Can Darling survive the media blitzkrieg?
Peter Hoskin 11:29am
After the grim speculation over the weekend, there's little comfort for Alistair Darling in today's papers.
The Telegraph runs with the finding that the Chancellor's tax crack-down on non-doms will actually cost the Treasury some £2 billion. Whilst the Times lands a triple blow via a leader on the "misguided" tax proposals; an article by William Rees-Mogg, entitled "Why Mr Darling is a menace to Britain"; and a scathing piece by Anatole Kaletsky.
The last article is particularly damning, as it sets about demolishing the "reasons to be confident" that Darling outlined in a speech last week. Darling's kidding himself over the state of the economy, says Kaletsky, and is thus standing in the way of revival. Maybe the Chancellor should join James Purnell in remembering that "you have to recognise the problem to deal with the problem".
In the end, Kaletsky makes his own "modest proposal", and the spirit of it should chime throughout Whitehall:
"...less complacency from the Treasury and fewer ludicrous boasts from the Chancellor."
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Comments
mart
February 11th, 2008 12:17pmA good start can be made by the government and media being a bit more straight with the inflation figures. RPI or CPI? The former is double the latter. But guess which one the government constantly mentions in Parliament and the media. To repeat a theme in one of Fraser's not-so-recent blog articles, the opposition parties need to be complaining loudly when the government uses official statistics in a misleading way. The public will thank the opposition parties for saying what is actually happening. We want to be able to trust what we are told.
Mark
February 11th, 2008 2:31pmFor Darling ...."to recognise the problem to deal with the problem" would be to lay the fault and media blame at the door of 1 Mr G Brown, predecessor and thin skinned overlord. Hardly likely to happen is it.
Max Kaye
February 11th, 2008 7:13pmWill Darling go quietly or squeal out against his erstwhile master like a stuck pig?