The Sketch: The lunatics are borrowing money to save the asylum
Wednesday, 14 May 2008
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In the original meaning of the word, it's a shambles. A slaughterhouse. A complete bloody mess. Labour backbenchers, those beasts of burden who have suffered under the yoke for a decade, are now so bewildered they don't even know their heads have been cut off. It suits some of them more than others, I must say.
When the Chancellor said that 600,000 people had been taken out of tax, they cheered. They roared. But as George Osborne pointed out, they'd cheered the tax cuts that got them into this mess and now they were cheering the tax cuts that were supposed to get them out of it. Is Labour now officially the party of tax cuts? How did that happen? Is this the new plan? Peter Lilley said that every time the Tories had proposed tax cuts the world was told this would inevitably produce cuts in nurses and teachers. And where was the money coming from? Borrowing, Alistair Darling said. He was going to borrow it.
Can we try to begin to imagine what Gordon Brown would have said as Chancellor if told to borrow to fund a tax cut? Every word of his answer would have begun with F. Borrowing to fund tax cuts!
In the gory atmosphere Darling said some things that look bizarre in print: the Tories' position on the issue is "completely confused". Labour has been doing a St Vitus dance round the issue. The Government is ideologically spastic on the issue.
There was another cause for indignation. Oliver Letwin suggested that a one-off tax rebate announced a week before a by-election was inconsistent with electoral law. Another Tory said it was the most shameless attempt to buy an election since the Humber Bridge. And Charles Walker, on a point of order, claimed that the compensation details were already in leaflets being distributed in Crewe.
I am unshockable of course (I had an operation) but that made my hair stand up.
What a bloody chainsaw massacre it all is. A 10-year reputation for prudence, detail, competence torn to pieces and flung into the Commons. The PM sat there with a new expression – a serene, above-the-clouds face that is meant to say, "This was the plan all along", but actually says: "I have come to the conclusion that I am the way, the truth and the light."
Frank Field's apology to Gordon came without malice. Over the weekend he had allowed his campaign "to become personal" and he apologised unreservedly. Oh yes, Frank had given an interview saying the PM was so unhappy he'd have to resign before the next election. I'd hate to see Frank if malice ever got him in its grip.
Michael Jones,
I understand that, according to the lingo of today's youth, that the correct term which you should be offended by is not 'spastic' but 'scoper' (the charity Scope being the rebranded Spastics Society). This playground refrain is, I am sure you will be pleased to learn, still popular and still requires the tongue to be pressed firmly into the bottom lip and the mouth to make mumbling noises. What scamps our young are.
Had Mr Carr used the term 'ideologically scopered' (if that is a word) I am sure you could have been properly offended. As it is, you appear both incorrectly informed AND out of date. I hope that you will be able to be correctly offended in future.
Posted by Russell Long | 14.05.08, 15:44 GMT
The depth of anger that I and other small business owners feel towards Gordon Brown is hard to put into words. We are the ones who have created the wealth that he has squandered so carelessly the last decade. His borrowing to fund a tax cut on top of everything else is just awful. Can't wait to vote against this man and his party.
Posted by business owner | 14.05.08, 13:16 GMT
Surely Brown (for I cannot call him PM) cannot believe that the country is so stupid that it doesn't realise that he is buying votes with our money, money which we don't have.
Brown is getting away with a con trick - that the 10p tax issue is the only reason why his party, and he in particular, are so vilified. His catalogue of ineptitude is long and distinguished and of course, all his own work. To name but a few:
inflation
public services
balance of payments
unemployment and Brown has missed the real gap which is not temporary workers but those in full time employment who have not yet completed 1 year of service.
the rising cost of food and basic utilties
the housing market
...and his answer to all of this is yet more awful legislation.
The triumphal gloating Brown displayed after FFs apology was not merely unwholesome. It evoked memories of House of Cards. Clearly some pressure had been brought to bear on Frank Field.
Brown and Labour have had 11 years to get us into this mess. It will take a lot longer to put it right. The number of U turns is staggering - and all for political expediency.
Posted by Watervole | 14.05.08, 12:48 GMT
Michael Jones,
Spastic is a perfectly good word. He did not call them "Spastics",
but "ideologically spastic"
There is a big difference. I don't know how old you are, perhaps you didn't know its true meaning and are only familiar with its playground meaning.
Posted by Dino Fancellu | 14.05.08, 11:20 GMT
Repeatedly tinkering with the tax system for party political advantage. This is the most corrupt government in living memory.
Posted by Martin | 14.05.08, 09:52 GMT
Michael Jones: are you proposing that the word "spastic" should be deleted from the dictionary?
It is used here entirely properly. The government (or what passes for one) is in the grip of an ideological spasm. Whatever pejorative resonances may sound in the reader's mind are a matter for the reader; and indeed for the government.
As for Brown's manoeuvre, announced by his sockpuppet, I fail to see how increasing the tax burden can in any way be described as a tax cut. Who will pay the interest on this £2.7 bn loan? Gordon Brown, from his own pocket?
Posted by Thomas Fuller | 14.05.08, 09:47 GMT
Simon Carr should know better than to call the Government 'ideologically spastic'. It demeans his argument and causes offence to everyone who recalls the Alan Clark era when 'spastic' was a pejorative favourite. Surely we have moved on since then. I am sad and shocked to see it resurrected in The Independent .
Posted by Michael Jones | 14.05.08, 06:43 GMT