This is the real damage the surreal media storm of this week has
caused. It’s let Gordon Brown off the hook on which he should surely
be firmly impaled.
And it's the ordinary people that will suffer. The one optimistic
thing I can point to is the reaction of the JCB workers in
voluntarily going onto short time working to save the jobs of some of
their fellows and to keep their company intact ready for the
recovery when it comes. That would not have happened in the days
when the marxist union leaders were wrecking the British car
industry. All honour to them.
I just hope the company can hang on that long.
xxxxxxxxxxxxx cs
=======================
TELEGRAPH 24.10.08
Yes, PM: there should be an inquiry ... into Britain’s finances
The House of Osborne has been Mandelised. Windows of opportunity have
been smashed and proceeds of opinion-poll growth dragged into the
gutter. Having experienced the Mandelights of dining with a mortgage
fiddler, Boyish George is struggling to pay a hefty bill for his not-
so-free lunch.
By Jeff Randall
The shadow chancellor’s acute embarrassment sparked Mandelirium in
Downing Street. When Gordon Brown said that this was “a very serious
matter indeed and I hope it is investigated by the authorities”, he
burnished further Number 10’s fast-growing reputation for alternative
comedy.
Not content with bringing back the travelling circus that is Peter
Mandelson for a final season of fun in Cabinet, the Prime Minister
kept a straight face while calling for an official scrutiny of why Mr
Osborne did not receive any money from a Russian billionaire. Hardly
a laughing matter, but aficionados of Mr Brown’s abstruse humour are
enjoying the joke.
Here’s the punchline: if Mr Osborne did not even squeeze a measly
£50,000 from an oligarch over a boozy session in Corfu, yet still
contrived to have the non-event become a national scandal, how can
Tatton’s MP be the man to look after the public purse – all £600
billion of it – in a crisis?
Mr Brown has a point. An investigation is required. For if Mr Osborne
were to become Alistair Darling’s successor, he would need to drum up
about £100 billion a year to plug the hole left behind by Labour’s
overspend. He won’t find that kind of money on the floor of a
floating gin palace, not even one as big as Oleg Deripaska’s. The
inquiry should start, therefore, not with the Russian bung that never
was, but with the dreadful state of Britain’s finances.
Mr Osborne is guilty of poor judgment. When a shadow minister arrives
with his party’s chief fund-raiser aboard a jolly-up hosted by
extremely rich businessmen, he inevitably invites speculation about
political donations. We will never find out precisely who said what
to whom, but I am certain that, when Mr Osborne learnt of Lord
Mandacious’s involvement, he should have thrown himself into the
Ionian Sea and swum away like Michael Phelps.
His failure to do so has delivered much needed air-cover for the
Government in a week when the Prime Minister deserved to be impaled
by shrapnel from an exploding economy.
What with the Bank of England forecasting a prolonged downturn, Mr
Brown at last acknowledging recession, the imposition of a three-day
week at Nissan’s factory in Sunderland and the pound suffering its
sharpest fall since the aftermath of Black Wednesday in 1992, it
takes a special kind fool to oust Mr Brown’s shortcomings from the
headlines.
Worse still, Mr Osborne has allowed Labour the luxury of moving on
from its own “dodgy donations” mess, which culminated in November
last year with the Prime Minister admitting that £600,000 had been
illegally accepted and promising that it would be handed back. In
short, Mr Osborne has facilitated government efforts to bury bad news
on an industrial scale.
And for what? Fifty grand. It’s so cheap. He should be able to raise
twice as much on a rag-raid to the City. For the average aluminium
tycoon, sums of this sort amount to little more than a round of drinks.
Mr Osborne’s Mandelusion was to believe that he could fire a few
shots at the Svengali of Spite and emerge unscathed. This was not
even a remote possibility. The new Business Secretary’s capacity to
subvert allies, never mind adversaries, makes Rasputin look like a
pretty straight kinda guy.
By leaking Mandelicious comments about Mr Brown from Nathaniel
Rothschild’s private gathering (he claimed they were pure “poison”),
Mr Osborne thought he could score readily at his rival’s expense.
In the event, his indiscretion produced a blinding own goal, and
diverted media attention from the Mandelicate business relationship
between the former European Trade Commissioner and Mr Deripaska.
Aside from displaying wretched manners by embarrassing his host, a
friend since they were at Oxford, the shadow chancellor failed to
appreciate Le style Rothschild. In his history of the family, author
Derek Wilson recalls advice from 1st Baron Rothschild to Randolph
Churchill in his clash with Gladstone: “Have a go at the Grand Old
Man on his own dunghill.”
