Labour's disintegrating campaign
Fraser Nelson 12:00pmFireworks at Labour's press conference this morning, thanks to some brilliant questioning of Mandelson and Balls about the cuts which Labour is concealing from the public. A while ago, the FT did its own version of a table that Coffee House ran in February: the implied cuts that departments will make under HM Treasury forecasts. I reprint it below.
The IFS has sought to quantify these cuts. So Sky's Adam Boulton read out this list and confronted Mandelson: which of these would Labour not do? Freezing benefits? Cutting public sector pay? Halving the spend on teaching assistants? Cutting funding to Wales and Scotland? Nick Robinson from the BBC piled in too: Labour has asked broadcasters to focus on the issues, so why can't it discuss this issue? Our own Andrew Neil turned up the pressure, inquiring why the public should trust Labour when it won't reveal the depth and nature of its cuts. And even Bob Roberts, political editor of the Daily Mirror, asked about the dismal campaign.
Mandelson looked defensive: he tried to close it down, shutting up Nick Robinson and telling Boulton, 'you are not standing for election' - to which the reply to the noble Lord came, 'neither are you'. It all looked very much like the bottom falling out of the Labour campaign. If anyone sees this on YouTube, please say so in a comment so we will put it up.
PS: YouTube coverage now added.
Previous
Michael Booth
April 27th, 2010 12:06pm Report this commentShould champagne be chilled now or the day before the election - don't want to ruin a good bottle but can't wait...
JohnOfEnfield
April 27th, 2010 12:07pm Report this commentI'm loving it!
I look forward to Brown (will he take an Earldom?) discussing these points on Thursday.
Irene
April 27th, 2010 12:12pm Report this commentIt was a joy to be hold!
Balls talking about Peppa Pig - classic!
Vulture
April 27th, 2010 12:14pm Report this commentFraser- its on a vid over at Con Home.
Seems that even Liebore stooges like Boulton and Red Robbo have seen which way the wind's blowing.
Such a shame abt the Liebore campaign imploding - am off to have a good cry.
NickL
April 27th, 2010 12:16pm Report this commentConservative Home has a link to SkyNews coverage
bob
April 27th, 2010 12:17pm Report this commentWell said Adam Boulton and good for you. About time the ignoble Lord was taken down a peg or two. Better still Boulton should have told Mandelson that he should shut up and that he did not want to hear from him again
Irene
April 27th, 2010 12:25pm Report this commentPeppa Pig will work with labour but not Brown!!!
salieri
April 27th, 2010 12:30pm Report this commentJoE's ironic reference to Earl Brown touches on a question I've been pondering for a while. Granted that The Incredible Sulk, unhappily, is unlikely to be put on trial for ministerial incompetence and mendacity on the grandest possible scale, would etiquette and convention nonetheless require Cameron to consent to Brown's elevation to the Lords, or would he be free to say (even privately) "over my dead body" ?
Total oblivion is not good enough for this bigoted charlatan but it would be a start, wouldn't it? Could we perhaps petition No. 10 for 'No Peerage for Brown' ? Any supporters out there?
Chris
April 27th, 2010 12:37pm Report this commenthttp://denverthen.blogspot.com/2010/04/temperatures-rising.html
Link to Labour press conference this morning 27 April
Nicholas Hallam
April 27th, 2010 12:40pm Report this comment"Adam, calm down!"
Priceless. Mandelson has rarely been worse. When he started telling Boulton off for not concentrating on policies you could see that he knew he was crashing.
Greenslime
April 27th, 2010 12:42pm Report this commentCompletely off topic, but just noticed that the UKIP candidate for Chelsea and Fulham is one Tim Gittos - WHO LIVES AND WORKS IN FRANCE!!!
Berrrilliant. You couldn't make it up.
Percy
April 27th, 2010 12:49pm Report this commentType:
"Car crash news conference, Balls, Mandelson, Balls " into Youtube
you'll get most of it, mainly post Boulton question
Swiss Bob
April 27th, 2010 12:51pm Report this commentFraser, I linked to it in the previous post. I uploaded most of it earlier:
Car Crash Labour News Conference 27th April.
Help yourself.
Tiberius
April 27th, 2010 12:52pm Report this commentSwiss Bob has kindly posted a link on James' blog below.
RJ
April 27th, 2010 12:57pm Report this commentRoll on Thursday. Will Dimbleby press Brown to answer said issues or will he be allowed to get away with shouting slogans for 90 minutes? I think we will see utter meltdown
Paddy
April 27th, 2010 1:04pm Report this commentLord "dont touch me" Mandelson is a snob of the worst kind.
How on earth they can call anyone in the Tory Party "slick" the way he operates.
He needs a good slap but he'd probably enjoy it.
Moriarty
April 27th, 2010 1:25pm Report this commentLabour Campaign Itinerary - 28th April 2010
"Issues....not personalities..."
9am Press Conference on "Law and Order"
Guest speaker is Batman who will talk on the topic : "Zero Tolerance and the Policing of Gotham City - how the Tories would put it at risk."
11am Symposium: "Building an Integrated Transport System for the 21st Century"
Speakers: Andrew Adonis and Thomas the Tank Engine.
2pm Gordon Brown will attend a "meet the people" walkabout session during which he will take questions from any passing member of the Balls faction of the Labour Party to the accompaniment of Bjorn Again singing "I Have A Dream"
Nick, ex-pat in Brazil
April 27th, 2010 1:29pm Report this commentYouTube of press conference:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=59MnCwsoCTw
Gadfly
April 27th, 2010 1:37pm Report this commentYouTube Link
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=59MnCwsoCTw&feature=player_embedded#!
