George Osborne was on Andrew Marr’s programme earlier and quite rightly noted that Britain is one of the least-well prepared nations for the looming worldwide slowdown. "Other Finance Ministers", to quote Mr Osborne, were discussing how to use their surpluses to help their economies negotiate the forthcoming turbulence. That wasn’t an option for Britain that […]
The Tory lead is down very slightly in today’s YouGov survey for The Daily Telegraph but the underlying numbers are much more worrying for the Government: 52% believe that Labour’s handling of the impending economic downturn has been "poor" or "awful". 61% give the same verdict on Labour’s handling of Northern Rock. The Tories are […]
As fears grow about an economic downturn George Osborne releases this statement: "Gordon Brown could have used the boom years to prepare Britain for the lean years. But thanks to his economic incompetence, he failed to take the tough long term choices and so we are not well prepared to deal with the difficult economic […]
On New Year’s Day we identified George Osborne as the Conservative to watch this year. He has the task of eroding Gordon Brown’s reputation for economic competence – the one thing keeping Labour afloat in a sea of broken promises. In a speech to the London School of Economics today, Mr Osborne will begin his […]
George Osborne is David Cameron’s most important colleague: William Hague may deputise at PMQs but the Shadow Chancellor is second only to David Cameron as the most important figure in the Conservative Party. And It’s not just because the Treasury portfolio is the most important of the three major offices in any leader’s gift. George […]
Labour did so much to woo business but the recent proposed changes to Capital Gains Tax have united business organisations in opposition. George Osborne met leading members of a campaign to see the CGT reforms reversed and has just said that "there is a good chance that Alistair Darling will be forced to climb down […]
This morning Mervyn King gave evidence to a Treasury Select Committee concerning his handling of the Northern Rock crisis and the credit crunch more generally. His view was that it would have been irresponsible to act earlier, as it would have undermined, rather than underpinned, confidence in the banking system. Of particular interest was his […]
Speaking before David Cameron earlier today – when he largely addressed the ‘credit crunch’ – Theresa May presented the Conservative Party’s new ‘Fair Play on Women’s Pay’ document. Mrs May began her remarks by saying that "women earn on average 17.2% less than men" although David Cameron noted that this reflected a number of factors: […]
We’re at the press conference now, it’s about to start. In the meantime click here to read the full speech. David Cameron is pictured above with key members of his economic team: George Osborne and Alan Duncan. 2.45pm: Highlights from the speech: Questions of regulation and transparency: "This crisis raises the question of whether those […]
John Redwood’s blogging has been indispensable reading over recent days. He’s been dissecting the economic developments that have been dominating the news and has rightly questioned the decision to publicise the fact that Northern Rock was accessing the Bank of England’s lender of last resort facilities. In an article for The Sunday Telegraph, David Cameron […]
A little question for you… In the recent history of the Conservative Party there are two standout and, I believe, negative events: (1) The 1990 ousting of Margaret Thatcher and (2) The events of Black Wednesday 1992 when Britain was forced out of the ERM. Which of those two events has done more to contribute […]
David Cameron gives a revealing interview to today’s Yorkshire Post in which he puts social breakdown at the heart of the Conservative pitch for the next General Election: "What’s the big question? Social breakdown. "What’s the big answer? Family and community policy. "What’s the big difference to Labour? They believe in top-down state control, ID […]
The Sunday Telegraph has a preview of the major recommendations of John Redwood’s competitiveness report: The scrapping of working time regulations and, even more controversially, all data protection laws, which the report will say are an "expensive bureaucracy which fails to protect people’s data". Less regulation of the financial services industry – including deregulation of […]
"CAMERON ON OFFENSIVE WITH CALL FOR TAX CUTS." That’s the headline over an article in today’s Telegraph. Its somewhat flimsy basis (although The Mail appears to have been spun the same way) is the welcome that Mr Cameron is expected to give to John Redwood’s impending policy group report on restoring Britain’s economic competitiveness. In […]
The Institute of Economic Affairs has asked four well-known economists for their verdict on Lord Forsyth’s Tax Reform Commission. The TRC was set up by George Osborne and it reported last October, but he hasn’t adopted its recommendations as party policy yet (unlike Gordon Brown!). David Smith and Eugen Mihaita: "Nowadays it comes as a […]