Wednesday, March 10, 2010

Gordon Steals Darling's Thunder

So Gordon Brown has just announced - at last - that the budget will be on 24 March. He couldn't even leave Alistair Darling to announce the date himself. Which begs the question...

Will this be Darling's budget or Brown's? Darling should copy Brown's behaviour when he was Chancellor and refuse to show the Prime Minister the contents of the budget until the night before it takes place, and it is already at the printers. Can you imagine the temper tantrums in Number Ten!

22 comments:

Cynic said...

But they all work as one real Cabinet team...dont they

skynine said...

It reminds me of the Spitting Image view of David Steel.
http://www.vidoemo.com/yvideo.php?i=MHl2ZGE5cWuRpRWs0OVk&spitting-image-david-owen-and-david-steel=

Not a sheep said...

At the weekend Ed Balls was claiming that the date of the budget was entirely up to the Chancellor of the Exchequer; about as accurate as most of Ed Balls' claims.

Roger Thornhill said...

And people want this vain, deluded grouch as PM?

At the Reuters event today he was asked about his biggest failure, and he said it was not pushing for a Global Government er, I mean Solution to Financial Markets. How ironic he sees his biggest failure as our lucky escape.

p.s. I believe there is a typo in "and it is already at the printerd." You have an "e" when there should be a "u".

miko said...

Iain
Watching Brown at the Reuters event just now,he cannot answer any question,he rambles on and on about nothing but global this and global that.
He is so obviously disingenuous whenever he speaks but most of all,he has no substance in anything he utters.

It is very simple - this man was allowed to become PM due to a disgraceful agreement with the previous incumbent-he is way beyond his comfort zone and he has been found out for what he is - an impostor and a charlatan.

Not long now before we are rid of him.

Anonymous said...

Yes, with the most intense pleasure! (Imagine the temper tantrums.)

Go, Darling, go, go, go.

Eddie 180 said...

Brown was asked, in the Reuters Q&A session, about the anticipated windfall from the Bankers Bonus Tax, and whether in view of the concerns about the deficit, it would be used to reduce it, as opposed to being used for further spending.

Brown was adamant. He had set out plans to halve the deficit over 4 years and he would not move away from those plans.

He would not stop the stimulus until growth was fully embedded.

It is clearly going to be a give-away budget... under the guise of further stimulus. Labour will then challenge the Tories to promise to reverse the give-away if they are elected.

It will be another Labour Budget on the Never Never.

Labour?
Never, Never again!

Anonymous said...

Darling would be dead long before March 24th if he tried to keep the details from Gordon Mugabe.

Either that or it would be leaked that he likes nothing better than a plate of boiled pygmy clitoris.

Nick Drew said...

It would be nice: but it will be Brown's and Mandelson's budget, with more input from Campbell than Darling

they just can't resist the last opportunity to play their games

Unknown said...

If this is Darling's budget, the nation's real darling 'Not Flash, Just Gordon' will take it in the head with both barrels from the polls.

If it's his budget however, it'll be the nasty 'global' markets that carry the blame for losing faith in Brown's wondrous vision of National Socialism. Anyone fancy a fill the blanks episode of speech writing now?

"It's a [global] loss of [global] confidence in sovereign debt which would not have affected the UK if the nasty [Torys] hadn't talked us down with their [wrong] economic policies. Britain is well placed to survive these [global] credit downgrades and emerge unscathed with a [pound store] on every high street. We need to [get on with the job/do the right thing/support hard working benefit claimants/diversity champion non-jobbers]"

Stepney said...

Trust me says Gordon. I'm in charge of the ship and I know what I'm doing.

So, here's the chart of the voyage so far:

Gordon Brown has introduced 111 tax rises since 1997. He has taken an additional trillion pounds in revenue – that is to say, a trillion more than would have been raised had taxes stayed at their 1997 levels. And yet, incredibly, he has still contrived to double our national debt, running up a deficit of 12.6 per cent of GDP (Greece’s is 12.7).

Truly the crappiest Captain of a ship of fools.

Source: Lt-Cmdr D. Hannan.

The Purpleline said...

He also stole my country.

I feel so much aggression towards him, I believe others are suffering like me and expect the mental health authorities to categorise a new mental illness 'Gordons Syndrome'

I am definately suffering from it.

Where's me Banana

Benny said...

Darling wants to save money, Gordon wants to spend every penny. I think the budget will show exactly who's in charge. Unfortunately, I doubt it's Darling.

OldSlaughter said...

It does not 'beg the question', it does perhaps raise one.

Look up 'begging the question'.

Tapestry said...

Brown is still insisting the deficit is £178 billion as forecast.

Yet revenues are down at least £40 billion, and spending in our unexpected extended recession has got to be up on the projected level.

Except.... there were two enormous unexplained accounting adjustments in the December Treasury Spending Outturn Report (quarterly), which suggested general spending was £60 billion less than forecast.

No details were given as to what the adjustments were, and none has been given since.

This sleight of hand (Pushing £60 billion general spending into other accounts such as interventions?) will allow a £60 billion fall in revenues on projected level, and he can still claim his borrowing on track.

No surprise of course as every other statistic we read from day to day has the ring of invention. Of course Brown will lie in the budget - or at least Darling will on his behalf.

Jimmy said...

"Which begs the question..."

I'm beginning to think you're doing this deliberately.

Anonymous said...

If they ever remake the 60s film 'Live Now Pay Later' -- then Gordon Brown is a shoo-in for the Ian Hendry role as the tallyman.

The tag line this time would be 'He had it all and spent it'
If CCHQ want to borrow that one off me they are welcome.

The sequel to the book BTW was 'Something for Nothing' which certainly will be Labours election slogan.

Alan Douglas said...

Your tweet : "Operation Show GB As a Human" is declined by the BBC.

With all their experience they know when they are beaten.

Alan Douglas

Salmondnet said...

Yesterday, in a written answer, Bob Ainsworth admitted that it was possible that the two new aircraft carriers proposed for the RN might be cancelled in the forthcoming defence review.

At PMQs Brown stated categorically that Labour would go ahead with the carrier order. Darling looked on with the expression of an aged relative who had just been given a dignitas voucher for his birthday.

It will be Brown's budget.

Moriarty said...

Darling? Thunder?

?

Alistair Darling? Thunder??
No sorry, can't get my head around that one...

DeeDee99 said...

Brown says 'what you see is what you get with me' so that's a wrecked economy, a dictatorial but completely incompetent Government, run by a bully who lobs office furniture around and lies repeatedly - because the truth is just too awful to tell.

Ben said...

Old Slaughter, Jimmy: hear, hear.

Iain: misuse of this phrase is just irritating.