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Merv distances himself from the tories

This suprised me:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2010/nov/30/wikileaks-cables-mervyn-king-cameron-osborne

Merv advised US ambassadors that he felt the tory leadership lacked experience, and ability, and are way out of their depth.:eek: Also, that their world view is too narrow, & that their thinking/planning for dealing with the deficit was solely focussed on benefitting their electability (as opposed to actually dealing with it). They also state:
Internal Tory polling found Osborne lacked gravitas with the public, partly due to his "high-pitched vocal delivery". As a result, Cameron, not Osborne, made the special address on the economic crisis to the party conference in the autumn of 2008.
• The defence secretary, Liam Fox, told the Americans that the Tories would be tougher on Pakistan because they were less reliant on votes from the Pakistani community than Labour.
• King believes Europe's sovereign debt crisis will accelerate political union. "Leaders in Germany and France have recognised that allowing monetary union to happen without corresponding political cohesion was a mistake and one that needed to be rectified," King told American diplomats.
• The Liberal Democrats' two top strategists, Polly Mackenzie and Chris Saunders, now both working in government, planned to run a fierce anti-Cameron election campaign, describing him as "out of touch with real life". The death of Cameron's son Ivan forced them to drop the plan since it "eliminated these vulnerabilities".
• Referring to Muslim extremists in Britain from Pakistan, Cameron told the Americans at a meeting in April 2009 that under Labour "we let in a lot of crazies and did not wake up early enough".

King also feels that there is an analogy with the Blair/Brown partnership, in that both couples managed ok in opposition, but splits emerge when in power. He also was a lot less bullish that he presented himself.
King told Susman he had fears the "Cameron/Osborne partnership was not unlike the Tony Blair/Gordon Brown team of New Labour's early years, when both worked well together when part of the opposition party, but fissures developed – for many reasons – once Labour was in power. Similar tensions could arise if Cameron and Osborne disagreed on how to handle the deficit, and the lack of depth in their inner circle would aggravate the situation."
The governor was gloomy about economic prospects, Susman reported. "It was hard to be optimistic about recovery in 2010," King argued, and noted "a double-dip recession was still a possibility".

So, the head of the BoE got his fingers dirty & almost acted as a kingmaker in getting involved in negotiations to resolve coalition planning, & to an extent, directing policy. That said, he went on to criticize the actions to other nations.

Arguably, he breached his position of impartiality:
There is a broad expectation that the governor of the Bank of England will behave with political neutrality, and will not seek to interfere directly in macro-economic policy, the preserve of the Treasury and politicians. Yet the cables reveal he pressed Cameron for details of his deficit plan.

I find all this quite worrying. Effectively the head of the BoE (who, it can be argued doesn't have the most glowing track record himself) does not have any confidence in the Prime Minister & Chancellor.

In addition, there is a side issue in that the tories are clearly making decisions based upon spin, & how they anticipate such decisions will be recieved by the voting public.

Worrying. Thoughts?
It's getting harder & harder to keep the government in the manner to which they have become accustomed.
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Comments

  • StevieJ
    StevieJ Posts: 20,174 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 10,000 Posts Combo Breaker
    The governor apparently "opined that party leader David Cameron and shadow chancellor George Osborne have not fully grasped the pressures they will face from different groups when attempting to cut spending".

    Maybe he was correct, note climbdown on Civil Service job losses, delay in LHA reform.
    'Just think for a moment what a prospect that is. A single market without barriers visible or invisible giving you direct and unhindered access to the purchasing power of over 300 million of the worlds wealthiest and most prosperous people' Margaret Thatcher
  • lemonjelly
    lemonjelly Posts: 8,014 Forumite
    1,000 Posts Combo Breaker Mortgage-free Glee!
    Blanchflower has come out and said Merv should quit over this:

    http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2010/dec/01/wikileaks-mervyn-king-quit-political-bias
    "Mervyn King is one smart guy and that has always been abundantly clear," said Blanchflower. "Unfortunately, it is his thirst for power and influence that has clouded his judgment one too many times. He has now committed the unforgivable sin of compromising the independence of the Bank of England. He is expected to be politically neutral but he has shown himself to be politically biased and as a result is now in an untenable position. King must go."
    Blanchflower said his intervention in the government's economic programme had revealed King's "true party-political colours" and would leave him unable to advise the Labour opposition.
    "Once independence has been compromised it can never be restored," wrote Blanchflower.
    It's getting harder & harder to keep the government in the manner to which they have become accustomed.
  • StevieJ
    StevieJ Posts: 20,174 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 10,000 Posts Combo Breaker
    In addition, there is a side issue in that the tories are clearly making decisions based upon spin, & how they anticipate such decisions will be recieved by the voting public.
    What is new with that?
    'Just think for a moment what a prospect that is. A single market without barriers visible or invisible giving you direct and unhindered access to the purchasing power of over 300 million of the worlds wealthiest and most prosperous people' Margaret Thatcher
  • lemonjelly
    lemonjelly Posts: 8,014 Forumite
    1,000 Posts Combo Breaker Mortgage-free Glee!
    It's getting harder & harder to keep the government in the manner to which they have become accustomed.
  • lemonjelly
    lemonjelly Posts: 8,014 Forumite
    1,000 Posts Combo Breaker Mortgage-free Glee!
    StevieJ wrote: »
    What is new with that?


    Nothing whatsoever. It is just how both sides portray themselves as different, when in reality they are the same.:)
    It's getting harder & harder to keep the government in the manner to which they have become accustomed.
  • angrypirate
    angrypirate Posts: 1,151 Forumite
    lemonjelly wrote: »

    Blanchflower once again showing his true colours.

    Everyone has some sort of political leaning. What King has to do is ensure that his personal political views does not affect his job as Gov.
  • ILW
    ILW Posts: 18,333 Forumite
    StevieJ wrote: »
    What is new with that?

    Is it not some sort of democracy?
  • StevieJ
    StevieJ Posts: 20,174 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 10,000 Posts Combo Breaker
    ILW wrote: »
    Is it not some sort of democracy?

    How quaint :)
    'Just think for a moment what a prospect that is. A single market without barriers visible or invisible giving you direct and unhindered access to the purchasing power of over 300 million of the worlds wealthiest and most prosperous people' Margaret Thatcher
  • pqrdef
    pqrdef Posts: 4,552 Forumite
    Blanchflower once again showing his true colours.
    "Compromising the independence of the Bank of England"? When did we ever really believe in that?

    The independent central bank model was copied from the Germans in the days of the Deutschmark. But it isn't necessarily the right way to manage a decline.
    "It will take, five, 10, 15 years to get back to where we need to be. But it's no longer the individual banks that are in the wrong, it's the banking industry as a whole." - Steven Cooper, head of personal and business banking at Barclays, talking to Martin Lewis
  • JP45
    JP45 Posts: 335 Forumite
    Blanchflower once again showing his true colours.

    Indeed. He was asked on the lunchtime news on Radio 4 whether his criticism of Mervyn King was in any way personal, to which he replied:

    "No, not personal at all."

    Yeah right, of course it's not. Who on earth does he think he's kidding?
    Mervyn King should consider his position. It's time for a change at the top at the Old Lady of Threadneedle Street.

    No it's not, it's time for Blanchflower to stop sniping from the sidelines like some thoroughly embittered ex-member of the MPC. He's starting to make Ted Heath look like a graceful loser.
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