There are couple of very revealing interviews with David Cameron in the papers today. Talking to James Chapman and Peter Oborne of the Mail, Cameron expounds on the Tory policy response to the financial crisis. Here’s the key passage:
At a time when some economists are projecting that Government borrowing is set to crash through the £100 billion barrier, he says an incoming Tory government will take away key powers to oversee tax and spending from the Treasury.
So a crucial supervisory role will be handed to an outside body which will be given independent powers to monitor spending and borrowing levels. Cameron will explain next week how this body would work.
…
‘The fiscal rules haven’t worked – it’s obvious. We are at the end of 14 years of economic growth and we have got an enormous deficit. What we need is external judgment of fiscal policy.’
This sounds like a grown-up measure. As Bank of England independence demonstrated, politicians giving up power is something that appeals to voters.
Charles Moore’s profile of Cameron in the Telegraph needs to be read in full. It is a beautifully written examination of who Cameron is, what the influences on him are and where he is coming from.
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