That Rothschild was known as Natty. His descendant, Nat the impetuous
hedge-fund manager, has proved himself up to the challenge of
fighting dirty in ways of which the original Lord Rothschild might
have approved. By disclosing Mr Osborne’s alleged willingness to
consider financial help for the Conservative Party from a foreign
source, Mr Rothschild has done more damage than a thousand attacks
from Labour’s propaganda unit.
Had the shadow chancellor been a mere foot soldier, I suspect he
would already be in possession of his P45. David Cameron has dumped
frontbenchers for less. When Patrick Mercer MP, a former colonel,
made the mistake of suggesting that being called “a black bastard”
was part of Army life for ethnic minority servicemen – which it
undoubtedly it is, however unpleasant that truth may be – he was fed
to the dogs of political correctness.
Mr Mercer’s comments were wilfully taken out of context by critics.
He never claimed that black soldiers were more idle or useless than
whites. He did claim that some idle and useless black soldiers used
allegations of racism as a cover for misdemeanours. A black corporal,
Leroy Hutchison, who served in the same regiment for 12 years,
insisted: “He [Mercer] never tolerated racism and not a single one of
his men would consider him to be racist.”
Mr Cameron, however, was unmoved. He read what Mr Mercer had said. He
knew what Mr Mercer had meant. But he did not have the courage to
defend him against an onslaught from opponents, eager to play the
race card and demonstrate that Conservatives remained, at heart, “the
nasty party”. By contrast, Mr Osborne retains the backing of his
leader. Hanging out with louche enemies and shadowy wheeler-dealers,
it seems, is no sacking offence.
This has been Labour’s lucky week. As the country heads for a winter
of hardship, much of it the fault of the Government, it has been
saved by blurred memories of a summer rendezvous that should never
have happened.
Its spin doctors know they are unlikely to be so fortunate when Mr
Darling delivers his Pre-Budget Report next month. That’s when we
should learn the full horror of a runaway deficit that will,
eventually, lead to higher taxes.
As for Mr Osborne, he must surely think twice before arm-wrestling
again with his Mandelphic tormenter. When he next decides to play
rough with grown-ups, he would be advised to dip into a book soon to
be published by Hodder Education. Its title: Dealing with Difficult
People.
caused. It’s let Gordon Brown off the hook on which he should surely
be firmly impaled.
And it's the ordinary people that will suffer. The one optimistic
thing I can point to is the reaction of the JCB workers in
voluntarily going onto short time working to save the jobs of some of
their fellows and to keep their company intact ready for the
recovery when it comes. That would not have happened in the days
when the marxist union leaders were wrecking the British car
industry. All honour to them.
I just hope the company can hang on that long.
xxxxxxxxxxxxx cs
=======================
TELEGRAPH 24.10.08
Yes, PM: there should be an inquiry ... into Britain’s finances
The House of Osborne has been Mandelised. Windows of opportunity have
been smashed and proceeds of opinion-poll growth dragged into the
gutter. Having experienced the Mandelights of dining with a mortgage
fiddler, Boyish George is struggling to pay a hefty bill for his not-
so-free lunch.
By Jeff Randall
The shadow chancellor’s acute embarrassment sparked Mandelirium in
Downing Street. When Gordon Brown said that this was “a very serious
matter indeed and I hope it is investigated by the authorities”, he
burnished further Number 10’s fast-growing reputation for alternative
comedy.
Not content with bringing back the travelling circus that is Peter
Mandelson for a final season of fun in Cabinet, the Prime Minister
kept a straight face while calling for an official scrutiny of why Mr
Osborne did not receive any money from a Russian billionaire. Hardly
a laughing matter, but aficionados of Mr Brown’s abstruse humour are
enjoying the joke.
Here’s the punchline: if Mr Osborne did not even squeeze a measly
£50,000 from an oligarch over a boozy session in Corfu, yet still
contrived to have the non-event become a national scandal, how can
Tatton’s MP be the man to look after the public purse – all £600
billion of it – in a crisis?
Mr Brown has a point. An investigation is required. For if Mr Osborne
were to become Alistair Darling’s successor, he would need to drum up
about £100 billion a year to plug the hole left behind by Labour’s
overspend. He won’t find that kind of money on the floor of a
floating gin palace, not even one as big as Oleg Deripaska’s. The
inquiry should start, therefore, not with the Russian bung that never
was, but with the dreadful state of Britain’s finances.
