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Friday 11 December 2009

Brown & Balls Drop Darling in the Doo-Doo

Alistair Darling has 'had a good recession', in the way that some men have been said to have 'had a good war'.
 He was ridiculed for his prescience in recognising that the then-impending crisis of 2007-9 would be the most serious economic issue for sixty years. He kept his nerve through the collapse of Bear Stearns and Lemans [refusing to take Lemans' obligations onto his balance sheet, which would have been the case if Barclays had been allowed to buy the whole rotten empire]. He calmly took over Northern Rock and Bradford and Bingley, and bailed out the other banks that were essential to the UK economy.
He increased government spending and borrowing to keep trade and industry alive.
Then came his pre-budget report of December 9, 2009. It was crass electioneering, designed in painfully glaring detail to try to get the Labour vote out in the coming contest with the slightly-revived Tories.
National concerns, reducing the deficit and rebuilding international confidence in the UK, were set to the side; to be tackled by whoever will be the government after the election.
It is now revealed that Darling had intended to put the national interest first in his planning, but was overruled by his bully-boss and his sidekick.  What a pity: for Darling's reputation, and for the future of the country.

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