commons at the 2005 general election and became the Liberal Democrats' Home Affairs spokesperson in 2006. Clegg became Deputy Prime Minister following the 2010 general election, when the Liberal Democrats formed a coalition government with the Conservative Party. As well as his parliamentary roles, Clegg has contributed to many pamphlets and books on political issues. He has also had a large number of jobs, including being a skiing instructor and working in the office of a bank in Helsinki.