As an addendum to Fraser’s interview with Alan Johnson in the latest issue of the mag, it’s worth flagging up this exchange between George Osborne and Alistair Darling in the Commons earlier. Osborne picks up on Johnson’s claim that we’ve got to be prepared for two more years of recession:
Mr. Osborne: Either the Chancellor knew what was going on and did nothing, or he was entirely ignorant, and neither is much of a defence. Is not the net closing in on the Prime Minister and the Chancellor? Their accomplices are resigning, their alibi that no one knew what was going on has been blown apart, and their fingerprints are all over the mistakes that were made during the age of irresponsibility.
Is there a coherent view in the Cabinet about how long this recession will last? We know what the Treasury’s forecasts are, and we know what the Chancellor says about the economy recovering halfway through this year, but today the Health Secretary has said that we need to be ready for two years of recession.
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