One thing I forgot to mention in the earlier post about Harriet Harman's interview with Stephen Nolan is that she guaranteed that over the lifetime of a Parliament no public sector worker would get a pay cut. To me this is the biggest gaffe of the election campaign so far. She has no power to do that, it wasn't in the Labour Party manifesto and Alistair Darling will be absolutely fizzing with fury.
Will the Conservatives take Harman to task over this? Probably not, because they know that they will then be accused of wanting to cut public sector pay themselves.
So Harman will get away with it.
The quangocrats will be happy - this guarantees that the BBC & local authority heads will keep their hundreds of thousands...
ReplyDeleteHeard the after talk among the stunned guests but missed the Harman gaffe.
ReplyDeleteCan't seem to find it or, sadly, any other reference to it.
Tried googling Harriet r5 24.04.10 but it threw up porn sites.
Then tried 'Harriet Harman makes a tit of herself' and got over 4 million pages to check.
Well, someone needs to ask Darling and/or Brown to confirm that this is exactly so. After all, it'll have a major impact on the 'recovery', won't it?
ReplyDeleteThis is the sort of interview style we need to see to all politicos, regardless of tribe.
ReplyDeletepblic sector wages should be ct massively rather than nemployment for some and not others, simple economics
ReplyDeleteIain, I forgot to mention in my earlier posting regarding the harman's radio confrontation - she sounded like a posh version of Vicky Pollard - yeah, but no, but..
ReplyDeleteHarman didn't guarantee that no public sector worker would get a pay cut, if you listen carefully enough to that Five Live transmission she guaranteed that no public sector worker would get a 'real terms' pay cut. I know this is a pedantic point, but in view of rising inflation it's relevant. Does she propose to hold public sector pay at present levels, which in view of rising inflation would be a real terms pay cut, or is she proposing to raise it in line with inflation?
ReplyDelete@unsworth
ReplyDeletehe returns !!
Nolan is usually anti-Tory (after all, he is employed by the BBC) so his persistent questioning of Ms Harman was very welcome. She was absolutely awful (her PMQ performances are masterful by comparison), both on public sector pay & the Labour leaflets.
ReplyDeleteThe Conservatives may not press her on the "gaffe" but Nolan is not the type of chap to drop the matter.
Astounding! This is an elected MP and the Deputy Leader of the Labour Party? Totally inarticulate, no grasp of her party's policies - no grasp of anything at all.
ReplyDeleteShe is on a totally different astral plane. Or is she seriously unwell in some way or other?
This disastrous interview really should reach a much wider audience. It is a national disgrace.