Britannia Radio

NEWS of the WORLD 5.4.09
How to forge a trillion dollars

By Fraser Nelson

COULD the G20 summit be the biggest con in political history? Because 
its claim of a trillion-dollar bailout is utterly fake.

We were told this sum would be "injected" into the world economy. But 
how much new money is there? None.

And for all the talk about helping poorer nations, the next country 
in the emergency ward could be Britain.   Look closely and there is 
NO deal to save the world. The G20 was a soufflé summit - tap it, and 
it collapses.

I'm not saying Gordon Brown didn't do a good job. The aim of these 
summits is to fake progress. He did it brilliantly.  He started off 
with 20 bickering leaders who couldn't agree on a penny of new money.

Undeterred, our PM deployed his elite team of financial spinners, who 
opened up their box of tricks.

Queen
They took old promises, dressed them up as new. They set a 
fundraising "target" and called it an "injection".   Other G20 
leaders looked on in amazement. Gordo did the impossible: faked a 
trillion out of nothing.

This is the deceitful art of hosting a summit. You have to draw up a 
statement that sounds tough but means nothing.

And the G20 is, of course, all about theatrics. It's about Michelle 
Obama's dresses, and her husband giving an iPod to the Queen. Obama 
really has a knack for presents. Now Her Maj can listen to Lily Allen 
as she walks the corgis without being interrupted.

Given the state of the US economy, it wouldn't surprise me if Obama 
asked the Queen if she wanted America back.   She'd answer: "Only if 
you take our Prime Minister." Because I suspect she's worried his 
spending will bankrupt the nation.

That fake trillion dollars is supposed to go to the International 
Monetary Fund, which bails out collapsed economies.  But could the UK 
be next? Lord Mandelson is suspiciously saying there should be no 
"stigma" in taking IMF funds.  And another Cabinet member is saying 
also (in private, of course) that an IMF bailout is like "going to a 
spa".

More like an A&E ward. Look at the IMF's patients: Armenia, Iceland, 
Pakistan, Serbia and Romania.

If Brown does think Britain could be needing a bailout, he might be 
tempted to have an early election. Some members of the Cabinet have 
long thought that the G20 summit would give them the best chance of 
success. But I doubt it. For a very good reason that was summed up in 
about two seconds on the steps of No10 last week.

A policeman was standing guard outside when Barack Obama and Gordo 
walked into No10 for talks.  On the way past, the American president 
reached over and shook the copper's hand. The officer was surprised 
and delighted.   So delighted that he then offered his hand to our PM 
- who just walked straight past him. And this says it all.

Conjure
Brown has stopped thinking in terms of real people. He thinks it's a 
success to conjure a number from thin air.  Together, they could be a 
team. From the adoring look on his face, Brown would love to be 
Obama's Chancellor.  The Obamessiah could do the talking-to-voters 
thing, while Brown could sit in the backroom with his calculator.

Once, Brown had someone to do the charming for him: A guy with a 
toothy grin called Blair. He's gone. Now there's no one to interface 
with Middle England. No one to notice a policeman's outstretched hand.

And 40 million voters who will notice that the G20 hasn't helped: and 
give their verdict at the ballot box.

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The Andrew Marr Show, BBC 1 5.4.09
(via Politics Home)
Clarke: G20 did not address causes of downturn

Kenneth Clarke, Shadow Business Secretary

Mr Clarke welcomed the G20's refinancing of the IMF, but the 
"international imbalance" behind the downturn still had to be addressed.

"Its big achievement was to lay down the basis for refinancing the 
IMF, and that was a critical achievement," he said of the G20 summit.

"It didn't address toxic debt, bank balance sheets - we won't get out 
of recession until the banks start lending normally. We will have to 
address the international imbalance. In the West we borrow money and 
in the East they lend us money - all that which lay behind the 
collapse in markets across the world got to be addressed."

Mr Clarke admitted that he didn't know how long and deep the 
recession would be, but felt that anyone who professed to do so "is 
by definition an idiot."
Regarding the plans for inheritance tax, he said he didn't understand 
the "fuss" over what he had said.

"I explained that you can't write a 2010 budget now, and on that 
particular tax, we've got to discover how much it would cost, but u 
don't know how many 'non-doms' there'll be, the details will have to 
wait."

He added that the government would "leave behind a bill to pay 
interest on the national debt which will exceed what we're proposing 
to spend on schools in this country."

Regarding expenses scandals, Mr Clarke said they had made people more 
"skeptical about politicians" but that around two thirds "do nothing 
improper at all."