Churlish Mandy accuses his Tory yachting buddy of ‘irresponsibility’
Peter Mandelson this morning accused the shadow chancellor George Osborne of being "reckless", "irresponsible" and undermining the economy as Gordon Brown prepared to tell MPs world leaders are following his plan to provide a boost to economies by cutting taxes.
It seems churlish of Lord Mandelson to attack his Tory friend. After all, Mandy shared the controversial holiday with a Russian oligarch in Corfu which got them both into hot water. "What George Osborne was trying to do in his remarks was undermine the confidence of markets," said Mandy.
He may have been riled that Osborne has undermined his own launch today of 'Enterprise Week' in which the trade minister in the Lords will be trying to inspire young people to be more entrepreneurial. This may be one of the most ill-timed launches in recent history, but Mandy will argue that collapsing stock markets make it a good time to pick up bargains.
Osborne's remarks at the weekend about the Government causing a run on the pound produced predictable outrage, such as Mandelson's show of indignation on the Today programme, although the pound went up in early trading as the markets opened.
Osborne bought himself time with Tory critics with a robust defence of his position. He gave the clearest signal that he intends to ditch the fuel 'stabiliser', under which duty on petrol would rise, as the global price of oil has fallen. He confirmed the Tories are planning their own tax-cutting agenda and Oliver Letwin head of policy is working on cuts in public spending 'waste' to fund a bigger package.
But Osborne is nowhere near out of the woods yet. As the Mole reported last week, senior Tories want him moved in the reshufffle in the new year once the outcome of the Commons investigation into Caroline Spellman and 'nannygate' is known.
Stanley Kalms, a past major donor to the Tory Party, broke cover to call for Osborne to be replaced by David Davis, who is more in tune with Lord Kalms's eurosceptic views. But others want to see a big hitter like Ken Clarke brought back to the portfolio to give more weight to the attack on Brown's claims to be the world superhero on the global economic crisis, with Osborne moved to party chairman.
Brown is expected to give further hints about the prospect of tax cuts in next week's pre-budget report in a statement at Westminster today after the G20 summit in Washington.
FIRST POSTED NOVEMBER 17, 2008
Posts
