Balls' shrill attack on King

Paddy

Balls may regret the dirty politics he is playing at the moment.

Labour think he is the best thing since sliced bread but I believe he is a liability.

Scotty

That what balls does - pick a position opposite to one that would be supportive of the government and SHOUT about the government being wrong.
Its great to have him on the front bench because now he is a public figure and exposes his lack of wisdom and honesty. He did that behind the scenes before. The coalition will be over the moon that he finally got his way with his "boss". He is being found out.

JohnOfEnfield

A man of no integrity.

What more needs to said?

Oh - and he is unfit for public life.

David Ossitt

“Increasingly, there is a pattern here. Balls takes positions he knows not to be true, like the ridiculous claim that taxes on banks are falling when in fact they are going up. He then hammers the point in the hope that by repetition he can make it true”

A lying trick that his wife uses at every opportunity, last night on Question Time she side stepped the question “how high was the deficit when you lost the election” first by waffle and finally with a coy girlish giggle said that she could not remember, David D asked Vince Cable for the facts, he gave them in his usual plodding tone.

Balls’s wife immediately said ‘that’s not true’ and David D let her get away with it.

Paul

This just goes to show that many politicians are out and out liars only interested in slagging off the opposition for political gain regardless of the truth.
When will they understand that the public are not gullible and that we know what is going on. This is why the public fail to turn up and vote. Ed Balls is the worst type of politician we have, egotistic, self opinionated and deeply committed to the failure of any financial plan that may just get this country out of the hole he and his party put us in

Woody

He is playing desperate political games for the simple reason that he is desperate and increasingly so.
For all his media appearances and coalition bashing, he is not landing a blow and looks more and more like the arrogant bully he is.
He still has his suppine supporters in the press, mainly because they like their politics raw but I think the public feel as I do, that he is a deeply unpleasant individual and evokes too many memories of Gordon Brown and his brutal politics.

In2minds

"Balls takes positions he knows not to be true, like the ridiculous claim that taxes on banks are falling when in fact they are going up".

So man with Swabian style haircut tells lies then? Wow!

Nick

Not content with talking down the economy Balls is now talking down the UK's Central Bank.

Yvette Cooper's comment on QT last night that she didn't know how large the deficit was when Labour left office sums up everything one needs to know about Labour's economic competency. She used to be Chief Secretary to the Treasury and she doesn't know simple facts about the country's recent finances ? Staggering.

Of course she might just have been lying that she didn't know - in that typical Ballsean Labour way.

Joe

Labour may think that Balls is the best things since sliced bread, but then they still view sliced bread as an achievement.

laverda

Truly a perfect pair, Balls & Cooper, both deluded, incompetent, taxpayer robbing (expenses)liars.

Nicholas

Nazis both of them (Balls & Cooper). Lies and propaganda. The pursuit of politics for power.

TrevorsDen

How can she say 'thats not true' when she does not know the true figure.

'£14bn of Darling's cuts would have started in six weeks time, only £2 billion less than the Coalition plan.' --- a simple fact that exposes labours attacks on the coalition as a load of cobblers.

Alex Gallagher

King was playing politics before the 2010 election, practically shouting out "vote Tory".

He's a civil servant, and should say nothing that indicates his personal opinion.

Otherwise he should, like all errant civil servants, be disciplined.

JohnPage

Too many party political postings from Mr H. We know we can expect propaganda from him, not balanced comment. Exit door,please.

Baron

That Balls is still in the House is more a reflection on what has happened to the society at large than on him. Who got him in were those he bribed when in control of the purse, those in the public sector administering the money transfers. Sickening.

Simon Stephenson

"Increasingly, there is a pattern here. Balls takes positions he knows not to be true ..."

Increasingly? Nothing's changed, Balls has always played fast and loose with the truth. In his own little world of the unchallengeable superiority of socialism, he's been forced to misrepresent his beliefs and the intended outcomes of his policies, because at least 90% of the general public are completely and utterly hostile to them.

But to him, it doesn't matter what people think, because when he's successfully infiltrated his Statist policies, the public will be thunderstruck at how wonderful they are, and overwhelming in their gratitude. Just as they were to Comrade Stalin.

2trueblue

Balls/Cooper have terrible memories, they could not remember which house was their main home, but managed a flipping great job at getting their children into the schools they wanted them to attend, and flipping their homes a few times to take the profit tax free. He also thought it was very amusing to connive with Brown/Whelan very shortly after Liebores election in 1997 to pull a fast one on the Bank of England.

I truely think that the media, and especially the BBC should try and be honest in their garnering and reporting of the facts. A faint hope as the BBC have no idea what journalism means.

Balls and Cooper are both incapable of playing a straight ball. The BBC give them too much airtime and we pay for it. Someone somewhere must have the balls to stand up to this pair, they are bad for politics this country, and have passed their sell by date.The only economics they understand is when it is going into their own pockets.

Barry Bilge

Merv supported the Labour Government policies. Merv is supporting the Coagulation ones. It's quite a simple reason too - confidence. A central bank openly at odds with the Government would not be good for business.

Hell, at the very least Merv has got to be a gentleman and return the favour the Government keeps doing for him - they (Lab. and Coag.) keep giving him excuses for not changing interest rates in an attempt to 'target' inflation.

Tiberius

Talking of Yvette Cooper, and having seen her on QT last night, I can only say I've never known a woman go into her hairdresser's and ask for a style that makes her look worse than if she'd been dragged through a hedge backwards.

