A bit of political nostalgia
2nd October 2007: Gordon Brown is accused of “cynical pre-election politics” over his visit to British forces in Iraq during the Conservative Party conference. Shadow Defence Secretary Liam Fox said MPs had been led to expect a statement on the withdrawal of troops from Basra in the House of Commons. “It now seems that the photo opportunity has just been too great for Gordon Brown. And many people will see this as cynical politics, playing political football with our armed forces. And a lot of people, given Gordon Brown’s lack of interest previously, will find this pretty cynical and unacceptable.” Sir John Major also questioned the timing of the announcement and Mr Brown’s visit. The Conservative former prime minister said he was “disappointed” Mr Brown had not made the statement to MPs first. “It wasn’t announced last week at his party conference, it was announced on the hoof in Iraq. It hasn’t been announced, as it should have been, in Parliament,” he said. But No 10 said he had always planned to go to Iraq as part “of the normal process of government” and that it was “preposterous” to suggest the PM was playing politics.
6th October 2009: Chancellor Alistair Darling announces a pay freeze for 750,000 senior and middle-ranking civil servants. A Tory spokesman said Mr Darling’s announcement, on Monday evening, shows that “the Conservative Party is setting the terms of the political debate on the economy”. He added: “It is surprising that the Labour chancellor chose to make this announcement – which affects hundreds of thousands of people – in the middle of a Conservative Party conference. People will question his motives. Tomorrow (Tuesday) George Osborne will set out an overall approach to deal with Labour’s debt crisis”. But Labour sources insisted they were not trying to scupper Mr Osborne’s speech, saying public sector pay was simply the first issue in Mr Darling’s in-tray after he returned from the Labour conference and a series of foreign engagements.
Notice the pattern? Labour in desperate need to swing more votes in their favour in the run up to an election, cynically position a major announcement of national significance in the middle of the Conservative Party conference on an issue that they had expressed little prior interest in and had ignored at their own party conference, stick two fingers up at Parliament and make the announcement to the media instead of MPs, deny any wrongdoing, say that this was just another day at the office.
Lies and deceit – it’s the only way Labour know how.
Witanagemot Blogs
Dear LFAT. As Labour under Brown have made the sidelining of the Commons a Labour Core Value, are not the spinmeisters correct in saying that it’s just another day at the Office?
GOM – you beat me to it!
I read “just another day at the office….Lies and deceit..” and thought “So?”
But nothing about a pay freeze for highly paid Cabinet Ministers or “Special Advisers”, or a freeze on MP’s pensions
@Brian E. – How do you freeze something that’s ‘gold plated’?
Alright, alright – I take your point. Lies and deceit are not out of place in the Labour Party, but that doesn’t mean I have to like it.
Brian, interesting point about pensions as both parties have (thus far) steered clear of this highly sensitive issue. I wonder if Osborne will start this particular argument today and risk the wrath of the unions.
The Civil Service pension is in itself a wonderful thing. I’ve got one after a career in HM forces. So lets include the pension value as part of the total remuneration package when comparing with the comparable private sector standard and see how things work out, shall we?
LFAT
On pensions, they are already floating the idea of accelerating the increase in the age when the state pension can be drawn. Turner being tee’d up for (yet another) review. Hopefully once they do this they will have the courage to set the public sector retirement age at the same point.
On DC’s announcement a couple of months ago about cutting the cost of politics, I was most disappointed that he didn’t say anything on pensions. To my mind he should have closed the MPs final salary scheme to new contributions (from new and existing members) and switched it across to a direct contribution scheme as of the next election…that would give him the moral authority to go after the public sector pensions in full.
For the country as a whole, the level of debt is probably manageable, provided that the deficit is brought under control. It’s the contingent liabilities – pension deficits and PPF schemes – that keep me up at night
In the Metro this morning, they mentioned that the senior civil service were in the middle of a three-year pay deal, which Darling decided to override because the economic situation warranted it.
So hopefully even their supporters will now realise Labour’s promises are worth nothing!
Charles,”For the country as a whole, the level of debt is probably manageable”.
