Tag Archives: george osborne

Opinon: Osborne should not belittle public sector workers

By Golden Sarah | Thu 22nd April 2010 - 2:44 pm

As a public sector worker I was extremely disheartened and have to question George Osborne’s analysis of the public sector which he dismissed in an arrogant and superficial manner. This is the organisation that will have to implement the policies of any incoming government and George, for all his political ambition, does not appreciate the sector’s commitment to duty and society.

The ‘low morale‘ that he refers to among 40% of public sector staff is directly as a result of the uncertainty that we are all living under as to whether we will have jobs still in the …

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Stephen Tall

It’s been another great week for George Osborne

By Stephen Tall | Sun 18th April 2010 - 9:45 am

You may ask what could have inspired me to write such a headline. Well, it’s none other than George himself.

As Iain Martin has blogged – twice, he found the Tory shadow chancellor’s state of denial so bizarre – George Osborne has issued a message to Tory supporters assuring them:

It’s been another great week for our campaign.”

Hmmm, and “Other than that Mrs. Lincoln, how did you enjoy the play?”

But then it’s not been a good day for George, having already launched friendly fire against Boris Johnson by attacking the Tory London mayor’s own policy of an amnesty for illegal immigrants.

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Posted in General Election | Also tagged and | 6 Comments
Mark Pack

Lib Dem general election manifesto: round-up of our coverage

By Mark Pack | Wed 14th April 2010 - 7:50 pm

The launch of a party’s general election manifesto is a big story, so we’ve been covering it in a series of posts here on The Voice in the last 24 hours. If you’re just catching up on our coverage now, here’s a summary of the posts:

…

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Posted in General Election and Party policy and internal matters | Also tagged and | 5 Comments
Mark Pack

A tale of two Shadow Chancellors

By Mark Pack | Wed 14th April 2010 - 1:20 pm

Two party leaders.

Two manifesto launches.

Two questions asking about financial details.

Two leaders turning to their Shadow Chancellor.

One Shadow Chancellor answers the question straight away.

One Shadow Chancellor, er…, despite having advanced warning is still flipping through the paperwork in front of him when the party leader turns to him and can’t answer the question.

Can you guess which was Vince Cable and which was George Osborne?

Here’s a clue:

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Stephen Tall

Don’t take it out on Vince, guys, just ‘cos you’re stuck with George

By Stephen Tall | Sun 11th April 2010 - 8:30 pm

I’ve been amused to see the rush-to-rubbish Vince Cable today among some right-wing bloggers following his appearance on BBC1’s The Politics Show.

Iain Dale (but of course) was first up to tweet: “Well done Jon Sopel for finally exposing Vince Cable as the overrated flipflopper that he is.” He was soon followed by ConservativeHome’s Tim Montgomerie, and Wall Street Journal’s Iain Martin, who has a pet-obsession with Vince’s popularity.

Having missed the show at lunchtime, I sat down nervously to catch up on iPlayer (Vince’s inteview begins about 3 minutes in) fully expecting him to be eviscerated by Jon Sopel.

In fact, what I watched was a robust interview in which Vince more than held his own, and made the key points that (1) the Labservatives have consistently opposed Lib Dem attempts to clean up our politics, and (2) the Tories need to explain how they’re going to fund their various tax-cuts if not through raising VAT.

Why have the Tories got it in for Vince?

Which left me wondering: what got Iain, Tim and Iain so excited that they dashed into the twitblogosphere to try and swing the media narrative against Vince? (Besides the inevitable election-time partisan point-scoring, that is).

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Posted in General Election and Op-eds | Also tagged , , , and | 13 Comments

The Independent View: Asking business leaders to think again

By Katy Wells | Sun 11th April 2010 - 5:50 pm

This week, leaders of some of the UK’s biggest businesses came out in support of George Osborne’s plans to reverse Labour’s proposed National Insurance rise. In a letter to the Telegraph, they argue that the reversal, to be funded by an extra £6 billion’s worth of efficiency savings, is needed to protect jobs keep Britain’s economic recovery on track.

