Yesterday, Alistair Darling, the Chancellor sounded like an undertaker reading a suicide note. When he finally sat down, George Osborne leapt to his feet and we all expected some action – if only to help us to ward off any residual thoughts of self-mutilation that we may have been experiencing.
Although he had been taking notes throughout the Chancellors monotonic monologue, Prefect George missed the target. His reply to Darling had been pre-written and was obviously the work of a committee. He referred to “the Prime Minister” rather than the Chancellor because he, quite rightly assumes that Gordon Brown is still the closet Chancellor and Darling just reads the words.
This was a time to criticise facts and not policies. We are all aware of this government’s monumental cock-ups and the fact that they have driven blindfold into an economic cul-de-sac but George should have attacked the fact that once again the government is attempting to micro-manage its way out of trouble.
The Shadow Chancellor was quite right when he said that the government should be cutting costs and cutting them big-time. He should have pointed-out that the Chancellor was being distracted by irrelevancies such as bankers’ bonuses. He should have said – “and this is what we’re going to do when we come to power.” Instead, he sounded as if he was reading a list of David Cameron’s old Dispatch Box put-downs.
One has the feeling that the Conservative Party is on the back foot as a result of the New Labour spin doctors having latched onto the fact that the Conservative front bench consists of a bunch of toffs. It is normal nowadays to hear most government spokesmen to refer to the Conservatives “and their rich friends”. The spectre of Zac Goldsmith is hanging over Westminster and Alistair Darling even took the opportunity to refer to individuals who ”enjoy non-domicile tax status”.
George Osborne shows great promise and is obviously very bright but he needs to realise that every utterance, speech and policy that the current government produces is less to do with the economy than it is with electioneering. That is why Alistair Darling’s budget review skirted round the edges of the UK’s current crisis. He is hoping to leave the whole mess to the next Conservative Administration to sort out.
There needs to be more backbone in the Tory attack. There needs to be a touch of “No more Mr Nice Guy” in their approach – especially George’s. They are dealing with a bunch of incompetents and they should say so. The evidence is there.
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