CB

Of course it's political if the Governor is supporting the government's FISCAL policy. That's outside his remit, and weighing into a political debate on a political issue will always be political.

If the Chancellor intruded into monetary policy, or told the Bank of England what to do, then that would of course be seen as violation of the BoE's independence on monetary policy.

For some reason you seem to think the reverse isn't true...

TrevorsDen

Dear Alex - turn your telescope round the other way.

Balls and Brown (with Darling in tow) were playing politics with the economy. They were denying the need to cut spending.

What is a Governor of the Bank of England supposed to do?
He can only call it like he believes it ...

'Mervyn King said that the next Government would need to “eliminate a large part of the structural deficit” over one parliamentary term alone.'
'Mr King said repeatedly that the Government’s plan needed to be “credible” and detailed, or it would lose the confidence of the international investors who buy British debt.'
'“I think [the plan] has to be something where a really significant reduction in the deficit, the elimination of a large part of the structural deficit, takes place over the lifetime of a parliament, which is the period for which a government is elected. Beyond that is a statement of intent and hope rather than a plan for which someone can be held accountable.” '
(Telegraph Nov 2009)

Such is the opinion of the Governor of the BoE.
Socialists should consider it before they launch their cruddy self serving propaganda.

Occasional Ostrich

Ho-hum! 23:20hrs and no Fatbloke yet? Can't be out of the pub yet.

Liberty

Most of Balls' supporters known nothing of economics and many not even how to manage a household budget. They just howl in approval when Balls hits out. Bashing one's enemies is the Labour game. Good sense, truth and integrity have nothing to do with it.

yank

"£14bn of Darling's cuts would have started in six weeks time, only £2 billion less than the Coalition plan. If Balls wants to enter the debate with any credibility he should first accept his culpability for the deficit he left, and set out his own plan instead of playing desperate political games."

.

Who cares about Balls, Mr. Hancock?

In this quote, you are here admitting that you aren't doing much of anything different than what Balls and company would be doing. Perhaps that's the real story in all this, no?

All this blather about "cuts", but it's all just blather, isn't it? You and Brown pretty much on down the same path, at the end of the day?

The Central Bank has charge different than the government. If that bank tilts towards government, and away from its prime charge, that is to be construed as political, or at least politically attackable. That's the point, and it doesn't matter if your sworn political enemy is making it, it is a valid point. And the fact that you're in here defending your political ally is proof enough that you're feeling the heat.

You are obligated to address what the Central Bank is doing and not doing. If you can't, Balls surely will, fairly or unfairly. And it's all fair, in this game. Had King not commented that he was supporting the government's plan, he wouldn't be vulnerable to this.

So roll on, Mr. Balls. The wets have given you an opening, and more power to you for running through it. The quicker to a conservative government, then.

monty99

The REAL story isn't Balls, who is an irrelevance here.

The real story is the ongoing muppetry at the Bank of England over interest rates, presided over by the pathetic Mervyn King, who has failed every test thrown at him since he took up office.

If our politicians were doing their job, he would be facing resignation calls over this abject failure to do his job properly.

Fraser Nelson stated the case wonderfully http://www.spectator.co.uk/coffeehouse/6701628/why-we-need-a-rate-rise.thtml

A core plank of the Tory election pledge was competent handling of UKPLC finances, if the BoE rate-setters are incompetent (and Fraser’s collection of graphs pretty much makes this case in absolute terms) a firm hand must be shown.

Why isn’t Merv being shown the door? I think we should be told.

Stephen Green

Balls? The name says it all.

Alex Gallagher

@TrevorsDen
"Dear Alex - turn your telescope round the other way. Balls and Brown (with Darling in tow) were playing politics with the economy."

Browna nd Balls are politicians.

"They were denying the need to cut spending."

No they were not. THey are suggesting that te Tories are cutting too far and too fast. THey could be right.

"What is a Governor of the Bank of England supposed to do?"

Act like the civil servant he is and gets paid to be. No party politics (in public at least).

"He can only call it like he believes it ..."

He cans say what he wants in private and in advising politicians. In public he zips it. Thta's what civil servants do.

Colin

Is there any chance someone can take another, closer look at his and his wife's expense and allowance arrangements?

Fergus Pickering

I thank the good Lord (who is a Tory natch) that he sent us Red Ed, Ballsy and his wee wifie.

Paddy

Guido says Balls is being taken to court for failing to pay his rent on his constituency office.

It seems Balls has been shouting his mouth off again.

Senor Frizby

Balls is a Brown ere politician - AKA a scumbag!

daniel maris

King has shown himself to be partisan and incompetent - an unfortunate combination of attributes.

I'm not impressed by him.

Michael

Mathew has previously worked for the BoE, advising on housing policy, so he has knowledge of their operations. Ed and his wife Yvette are highly talented and informed people and Ed is definitely not spitting in the wind making "irresponsible" comments about the BoE.

There is a debate here: can we the public say " in the BoE, we trust"? Is it right that this central bank can operate independently as a "shadow government" and do what they like in the face of the facts. Inflation is over double the "targeted" figure of 2% but they continue to allow (foster) it and engage in discussions of whether to further stimulate inflation (more QE).

Is it right that the representative government of the public have no say over the control of the monetary system and that Mervyn is a self anointed king?

Unlike the SLS (which was not Mervyn's idea) that sought to draw on market funding to provide liquidity to mortgage financial paper, Mervyn's route (Ben's actually) is QE that came after the SLS and which is Mervyn working on his computer "at work".