Diane C - London
April 27th, 2010 1:37pm Report this commentHow can we get to see this news conference?
paul holdstock
April 27th, 2010 2:06pm Report this commentthe whole labour attack on cuts is facile.
surely Cameron only has to 'labour' the point that the national debt increase, the enormity of the deficit, are ONLY the fault of the labour government, neither the conservatives, or lib-dems, or indeed any other party have any resposibility for them whatsoever.
therefore whilst all parties will indeed have to impliment draconian cuts, they are LABOURS cuts, or more accurately BROWNS cuts, and for him, or labour, to say otherwise, is simply a massive, and transparent lie.
The Man
April 27th, 2010 2:13pm Report this commentWhat? No Dickhead of Dork? Happy Days!
Kennybhoy
April 27th, 2010 2:28pm Report this commentSwiss Bob,
Many thanks for the Youtube link! You mind how you go out there! LOL!
Fox in a box
April 27th, 2010 2:42pm Report this commentThe Man,
Richard of York is an early victim of Labour cuts - they've run out of 50p pieces for the meter in the bunker.
Thomas Cussans
April 27th, 2010 2:46pm Report this commentHow effortlessly, magnificently, sumptuously patrician Milord Mandelson is.
Is it to late for Dave to propose him as Life President of the Bullingdon Club, if of course the Noble Lord does not consider it too tiresomely parvenu?
HFC
April 27th, 2010 2:54pm Report this commentOoh, lovely. Please, please, please can this electioneering period be extended. I love a good disaster movie.
Stu
April 27th, 2010 3:40pm Report this commentShameful stuff from the prince of darkness. He and the Labour party deserve the scorn being heaped on them. But, I think all of the parties deserve a kicking for not squaring up to the debt. See Hoskins later post on coffee house. The IFS actually states that the Tories have the biggest holes in their tax/ spend plans.
Ricky
April 27th, 2010 4:00pm Report this commentA very dark moment for the Prince of Darkness.
It reminds me of the Scousers in Harry Enfields earlier career: Calm down! Calm down!
Ricky
April 27th, 2010 4:10pm Report this commentRJ - you can be fully confident that Dimblebore will ensure that only the Dear Leader will be asked any questions without interruption, before the other two "decadent toffs" disappear quietly into the cellars of the BBC Gulag (after both are airbrushed out of all official BBC photographs). The Dear Leader will vet all the questions beforehand with Comrades Balls, Campbell & Mandelson and the audience will consist only of workers/peasants and members of the Politburo. All members of the audience will clap in Unison when ordered to do so. The two second delay BBC Izvestia Poll will show 100% in support of the Dear Leader, Uncle Gordon.
Herbert Pocket
April 27th, 2010 4:26pm Report this comment@Ricky: It is worse than the situation you describe. The Dear Leader will not vet the questions or the audience, nor give Stumblebum any 'guidance': why, given what we know of the BBC's culture and ethos, would he need to?
Ted W.
April 27th, 2010 4:53pm Report this commentHow absolutely delightful!
Mandy, " You are not standing for election."
Boulton, " Neither are you."
Woody
April 27th, 2010 5:24pm Report this commentThe problem is when Adam Boulton goes toe-to-toe with Labour, whether it's Brown, Mandelson or whoever, next time he interviews a conservative he gives them a particularly hard time, just to prove he's 'impartial' which he is most certainly is not.
Marcher Baron
April 27th, 2010 5:42pm Report this commentI'd sign up to a No Peerage for Brown campaign!
The Man
April 27th, 2010 6:08pm Report this comment@Woody
And so he should be (equally hard on the Tories.) And the Lib Dems too. But they should be forwarned and prepared. What's the betting we won't get a straight answer from either or them?
Edward
April 27th, 2010 6:20pm Report this commentClucking bells, what a shower.
Mandelson said Labour's manifesto outlines their higher priority spending, so can we assume that anyone not in their manifesto is lower priority and will be cut?
Michael Booth
April 27th, 2010 7:09pm Report this commentAnd what was the point of that press briefing? Funny - certainly, and Mandy showed what an absolute patronising arse he really is - but did any of the press get the answers they were hoping for? If not, why bother..?
Michael Booth
April 27th, 2010 7:12pm Report this commentI'd sign up to a No Peerage for Brown campaign too
Neil Wilson
April 27th, 2010 8:50pm Report this commentTo coin a phrase:
Flirt with Mandy, get Brown.
Chris
April 27th, 2010 10:01pm Report this commentLabour meltdown foreseen by Nat Silver, "baseball nerd" who predicted obama results accurately - from the Guardian no less!
http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2010/apr/27/nate-silver-labour-swing
Graham
April 28th, 2010 9:22am Report this commentWill somebody please tell me, why no one is asking this Labour Government, how we got in this mess in the firstplace, if there are so many savings on efficiencies to be made, then we have been mis-managed (big-time). Lets be clear the £250 million a week we pass on to Europe would be a start, because it is working (European Ideology) hence Greece, i could go on, but finally, i see in my own job, how staff are being cut on the ground, whilst head office staff are added to daily.
michael
April 28th, 2010 2:45pm Report this commentLittle old ladies ... bless ... don't you just love 'em.
logdon
April 28th, 2010 10:00pm Report this commentOh joy! Mandy, in the patois de guido gets a new one ripped.
Probably come in handy as a spare I guess.
And before I'm accused of horrid, salacious homophobia, I meant for talking out of.
Then again?
Nellie Wallace
April 29th, 2010 6:06pm Report this commentThe usual: Ignore the question and trigger the prerecorded tape. It would have taken ten seconds to answer but instead they talk for ten minutes and answer nothing. What a surprise. I didn't get where I am today by answering questions.
I am voting for Genghis khan in the hope that he slaughters ALL British politicians and bankers. Let's have a truly new beginning, without any of them.
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