Thursday, Feb 25, 2010

One of the more level-headed Cabinet members

The Telegraph: Alistair Darling is a dead man talking, and he’s taking sweet revenge

Mr Darling does not escape blame for Britain’s woes. He has, for 13 years, been part of a Government that has run our finances into the ground and shares some responsibility for that disgrace. What’s more, his penchant for “flipping” houses, making four separate second-home designations, covering three different properties in as many years, put him in the front line of the expenses scandal, not a place one expects to find the minister in charge of our till.

Posted by devo @ 09:25 PM (391 views) Add Comment

4 Comments

1. paul said...

When you see even our Chancellor flipping houses and buying up investment properties, suddenly the whole legislative and fiscal framework around keeping house prices high over the last ten years and rising draws into focus.

Friday, February 26, 2010 08:39AM Report Comment
 

2. ontheotherhand said...

I didn't know that house flipping fact. I don't think they created the MW 'homeownerist' framework just to make money on second homes, but they did understand that home owners would always be supported for political ends so why not take a free bet? Then again, nobody seems to have told that to Tony Blair who sold in Islington in '96.

Friday, February 26, 2010 09:22AM Report Comment
 

3. tyrellcorporation said...

Ah, but he didn't hold the levers of power in '96!

Friday, February 26, 2010 10:23AM Report Comment
 

4. mark wadsworth said...

He's one of the least-bad of a bad bunch is Darling. He may have indulged in flipping, but hey, they all did.

OTOH, Nulab didn't stumble across Home-Owner-Ism as a device for creating the feelgood factor and hence winning elections until the boom had already started, but they soon cottoned on how easy it was and now they are in it up to their necks, the only way out of this, politically, that they can envisage is reflating the bubble. The problem is that The Tories will be worse.

Friday, February 26, 2010 10:37AM Report Comment
 

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