38 Degrees has launched a campaign to persuade these business leaders to change their minds. We’re concerned that their outcry might have less to do with concerns about job-losses, and more to do with the effect that the increases in their financial …

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Posted in Op-eds and The Independent View | Also tagged and | 2 Comments
Antony Hook

Opinion: Debates – the first two questions count most

By Antony Hook | Sat 10th April 2010 - 10:20 am

Amongst the plethora of writing on the 2008 US Election, I came across this observation:

“After every debate the media narrative was determined by the first two questions and answers.”

(J. Heilemann & M. Halperin, “Race of A Lifetime: How Obama Won the White House”, Penguin Viking).

I decided to see if that hypothesis holds true for the recent Chancellors’ Debate as a clue as to whether it will apply to our forthcoming Party Leaders’ Debates.

The first question, asked by a trainee solicitor, in the Chancellors’ Debate was,

“This is a job interview; what personal qualities do you have that make you better …

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Mark Pack

‘Great wife, not so sure about my Chancellor’: what we learnt today

By Mark Pack | Thu 8th April 2010 - 8:20 pm

So, what did seeing the General Election campaign on TV today teach us?

1. David Cameron likes being seen with people behind in – continuing the pattern of events “in the round” with audience all around.

2. Gordon Brown likes being seen in front of a plain purple wall – that’s the common Labour backdrop at speeches and press conference, though some wheat got a look in once.

3. Samantha Cameron is doing more campaigning for the TV cameras than George Osborne – a case really of “Great wife, but not so sure about my Chancellor chap” from Cameron’s team.

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Ed Randall

Opinion: Osborne and Cameron – proving they are unfit to govern

By Ed Randall | Thu 8th April 2010 - 5:10 pm

George Osborne and David Cameron are given to policy stunts which they should know by now will come back to haunt them. I’ve written about it before  on Lib Dem Voice.

And this time they really have messed up big time. Should they win the election they will undoubtedly live to regret their foolishness on National Insurance and, most especially, the public sector savings they have cavalierly claimed can easily pay for it.

The people who know about these things – not company bosses who are quite understandably interested in reducing their company tax bills – have come out against Osborne and Cameron’s electoral cynicism and imprudence.

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Stephen Tall

Nick Clegg reveals Tories’ £13bn VAT bombshell

By Stephen Tall | Thu 8th April 2010 - 10:25 am

For the past week, the Tories have been decrying Labour’s plans to raise National Insurance, pledging to reverse the rise but with a startling lack of clarity about how they will pay for it – beyond vague talk of ‘efficiency savings’, the kind of fantasy finance David Cameron and George Osborne would be quick to scorn if other parties tried it on.

Today Nick Clegg is showing that NI cuts may be popular with business – but they have to be paid for by someone, and the most likely people to pay the price of the Tories’ cuts will be …

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NewsHound

LibLink: Stephen Tall – Where’s George Osborne? I’m curious

By NewsHound | Thu 8th April 2010 - 7:50 am

Over at the Guardian’s Comment Is Free website, LDV Co-Editor Stephen Tall poses the question, Where’s George?, and suggests the Tories have shunted the unpopular shadow chancellor into the sidings. Here’s an excerpt:

As the three major parties launched their respective campaigns yesterday, the omnipresent St Vince appeared to have been welded to Nick Clegg’s side, a perpetual reminder of the Lib Dems’ twin leadership ticket. Meanwhile, Gordon Brown surrounded himself with his entire cabinet, including Darling. … And where was George? Well, according to my spies, he was sighted at Luton airport, accompanied by one reporter.

You can read Stephen’s …

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Mark Pack

General election: what have we learnt today?

By Mark Pack | Wed 7th April 2010 - 11:53 pm

After yesterday’s revelations about how the party leaders want to be seen, what did we learn today?

a) We learnt that David Cameron likes bare elbows on TV more than he likes George Osborne (plenty of clips of David Cameron with sleeves rolled up and elbows showing whilst Osborne appeared to be auditioning for the role of Lord Lucan)

b) We learnt that the public think the Liberal Democrats have run the most impressive campaign so far*

c) We learnt that Kevin Maguire doesn’t like being quoted by Zac Goldsmith

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Stephen Tall

LDVideo Easter Monday special: a quattro of Tory gaffes

By Stephen Tall | Mon 5th April 2010 - 7:15 pm

Welcome to this latest LDVideo instalment, and today as a special holiday treat we’re highlighting four political video clips showing the Tory leadership team at their most embarrassingly gaffe-prone.

