He who pays the do-nothing piper calls the laissez faire tune
Interesting to see that the going rate to be a member of David Cameron's new "economic recovery group": a £10,000 donation to David Cameron’s leadership campaign and over £168,000 in donations to the Conservative Party since 2006 from Mr Simon Wolfson, and almost £90,000 in donations to the Conservative Party since 2003 from Sir Christopher Gent.
Mind you, the quality of advice David Cameron has acquired may not add very much to the country's economic prospects. Mr Wolfson publicly agreed with the statement that “the recession does have to take its course” and co-authored a report for Cameron with John Redwood which advocated the complete deregulation of the mortgage industry; whilst Sir Christopher was a member of the Conservative Party tax reform commission which advocated £21 billion cuts in public spending and was described by the independent Institute of Fiscal Studies as producing proposals that “benefit the rich” and contained “a lot more for the well off than there is for the poor”.
Sounds like Tory economic policy going forward will be remarkably similar to its current iteration, and indeed the model they implemented during recessions in the 1980s and 1930s.
posted by Luke Akehurst at 3:56 pm
21 Comments:
"He who pays the do-nothing piper calls the laissez faire tune"
Thank God the Labour Party doesn't accept bungs!
5:25 pm, February 09, 2009
Do Northrop Grumman Corp. pay you to support the war?
5:38 pm, February 09, 2009
No, they don't pay me anything at the moment! - big client for my colleagues in Washington DC but only an intermitent one here.
5:53 pm, February 09, 2009
That's odd Luke, as they're listed as a client on the APPC register, the chocolate fireguard of the public affairs industry.
Is this another lobbying scandal waiting to happen - WS denying clients are paying it. Or is it the old trick of pretending you have clients that you don't?
8:19 pm, February 09, 2009
Labour 28%, Cons 41%, according to Tuesday's Populous poll for the Times.
How on earth do you manage to hang on to that 28%?
8:30 pm, February 09, 2009
Luke is grasping at anything he can find just in the hope of convincing people that it would be worse under a conservative administration.
I can't predict the future or predict the past but I do know that this government has got is into a right mess and I won't be rewarding them with a big tick come the next election. Maybe they think failure is rewarded by votes like the banks get a big bonus for bankrupting the country.
Brown is a sick sick man and needs to get out of politics for his own sanity.
9:13 pm, February 09, 2009
Its not brown, but the whole New labour crap. Labour need to get back to what they are meant to be, a Workers party!
A lot of Labour activists are now in the Green party-hence the decent policies for public ownership and control of industries and finance.
The labour party can't mention the word Socialism as it is forbidden by these Middle class yuppies ruling a once workers party!
9:32 pm, February 09, 2009
Probably true, but I can't remember the last Labour government....so it is hard to compare what they are like once in power.
Labour seemed like a great party when they were in opposition but now.....blimey what a mess.
Labour appear to hate working people.
9:43 pm, February 09, 2009
Anonymous 8.19. Yes that's because we did a one-off report for them in the 3 month reporting period ending 30 November, and a training event in the 3 month period before that. Both of which have to be declared. I'd be delighted if they were a big retained client but at the moment they are not.
10:14 pm, February 09, 2009
The big turn-off for me is the New Labour culture of greed which is certainly on a par with any banker.
It doesn't matter whether it the former leader,their spouse,members of the House of Lords or the Home Secretary,all we see are these enormous snouts stuck in troughs.
Revolting people.
12:13 am, February 10, 2009
Geez you must feel like a c*ck posting this on the day your Childrens, Schools and Families Secretary gives us a lesson in talking down the economy in his latest suggestion that this depression / recession will be worse than the 1930s...
At least you guys wouldn't try and pin talking down the economy on the Tories...oh no wait...sorry you did last year.
Nu-Lab horse-shit reigns supreme.
Thanks you useless bunch of innumerate and patronising idiots. Thanks for running Britain's economy into the ground again...Tell me should we forward the bill to Blair or Brown?
You should all be put on trial for crimes against Britain and dragging us to the bottom of a cess pit.
12:27 am, February 10, 2009
Jacqui "Jackboot" Smith outed as thief as well as totalitarian...
...Populus poll shows Labour 14 points behind.
No coincidence there, then!
12:50 am, February 10, 2009
But things probably would be worse under the Tories.
I just wish that politicians would admit to not really knowing the answers!
But whatever the answer,it must mean a much more sceptical attitude to both the finance industry and globalisation. U think the government are finding it difficult to admit that they - and for that matter, the Tories and LibDems too - have simply got it wrong on this central issue.
2:02 am, February 10, 2009
“the recession does have to take its course”
Is that not true ? Nothing the government has done has helped much and we are hugely in debt as are our children . Obviosuly we ought have stopped the insane rise in Public spending which has to mean both cuts and tax rise coming up ...
You surely do not think that New Labour`s spending spree based on the assumption of a non stop boom is something to be proud of ?
12:27 pm, February 10, 2009
You've spent billions on schools - and got dumb uber-chavs.
You've spent billions on the NHS - and got sparkling new hospitals and the same service there was a decade ago.
You've got 1.5m immigrants - making 1.5m unemployed or lowering the wages of 1.5m.
Some bleedin' boom. Wot a bloody bust.
1:21 pm, February 10, 2009
The difference between a Tory bust and a Labour downturn is that the Tories engineered their won economic problems whereas Labour has had recession imposed on it by worldwide problems.
The tax status of many Tory donors is still unclear ...
1:40 pm, February 10, 2009
A little sad really; when it all goes so horribly wrong I guess there is not much else to do.
@Julian Ware-Lane
Do you really believe that this is nothing to do with the government?
3:51 pm, February 10, 2009
Slightly surprised that Luke hasn't rushed to the defence of his beloved Hazel in the face of the onslaught from that nasty Mr Monbiot.
3:52 pm, February 10, 2009
What is the difference between:
New Labour
Or
The Tories?
Both road on the back of astronomical housing inflation and called it growth and prosperity!
The housing inflation has made this country non-competitive in the global economy and caused lots of hardship to working class people!
5:41 pm, February 10, 2009
I am the only one who has picked up on that fact Sir Christopher Gent was behind the Vodaphone purchase of the German operator Mannesman for 178 billion. Six years later they ended up having to write off 28 billion of goodwill from their balance sheet in respect of this purchase. To my knowledge this remains the largest corporate write off in British history dear help us if the Tories get into power if they have the likes of him advising them!!!!
9:41 pm, February 10, 2009
My new conspiracy theory
--
The HBOS and Royal Bank just got into debt by geopolitical causes.
Some are noy saying in the USA that AIG were really bailed out because they were carrying out expensive geopolitical activities for the american agenda in eastern europe and other parts of the globe, maybe this is the real reason the banks built up debts. Oil companies are even worse the chinese government just see them as servants of their national governments. Are these sort of companies really independent companies or just modern versions of the east india company. Just geopolitical tools for the elites in intellgence services. Why did the USA government give backing to the RBS. Why? Because they were doing work for the USA in other parts of the globe. Why do so many oil companies have connections to the elites. :
11:27 pm, February 10, 2009
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