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