This Thatcherite chancellor’s dependence on communist China for energy is just one of many symptoms of his erratic approach to capital expenditureOur chancellor could not resist it. Once again,while presenting the latest revisions to his “long-term plan”, he dragged up the Labour chief secretary Liam Byrne’s line in 2010 that there’s no money left”. I say line, and because it was not a spoken comment but a phrase contained in the customary written note from the outgoing chief secretary to the incoming one,who happened for what turned out to be a very short time – to be the Liberal Democrat David Laws.
This was meant to be a joke, and Treasury officials thought it was spoiled form for Laws to publicise a private letter. But the joke rebounded on Byrne and Labour, and the Conservatives are still milking it all these years later. And last week shadow chancellor John McDonnell tried a intentionally more public joke with his production of Chairman Mao’s little red book. This backfired too,and the Tories will milk it mercilessly as well.
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Source: theguardian.com