Gideon Osborne has been running around all year bragging about Britain's spectacular [relative] economic growth rate. This is contrasted especially with rates of growth in the EU, and even more specifically with the countries in the eurozone. Cameron has not been far behind in his boasting on the same point.
Now that this is transferred into a recalculation of the bill to be compliant with the obligation to contribute pro rata to the costs of the EU, the British government wants to deny that their country's economic performance justifies a bigger bill. This is an example of seriously shabby politics.
But there is an even more worrying aspect to this situation. If Cameron thinks that by putting on a fake show of anger he will impress anybody, he is sorely deceived; but if he genuinely was as angry as he seemed to be during the past week that is truly alarming. A man with such infantile tantrums should not be allowed to drive a car, let alone conduct the affairs of a great country. Over the past 300 years virtually all the powers of the Crown have come to be exercised by the prime minister, along with several new powers that never resided in the monarch. Such an aggregation of power can only safely be managed with modesty and calm deliberation: it would appear that Cameron has shown himself quite unfit for office.
No comments:
Post a Comment
Please feel free to comment on any of the articles and subject matter that I write about. All comments will be reviewed and responded to in due course. Thanks for taking part.