When Gordon Brown first announced the outsiders he had recruited to his ‘ministry of all the talents’ there was much chuckling in Westminster about whether Digby Jones or Mark Malloch Brown would be the first minister to be sacked. Early on, Malloch Brown moved into pole position with an insufferably pompous interview in the Telegraph that caused Brown all sorts of problems in Washington and led to a public slapping down of the over-mighty junior by his boss David Miliband. But now Comrade Digby must be the bookie’s favourite.
Digby’s unhappiness over the changes to capital gains tax announced in the pre-Budget report has not exactly been a state secret. But he has now gone further, telling business leaders in Bolton:
“I have learned that medium-sized businesses, in particular, think this is a terrible thing. I want to understand your questions and concerns and I promise I will relay what you have said to the Chancellor in private.”
The Tories have seized on this, with George Osborne saying:
“Gordon Brown made a huge song and dance about appointing Digby Jones to government. So now he must pay attention to what his loose-tongued Minister has said about the way businesses feel about the 80 per cent increase in capital gains tax. The sooner the Prime Minister accepts that he needs to U-turn the better.”
Digby will probably weather this mini-squall–the rest of his comments were supportive enough of the change, but I wouldn’t give him much longer than six months. A disillusioned Digby might turn out to be quite a thorn in Gordon’s side.
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