First up is this one from Tory shadow chancellor George Osborne, committing a diplomatic faux pas by referring to “the Sarkozy box” used by the diminutive French president when speaking from behind lecterns. (Yes, it’s sort of funny. But when you’re hoping to be this country’s chief finance minister, it really is better to avoid needlessly antagonising world leaders – as David Cameron might also learn) …


(Also available via PoliticsHome here).

Then, secondly, a pair of Cameron clips. The first from his recent stumbling interview with Martin Popplewell for Gay Times:

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Helen Duffett

Tories cry “foul” at Lib Dems’ fair hearing

By Helen Duffett | Wed 31st March 2010 - 4:51 pm

More complaints about the Liberal Democrats and media bias – but this time it’s the Conservatives worried that when Liberal Democrats get equal billing, people like what they see.

From the Times:

The Conservatives complained to the programme makers three times during Monday night’s television debate between the candidates for Chancellor, accusing them of skewing coverage in favour of Vince Cable.

At one point during the Channel 4 Ask the Chancellors programme senior Tories phoned the hotline to the production staff claiming that the Liberal Democrat Treasury spokesman was receiving too much applause.

Yesterday the Conservatives warned broadcasters not to give the Liberal Democrats an easy ride in the leaders’ TV debates.

Although many were happy with the performance of George Osborne, the Shadow Chancellor, senior Conservatives, including David Cameron, were irritated by the way Mr Cable was able to present himself as a referee between two opponents rather than facing pressure over his own policy positions.

We’ve covered before the familiar problem of media bias against the Liberal Democrats, and explained how you can help.

So what happens when a Liberal Democrat does get an equal chance?

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Helen Duffett

LDVideo: Vince Cable’s best bits from Ask The Chancellors

By Helen Duffett | Tue 30th March 2010 - 4:45 pm

Welcome to this latest LDVideo instalment, highlighting video clips from last night’s Ask The Chancellors debate on Channel 4.

Vince not only speaks the most sense but provokes the best reaction from the audience, getting more rounds of applause and even warm laughter.

On bank bonuses:


available on YouTube here.

I warned of the recession:

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Mark Pack

Ask the Chancellors: live blog

By Mark Pack | Mon 29th March 2010 - 7:47 pm

Here are the verdicts on how it went:

Overall verdict

Very well chaired by Krishnan Guru-Murthy. Cable frequently got applause. Darling held his ground well, but Osborne often weak and looking shifty. No-one got in a killer blow that will shift lots of people’s views, but debate will have confirmed praise for Cable and doubts about Osborne.

You can watch again Vince’s opening and closing statements.

Other people’s verdicts

  • The audience: I make it 6 rounds of applause for Cable, 3 for Darling and 1 for Osborne
  • The journalists: “Audience pretty much unanimous cable won, hacks too privately, but many sticking to party lines in

…

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Mark Pack

Lib Dem fiscal policy in a nutshell

By Mark Pack | Mon 29th March 2010 - 3:47 pm

Ahead of this evening’s debate between Alistair Darling, George Osborne and Vince Cable, you might find this little summary of the party’s fiscal policies helpful:

  • The party’s proposed tax cuts (such as raising the basic rate income tax threshold to £10,000) will be paid for by tax rises elsewhere in the system (such as ending the higher rate tax relief on pension contributions)
  • The party’s spending savings (such as scrapping ID cards) will be spent two-thirds on cutting the deficit and one-third on other policies (such as the pupil premium)

As to exactly how much savings will be identified, that in part awaits …

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Stephen Tall

Vince slams Osborne’s “schoolboy economics” (and the IFS aren’t keen on the Tories’ tax plans either)

By Stephen Tall | Mon 29th March 2010 - 2:15 pm

It’s only a few hours since shadow chancellor George Osborne launched the Tories’ plans to cut Labour’s proposed increases in employers’ National Insurance, and already you can start to hear the sound of it unravelling.

