Shared Opinion
The view from 2018: how it all went wrong for Prime Minister Osborne
Osborne should have gone to the country right then, right at the start. Who knew it would get so bad? Yes, the economy was in a poor state, but wasn’t that a global thing? What could you expect, with oil at $600 a barrel? No country was at its best when involved in three entirely separate wars, but he had inherited all of them, and the one in Venezuela looked like it might end quite soon, anyway. With troops due home from Israel by Christmas, and the French promising to take a more active role in Belgium, things should have been on the up.
There was the fresh young Labour leadership, of course. So much more capable than their predecessors. The Kelly years had been an erratic wilderness, and the Miliband ‘dream team’ so mad that it was almost surreal. When Ed Balls got in, the Tories were positively hugging themselves at the notion of more of the same. Then he snapped, ran around with that axe, ended up in that padded cell. Everyone agreed that they should have seen it coming. He always had that glint in his eye. It wasn’t like they hadn’t been there before, with Gordon. His departure had opened up the field. There was a new generation, already.
But that was just symptom, not cause. The real problem was that the public didn’t like Tories. It wasn’t a new problem. Under Cameron it was just hidden, because Tories didn’t seem like Tories. Oh, those had been glorious days! The first few years, the flush of success. The young family moving into Number 10, the perfect words on the Coronation of King William (so skilfully balanced, what with the whole notion of Queen Billie still being such a surprise) and then the Olympics, and the way he made those three gold medals for curling seem so special, so British, so Dave’s.
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Colin
August 7th, 2008 9:21pmI liked the bit about Tony at the Hague.
Matt
August 7th, 2008 9:27pm"Hugo Rifkind is a writer for the Times"
He is also nowhere near as good as writer as he seems to think.
As in: "ho, ho, ho! Aren't I so witty?"
Answer as in: "No. For surely NOBODY could be as witty as Hugo Rifkind seems to Hugo Rifkind seems to believe he is!"
paul hill
August 7th, 2008 10:02pmWorth it just for Gove wearing his specs again
Richard
August 8th, 2008 8:35am"...many declared the Conservative party to be finished for ever, like the Whigs. Some protested that it was all cyclical and nothing new, but nobody listened to them. They listened to the exciting ones, the doomsayers, who were certain, this time, that it was real."
Did the Tories have debts of £20 million?
Praguetory
August 8th, 2008 9:48amThis could have been a funny, incisve article.
Liz Brown
August 8th, 2008 12:05pmYawn..........
John Gleeson
August 8th, 2008 12:06pmIt's not clear to which Osborne you are referring. Is it Sharon ?
Artboy
August 8th, 2008 1:06pmThe actual certainties of the future are that the world will be hotter, holland will be under water and there will be a lot more people moving everywhere
Stuart Perry
August 8th, 2008 2:28pmHugo Rifkind`s article is puerile to the extreme - it is not even funny. Let`s try and move up an intellectual gear.
Dick the Prick
August 8th, 2008 3:49pmHad to stop when mentioned the Kelly years - I like a good yarn as much as the next man - but that's just ludicrous.
Kpar
August 9th, 2008 12:31amHi, Gleeson
I was trying to figure out myself which Osbourne, Ozzie or Sharon...
Kpar, USA
P.S. Anybody willing to hazard a guess about the Israeli's willingness to strike Iran? Seems to me 5 years of diplomacy haven't exactly produced much...
Kpar, USA
August 9th, 2008 12:34amArtboy,
Keep on believing what they've been telling you- I've got some beachfront property in the Adirondacks you might be interested in...