You are far more sanguine than me . Any one of a number of shocks could trigger a second credit crunch. The Oil states are considering decoupling oil prices from the Dollar. California, the 8th largest economy in the world,is nearly bankrupt. The last time Labour introduced a top persons pay freeze, the IMF were running the country. A degradation in the country’s Debt rating could be the snowflake that’s starts the avalanche. There’s a tsunami of world debt building up that needs to be rescheduled. The global economy is held together with string and (printed) paper. Get some really strong sleeping pills
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Charles, if DC goes after Parliamentary pensions he will get a pat on the back from every newspaper and voter in this country – and it would certainly give him the authority to take on public sector pensions. We live in hope.
Julia, it was noteworthy that Darling steered clear of pay fpr the police and teachers because they were in the middle of a three-year pay deal. Inconsistency?….
GOM, much as I hate Brown, we all know that a drop in the UK’s credit rating would hurt everyone when this country ends up paying much higher rates of interest. I’m really praying that Cameron’s tough talk on reducing the deficit can keep the credit rating wolves at bay.
I’m just fixing my mortgage now for 2 years at 4.2% ish. That sounds high but the floating base on trackers is 3.6% so I’m taking a .6% hit. Why?
Because, looking ahead until Dec 2011, I can easily forsee circumstances where, following an election, the currency completely tanks and our credit rating drops while the markets continue to refuse Bond issues to re-finance the public debt. Under those circumstances, I can see Interest rates hitting 9 or 10% for a few months in an attempt to both stabilise the situation and sort out the housing market in which a sizeable percentage are still massively overextended. I know I couldn’t survive that but I also know that while it may help, the country couldn’t survive rates that high for more than 5 or 6 months.
With this in mind, I’m gambling that 2 years will see me through the near-inevitable chaos when Dave and George try to sort out the flaming bag of sh*t Gordon and Alastair will hand them in lieu of an economy.
Lies & Deceit. Brown wrote the book on both. (Someone else wrote ‘Courage’)
Also, it is striking how both Radio 4 & 5Live this morning gave Cameron a very rough ride, focussing not on what the country wants to know but what the Labour spin machine wants the country to think. The EU issue is being flogged to death, but nobody in the media questions the broken labour promise fr a referendum.
Campbell was simply appalling, and whose idea was it to put Gavin Estler in to bat for the Toady program? Horrendous interviews which would have left the unbiassed listener in no doubt as to whom the BBC was supporting.
Lib / lab pact on the cards anyone?
GOM
I agree there are plenty of risks that could completely screw things up – from my perspective I have been moving everything I can into US dollars. Although they are in as much of a mess, I have much more confidence in the energy of the American people to sort themselves out. (Note, before I am flamed, I said the people, not the politicans!).
I was actually making quite a narrow point: assuming debt to GDP is around 80%, while government income is somewhere around 40%, then the debt to income ratio is around 2x. Sure we are talking big numbers in absolute terms, but overall as a multiple (and government revenue is more stable and certain than personal income) it’s not too bad.
Shaun – not sure that I agree with the analysis: provided that you believe that DC is bold enough to tackle the deficit. However, if QE carries on at the rate it is I can see inflation being a real risk – and hence high interest rates, so the impact is the same. Hence the move to dollar exposure (my main mortgage is now quoted in USD at a spread to 3 month market rates)
You are a braver man than I!
I don’t have the time or expertise to play with mortgages in multiple currencies (and spare a thought for those twonks who thought they were getting a steal by buying a €uro mortgage just after the currency’s launch. They must really be squealing now!) and so wouldn’t dare take the risk. Plus my wife would murder me…
Aren’t you worried about the vulnerability of the dollar, particularly in light of today’s news that France, China, Russia and some others are looking at ways of binning it as the global currency? Or have you managed to have an easy way out of the currency if it does go t*ts?
Charles. Follow your analysis, which is a respectable one. I suggest our differences highlight that we’re all blindfolded on a tightrope without a balancing pole.
Shaun – simply a factor of having an American wife who insisted on having a Californian bolt-hole in case everything went t*ts up over here…
I would never have UK assets funded with foreign currency debt as you can get completely screwed. A huge part of the issue in Hungary is with all those clever people who thought that Swiss Franc mortgages were the best way to buy into the booming Hungarian property market…
GOM – can you be grumpy while blindfolded and on a tightrope: isn’t that one multi-task too many?