First up, Vince Cable, the Lib Dems’ shadow chancellor:

This is school boy economics. When you have a £70bn permanent hole in the Government’s finances you simply can’t propose cutting tax revenue unless you spell out exactly how you are going to pay for it. The Tories say they are going to pay for a cut in National Insurance through ‘efficiency savings’, but haven’t a first

…

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Helen Duffett

Public poll says Cable for Chancellor – how to bank this in real votes?

By Helen Duffett | Mon 22nd March 2010 - 1:45 pm

Vince Cable is the public’s preferred choice for Chancellor, according to a poll by PoliticsHome.

Of the general public polled, 31% chose Vince Cable above George Osborne, Alistair Darling, Ken Clarke, Peter Mandelson and Ed Balls.

The poll also found that 79% of Liberal Democrat voters supported Vince Cable for the job, while Osborne and Darling received much lower levels of support from their own parties’ voters. (Find the full results at PoliticsHome.)

As Iain pointed out yesterday, Vince’s recent recce to the Treasury does raise questions about how he could land the job.

Of course, national polls like this …

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Iain Roberts

Vince in talks with Treasury, ready to serve as Chancellor

By Iain Roberts | Sun 21st March 2010 - 7:10 am

In what’s believed to be unprecedented in recent times, Vince Cable has held talks with Nicholas Macpherson, the big cheese at the Treasury, about Lib Dems economic policies and what might happen in the event of a hung/ balanced parliament.

Cable was unaware of such meetings having taken place with Lib Dem shadow chancellors before previous general elections. The talks were a sign that the Treasury was “taking seriously” the prospect of his party playing a leading role in economic policy in what could be the first hung parliament since 1974.

Vince has also declared himself ready …

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Stephen Tall

Was 6th October the day it started going awry for the Tories?

By Stephen Tall | Tue 16th March 2010 - 7:40 pm

The opinion polls are up-and-down day-in-day-out at the moment, making it almost impossible to say with any confidence whether we are firmly in hung parliament territory, or whether the most likely result is still a Tory victory at the coming general election. But one thing is beyond doubt: the last six months has seen a substantial narrowing in the Tories’ opinion poll lead.

In October 2009, the Tories were polling at around 42%, Labour at 28% – a convincing Tory lead of 14%. Last month, the Tories were at 39%, Labour at 31%, a 3% swing from the …

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Bill le Breton

Opinion: And there was no more sea … (Revelations 21:1)

By Bill le Breton | Wed 10th March 2010 - 1:15 pm

Have a look at this cutting I found from the Wall Street Journal, 2nd March:

Market has encountered resistance since hitting new highs Tuesday, natural in view of the sweeping rally up to then. Previous pauses in early Jan. and mid-Feb. were followed by renewed rallying; evidence this is a similar period of consolidation seen in pattern of declining volume on recessions, indicating line of least resistance remains upward.

With the Dow today on 10,500 and the FTSE around 5,500, are we moving onwards and upwards towards a recovery?

Nope! The date line on that cutting was 2nd March 1931. That’s about …

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Ed Randall

Opinion: Who can trust Cameron?

By Ed Randall | Mon 8th March 2010 - 4:25 pm

In June 2006 Professor John Curtice, commenting on opinion polls and shifts in the UK political environment said: “It looks as though we may have entered a new political era”. Andrew Grice, The Independent on Sunday’s Political Editor, observed that the Independent’s ‘poll of polls’ showed “David Cameron’s rejuvenated Conservative Party a seven-point lead over Labour.”

The focus of their political analysis was the impact of a recently elected Conservative Party leader on UK party politics. Here was a leader who had set out to detoxify the Tory brand, and he and his party appeared to be making significant headway.

David Cameron had, according to Andrew Grice, called on …

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Helen Duffett

Daily View 2×2: 26 February 2010

By Helen Duffett | Fri 26th February 2010 - 7:00 am

Welcome to Friday, and with another busy campaigning weekend ahead, political parties are counting down the days and counting up the cash:

2 Election War Chest Stories

Labour opts for bargain £4m campaign with no posters

For the first time in more than 60 years, Labour does not plan to use its scarce resources on high street posters, such as those that the big-spending Conservatives have already set up across Britain. Instead, officials say that Gordon Brown will make a virtue out of necessity with a campaign that will lean on the “word of mouth” community organising techniques that helped Barack Obama into the White House.

