Saturday, November 15, 2008
Osborne Slams Sterling Collapse
Iain Dale 10:39 AM
Alice Thomson and Rachel Sylvester have interviewed the Shadow Chancellor for today's Times. I'm delighted to see that he takes up the issue of the collapsing value of Sterling, which he attributes to the government's borrowing frenzy.“Sterling has devalued rapidly against the euro and the dollar. We are in danger, if the Government is not careful, of having a proper sterling collapse, a run on the pound. The danger of a run on the pound . . . is that it pushes up long-term interest rates, which is a huge burden on the economy. The more you borrow as a government the more you have to sell that debt and the less attractive your currency seems.”
Bang on. Labour are now hilariously trying to blame the collapse of Sterling on George Osborne. You couldn't make it up. I predicted a few days ago that Sterling was about to become the big political and economic news story. I'm almost sorry to be proved right.
There are two things the Conservatives now need to constantly remind the electorate about.1. Unemployment is always higher at the end of a Labour government than when it came into office. Cecil Parkinson discovered this astonishing fact just before the 1983 election and used it to good effect. History is about to repeat itself.
2. Virtually every Labour government suffers from a Sterling crisis - think back to 1967 and 1976. Tory governments haven't been immune either (yes, 1992 before anyone says anything), but sterling crises seem to be in Labour's DNA.
The next fortnight is a crucial one for George Osborne - slap bang in the middle of it comes the pre budget report. Osborne is as resilient as his leader and I fully expect him to bounce back from the difficulties of the last few weeks. If he shows resilience, the ability to streetfight and a clear strategy demonstrating how the Conservatives would handle the current difficulties, then he will silence his critics and emerge as the political heavyweight many of us believe him to be.Friday, November 14, 2008
Billionaire Threatens New Statesman
Iain Dale 9:26 PM
The controversial businessman raised objections to links in the article to material hosted by Internet whistleblower site Wikileaks, as well as to statements made by Bright in his blog post. As well as requesting the removal of the blog, Auchi’s solicitors Carter Ruck are demanding an apology in open court and damages.
But the plot thickens...Wikileaks editor Julian Assange has now claimed that the New Statesman, in agreeing to Auchi’s terms, would defame him and Wikileaks by implying that the site’s content was inaccurate. In a letter to the New Statesman, Assange warned ‘Our organisation’s reputation for professional, accurate investigative journalism is our primary asset. As both the New Statesman and Wikileaks are globally read publications, we will consider taking action against the New Statesman in the most suitable jurisdiction or jurisdictions.’ Assange said the New Statesman should not be party to what he terms Auchi’s ‘mischief’, pointing out that Wikileaks had never been approached by Auchi or its lawyers about the material it hosted.
The NS is in a very tricky position and one I do not envy. There is a growing feeling that the libel laws are being used to close down discussion of some very rich or unpleasant people. Readers will recall the case of the Uzbekh billionaire who bought into Arsenal who threatened bloggers last year.
I understand the Auchi/New Statesman issue is going to be brought up in Parliament by way of an adjournment debate. Michael Gove, Denis MacShane and Norman Lamb are behind the initiative.
Saturday, 15 November 2008
The bad thing about writing a fortnightly column in the Telegraph is that you always want to write the column on the 'off' week. This week is a good case in point. So far this week Iain Martin and Janet Daley have both written columns calling for George Osborne to be moved. And then today, Robert Winnett writes a lengthy news story based on the call by Lord Kalms for George to be replaced by David Davis. I'm not quite sure what my colleagues at the Telegraph have got against George Osborne, but had I written my column this week at least I could have countered some of this wild and whacky speculation.
Looks like the New Statesman is involved in a 'damned if we publish and damned if we apologise' dispute with the billionaire Nadhmi Auchi. Index on Censorship reports that the NS has taken down a blog article by its political editor Martin Bright having been threatened with legal action by Auchi's lawyers.
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