Published on the blog on 17th May, 2012.
The economy is static and the people are being made to pay for the crisis the bankers either allowed or created.
We have enormous wealth and assets in this country.
The Labour gov’t understood this and borrowed to keep people in work, to keep families in homes, to keep businesses running.
Did the general election help the understanding of the crisis we came through?
No. A television debate encouraged people to think Nick Clegg was a winner cos he could look deep into a TV camera lens and sell sincerity.
Nick Clegg will not now or not ever represent sincerity again. He has betrayed millions of people.
And what about Cameron and the Conservatives?
They got in cos events had limited Labour’s ability to reach the voters;
They got in cos they hit at Gordon Brown.
They got in through the help of a very aggressive media.
They did not get in because of their message.
Every new government gets a period where the public gives them the benefit of the doubt. Sometimes called a honeymoon.
They used that time to sell five messages.
Tory message 1. That it was Gordon Brown’s mess. We know it was a worldwide crisis; and not made in Britain.
Tory message 2. That we had to cuts public spending to avoid a Greek style crisis. But as Margaret Beckett always points out, asked whether they’d cut back irrespective of the crisis, Cameron said at a meeting in Nottingham that he would. The cuts are his desire, his ideology; not an obligation. And what we now risk suffering is an Irish style crisis.
Tory message 3. That Cameron represents a new politics. Well, witness his arrogance, his snobbery and his bullying at Prime Minister’s Questions this week.
Tory message 4. That we’re all in this together. So much to say that refutes this, but take for instance the cuts in grant to local government. The largest cuts in grant have been made against the councils serving the most deprived neighbourhoods. Increases even to some of the most affluent parts of the south.
Tory message 5. The Big Society. Question – what is the difference between the Big Issue and the Big Society? Answer: No-one buys the Big Society.
The biggest lie –
“I will not be some flint-faced slasher of public services”.