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Iain Roberts

Make your mind up, Dave – should peers’ tax affairs be private or not?

By Iain Roberts | Sun 14th February 2010 - 4:16 pm

Confusion reigns in the Conservative Party over whether or not MPs’ and Peers’ tax affairs should be private.

Back in December, Cameron said

If you want to be in the Houses of Parliament… you need to be, or be treated as, a full UK taxpayer. We would pass that law if we get elected… as rapidly as we could.

Now we have Eric Pickles saying

Lord Aschcroft is entitled to his privacy.

and George Osborne saying

We live in a country where people are entitled to a private relationship with the Inland Revenue.

So which is it?

Are MPs and peers entitled …

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Sara Bedford

Daily View 2×2: 9 February 2010

By Sara Bedford | Tue 9th February 2010 - 9:53 am

Welcome to this morning’s Daily View.  I am sure I cannot be the only person to be cheered by waking to the news that the Conservatives believe that their no. 1 electoral weapon is George Osborne.

On this day 60 years ago, United States Senator Joe McCarthy launched his anti-communist crusade, with a speech accusing more than 200 staff in the State Department of being members of the Communist Party.  On 9thFebruary 1979, England and Birmingham City forward Trevor Francis signed for Brian Clough’s Nottingham Forest for £1 million, the first UK footballer to move for a seven figure sum.

Today is also the third anniversary of the death of actor Ian Richardson CBE, best known for his portrayal of the Machiavellian Conservative politician Francis Urquhart in the wonderful House of Cards trilogy.

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Stephen Tall

So George, tell us, when exactly did you decide to back Obama’s banking reforms?

By Stephen Tall | Fri 22nd January 2010 - 7:25 pm

The Tories’ shadow chancellor George Osborne was proud to declare on this morning’s BBC Radio 4 Today Programme that he had been in favour of banking reforms now being championed by President Obama – to break up the big banks – “since last July”. This will come as something of a surprise to anyone who’s been following Tory policy on the banking industry over the past six months.

In fact, let’s take a look at what the Tories were saying last July, the month the party launched its white paper on financial regulation. Mr Osborne put forward six policy …

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Sara Bedford

Conservative policy making informed by TV detective series

By Sara Bedford | Mon 18th January 2010 - 12:15 pm

Today’s FT has an interview with wannabe Chancellor George Osborne, where he once again fails to give any real details of the Conservatives’ economic plans, should they win the next election. Osborne talks about his admiration for Sweden, although he is unable to put his finger on exactly why, saying:

“I’m no expert on Swedish society but I am a regular viewer now of Wallander”.

What next: Chris Grayling telling the Daily Mail that he is changing the Conservatives’ policies on drugs after catching up with a few episodes of Van der Valk?

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The Voice

One-third of Cameron’s shadow cabinet opposed to gay rights

By The Voice | Sat 16th January 2010 - 6:20 pm

Nick Clegg made some waves this week by calling for full gay equality, and challenging the Tories and their leader David Cameron to follow his example. Well, now Lib Dem research has shown what an uphill battle the Tory leader will have on his hand even convincing his own shadow cabinet to back such moves – let alone his even more right-wing backbenchers – as The Guardian reports:

Nearly a third of David Cameron’s shadow cabinet voted against gay rights legislation at some point over the last two parliaments, demonstrating their “shameful” record in tackling discrimination, according to the

…

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The Voice

The Economist: “the Liberal Democrats have the most mature position on the deficit”

By The Voice | Fri 15th January 2010 - 7:45 am

Here’s the verdict of The Economist’s columnist on British politics, the pseudonymous Bagehot:

In some ways, miraculous to report, the Liberal Democrats have the most mature position on the deficit. Nick Clegg, their leader, this week demoted some of the party’s spending pledges (for example, on pensions and university funding) to aspirations, pre-emptively narrowing his manifesto to a few, affordable core themes. He has not promised to protect any departmental budgets. Vince Cable, his Treasury spokesman, has a longer list of items for the chop than Mr Osborne, including some cherished defence projects, but accepts that the axeman’s hand should

…

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