A Disgrace to Politics
Iain Dale 9:46 PM
Tuesday, March 23, 2010
How To Cut Public Spending (And Still Win An Election)
Iain Dale 2:13 PM
Tuesday, 23 March 2010
OK, I will make this short. I've just finished watching Dispatches. What an uncomfortable hour for those of us who seem to spend half our lives defending politics as an honourable profession.
Watching Stephen Byers preening himself and prostituting himself was stomach churning. He went into too much detail for it to have all been made up or exaggerated. Presumbaly the national press are now looking into everything he has done since he left office in disgrace all those years ago.
Margaret Moran is a lying bitch. She makes out she is too ill to see any of her constituents, yet at the prospect of some filthy lucre she's as perky as Pinky. What a truly despicable woman.
Patricia Hewitt couldn't have been any more condescending if she had tried. To pretend that what she has been doing isn't paid advocacy is to defy belief.
Sir John Butterfill was as puffed up as is possible to get and dug himself a deeper hole with every word he spoke. Bye bye Peerage, I'd think. And hope.
Strangely, Geoff Hoon was the only one who acted with any degree of propriety. Yes, his openly stated desire to make money on the back of his political career grated, but he did seem to have a slightly more admirable values set than the others. Albeit only just.
I won't go on. I don't like 'sting operations', but these people did themselves up like kippers with little help from the Dispatches people.
And they deserve all the consequences which had better be coming their way.
On Thursday this week, Biteback publishes a new book called HOW TO CUT PUBLIC SPENDING (AND STILL WIN AN ELECTION). It's desgined to advise all political parties on how they can cut government spending, borrowing and debt and still remain popular.
The Government is spending more than £5 for every £4 it raises in taxes, racking up hundreds of billions in new debts. The recession has exposed the parlous state of the public finances. Politicians irresponsible borrowing threatens to create a new economic crisis, driven by excessive, wasteful spending. If serious cuts aren't made then Britons face years of tax hikes and economic decline.
All the major parties are planning to cut spending but none of them have set out a credible programme to make the tens of billions of cuts needed.
In this book, the Taxpayers' Alliance presents the most thorough investigation yet of this vital issue and a plan to turn things around.
Edited by Matthew Sinclair, their Research Director, it includes a detailed examination of the records of the major parties and sets out a detailed programme of potential cuts and essential reforms to ensure taxpayers get better value for money.
Expert authors from around the world set out their experience of what it takes to successfully get a country s public finances in order.
You can preorder the book HERE. It should be in shops within a few days.
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