Mr Osborne is guilty of poor judgment. When a shadow minister arrives
with his party’s chief fund-raiser aboard a jolly-up hosted by
extremely rich businessmen, he inevitably invites speculation about
political donations. We will never find out precisely who said what
to whom, but I am certain that, when Mr Osborne learnt of Lord
Mandacious’s involvement, he should have thrown himself into the
Ionian Sea and swum away like Michael Phelps.
His failure to do so has delivered much needed air-cover for the
Government in a week when the Prime Minister deserved to be impaled
by shrapnel from an exploding economy.
What with the Bank of England forecasting a prolonged downturn, Mr
Brown at last acknowledging recession, the imposition of a three-day
week at Nissan’s factory in Sunderland and the pound suffering its
sharpest fall since the aftermath of Black Wednesday in 1992, it
takes a special kind fool to oust Mr Brown’s shortcomings from the
headlines.
Worse still, Mr Osborne has allowed Labour the luxury of moving on
from its own “dodgy donations” mess, which culminated in November
last year with the Prime Minister admitting that £600,000 had been
illegally accepted and promising that it would be handed back. In
short, Mr Osborne has facilitated government efforts to bury bad news
on an industrial scale.
And for what? Fifty grand. It’s so cheap. He should be able to raise
twice as much on a rag-raid to the City. For the average aluminium
tycoon, sums of this sort amount to little more than a round of drinks.
Mr Osborne’s Mandelusion was to believe that he could fire a few
shots at the Svengali of Spite and emerge unscathed. This was not
even a remote possibility. The new Business Secretary’s capacity to
subvert allies, never mind adversaries, makes Rasputin look like a
pretty straight kinda guy.
By leaking Mandelicious comments about Mr Brown from Nathaniel
Rothschild’s private gathering (he claimed they were pure “poison”),
Mr Osborne thought he could score readily at his rival’s expense.
In the event, his indiscretion produced a blinding own goal, and
diverted media attention from the Mandelicate business relationship
between the former European Trade Commissioner and Mr Deripaska.
Aside from displaying wretched manners by embarrassing his host, a
friend since they were at Oxford, the shadow chancellor failed to
appreciate Le style Rothschild. In his history of the family, author
Derek Wilson recalls advice from 1st Baron Rothschild to Randolph
Churchill in his clash with Gladstone: “Have a go at the Grand Old
Man on his own dunghill.”
That Rothschild was known as Natty. His descendant, Nat the impetuous
hedge-fund manager, has proved himself up to the challenge of
fighting dirty in ways of which the original Lord Rothschild might
have approved. By disclosing Mr Osborne’s alleged willingness to
consider financial help for the Conservative Party from a foreign
source, Mr Rothschild has done more damage than a thousand attacks
from Labour’s propaganda unit.
Had the shadow chancellor been a mere foot soldier, I suspect he
would already be in possession of his P45. David Cameron has dumped
frontbenchers for less. When Patrick Mercer MP, a former colonel,
made the mistake of suggesting that being called “a black bastard”
was part of Army life for ethnic minority servicemen – which it
undoubtedly it is, however unpleasant that truth may be – he was fed
to the dogs of political correctness.
Mr Mercer’s comments were wilfully taken out of context by critics.
He never claimed that black soldiers were more idle or useless than
whites. He did claim that some idle and useless black soldiers used
allegations of racism as a cover for misdemeanours. A black corporal,
Leroy Hutchison, who served in the same regiment for 12 years,
insisted: “He [Mercer] never tolerated racism and not a single one of
his men would consider him to be racist.”
Mr Cameron, however, was unmoved. He read what Mr Mercer had said. He
knew what Mr Mercer had meant. But he did not have the courage to
defend him against an onslaught from opponents, eager to play the
race card and demonstrate that Conservatives remained, at heart, “the
nasty party”. By contrast, Mr Osborne retains the backing of his
leader. Hanging out with louche enemies and shadowy wheeler-dealers,
it seems, is no sacking offence.
This has been Labour’s lucky week. As the country heads for a winter
of hardship, much of it the fault of the Government, it has been
saved by blurred memories of a summer rendezvous that should never
have happened.
Its spin doctors know they are unlikely to be so fortunate when Mr
Darling delivers his Pre-Budget Report next month. That’s when we
should learn the full horror of a runaway deficit that will,
eventually, lead to higher taxes.
As for Mr Osborne, he must surely think twice before arm-wrestling
again with his Mandelphic tormenter. When he next decides to play
rough with grown-ups, he would be advised to dip into a book soon to
be published by Hodder Education. Its title: Dealing with Difficult
People.
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