Britannia Radio

A pot-pourri of this mornings broadcast sayings.  The media want to 
talk about their pet celebrity but on the whole these here kept to 
the real subject.

Osborne was alright as far as he went and Darling said nothing much 
wrong but then he didnt say much at all!  Duncan who might gave been 
expected to talk of the slimy celebrity - as he's got to shadow his 
department  - batted away the subject and got to the point.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx cs

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POLITICS HOME    5.10.08
Andrew Marr Show, BBC 1
09:20 Osborne calls for "much bigger solution" to banking crisis

George Osborne, shadow Chancellor  said the ad hoc approach to the 
banking crisis is "running out of road" and called for a "much bigger 
solution". He went on to describe the return of Peter Mandelson as "a 
completely desperate act".

Asked about his meetings with Alistair Darling this week he said, "I 
think it has been useful.

"It's in everyone's interests that we don't see a American partisan 
battle we saw in the last fortnight, but in fact the main parties 
work together in a constructive fashion.

"Certainly on the banking legislation, we've got some ideas - raising 
deposit protection levels, which the government have now adopted. 
Looking at giving the government more options than simply 
nationalising the banks when they fail, and the government look as 
though they going to do that. So there are plenty of opportunities 
for us to work together.

"I think the ad hoc approach.is now coming to an end. We do need to 
look at a much bigger solution. I think the answer is around 
recapitalisation. You can deal with the symptoms, and that is the 
liquidity problems, but I think there will be a role for creditors, 
for existing shareholders, but also potentially for the government.

"At the moment Gordon Brown's approach is I think probably running 
out of road.

Asked whether he would be reviewing his own budgetary plans he said 
that the non-domicile and inheritance tax changes "still apply".

Asked whether he was the senior Tory people [to whom]  Peter 
Mandelson had attacked Gordon Brown , as reported in The Sunday Times 
he said:

"I don't think what he told me was any different from what he told 
anyone.

"It's very surprising to hear him say he's joined at the hip with 
Gordon Brown and if the problem with the government is that it's 
divided and dysfunctional, bringing Peter Mandelson in is going to 
make it more dysfunctional and divided.

"It is a completely desperate act and I think people see it for what 
it is."
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09:30  Alistair Darling: Government ready to do more to support banks

The Chancellor declared that with regards to the financial crisis the 
government was examining "some pretty big steps that you wouldn't 
normally take in ordinary times", he refused to rule out tax rises 
and said that borrowing would rise.

However, he said he would not seek to change the Bank of England's 
remit.

"Look, the remit that I've given the Bank of England, first set out 
by Gordon Brown nearly eleven years ago, is to target inflation 
because that's very important, but also to support the government's 
economics agenda.

"I'm not going to be writing to the Bank of England to change its 
remit."

He sought to reassure the public that "the remit was designed for 
difficult times as well as the good times."

He said that the government would continue to adopt a twin-track 
approach of sector-wide action combined with specific assistance to 
individual banks when necessary.

"It is important that we take action across the piece, that's why 
with the Bank of England we took action across the housing sector, 
but you do also need to be ready to take specific action as we did 
with Bradford & Bingley last weekend.

"It's important that you take generalised action as well as being 
ready to take particular action if you get a particular problem with 
an individual bank."

Pressed on whether taxes would rise he refused to rule out such 
measures, but did concede that borrowing would rise.

"I've made it very clear  that at this time we need to support the 
economy and because we've reduced the amount of debt we inherited in 
the ten years after we were elected, we're now in a better position 
to allow borrowing to rise as the economy slows down, and that's the 
right thing to do. You don't start taking money out of it."

Asked to comment on Peter Mandelson's shock return to the cabinet as 
business secretary, the Chancellor replied,

"I worked with Peter when I was Secretary of State for Trade and 
Industry and he was the EU Trade Commissioner, we worked very well 
together. I met him on Friday, the day of his appointment, and the 
two of us are absolutely clear that especially at this time you need 
in government the best people for the job.

"Peter will be a valuable part of that, as will everybody else."


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Adam Boulton Live, Sky News
11:05  Alan Duncan: "Mandelson is not the problem, Brown is the 
problem".
11:05 | 05/10/2008

Alan Duncan, Shadow Business Secretary

[The interviewer tried to talk abnout Mandelson and Duncan tried to 
divert him to important matters! -cs]

Instead, he sought to shift the focus back onto Gordon Brown's 
leadership.

"Mandelson is not the problem, Gordon Brown is the problem and I 
think one of the reasons he was appointed was to try to take the 
focus off the Prime Minister onto what has been a very exciting media 
circus around Peter Mandelson."

Asked if the reshuffle in general had improved the government, he 
replied:

"It's very difficult to say, we'll have to wait and see how the 
departmental responsibilities divide. But I think the main problem is 
that Gordon Brown remains the Prime Minister and has shown no 
contrition whatsoever for ten years of economic mismanagement."

However, he affirmed that it is now "all hands on deck." Emphasising 
that, "we can make lots of points against them politically but we 
have to work with them in the interests of country to help get out of 
a profound economic difficulty."

Asked whether the Conservatives would do anything radically different 
with economic policy, he answered:

"Over a number of years we suggested that the regulatory situation 
with the banks was wrong but look that is behind us and what George 
Osborne is now doing is working with Alistair Darling and to his 
credit he has accepted some of the things we've recommended about the 
valuation of bank assets. Which I fully expect to be in a banking 
bill when get back to Parliament tomorrow."
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