I’m presenting Radio Four’s Week in Westminster tomorrow at 11am and discuss George Osborne’s U-turn with former chancellors Alistair Darling and Nigel Lawson (the latter pictured above when editor of The Spectator). I put to them that it is unwise for a chancellor to perform a U-turn because it undermines his credibility – a very precious commodity in such turbulent times. Darling said that the great risk is that Osborne doesn’t look like he’s in control. Lawson replied:
‘That is my concern; that it might be thought that the main thrust of policy is no longer secure. And once the financial markets – let alone anyone else – think the government is on the run, then the task of maintaining the policy is very much harder.’
The U-turn on the charities tax, he said, was worth making because it was a mistake. But the pasties, caravans etc? ‘The other things, if it had been me, I would have carried on with. I think they’re perfectly justifiable and the idea that you might be in disarray or retreat is not something that you want anybody to think.’
Osborne is in a coalition, he said, and the extra negotiations this must involve perhaps explain why he his eye has been ‘off the ball’. But, once decided, certain decisions ought to be adhered to. ‘If I had been in his shoes I would not have deferred the petrol tax. I think it is now essential that, in January, he does do it.’
In my column for the Daily Telegraph today, I say that the government’s reliance on Andrew Cooper’s opinion polls project a lack of direction, one felt acutely by the No.10 staff who are jumping ship (rumour has it that Cooper himself will be offski). If Osborne does U-turn again in January, the manoeuver may be so familiar that it might be very quickly forgotten.
PS: My thanks to the brilliant Peter Mulligan, who produced the show. If it sounds good, it will be down to him.
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