We shouldn't be so shocked that a Tory employee attempted to change an historical fact on Wikipedia , instead we should be more worried about the Tories attempt to whitewash their past and claim the oral high ground in the wake of the credit crunch.
on BBC Radio Five Live this morning George Osborne simply ignored Nicky Campbells questions regarding Tory leader David Cameron speeches from less than two years ago when he criticised attempts to regulate the City of London and the banks. The presenter seemed to have a list of speeches and dates from Mr Cameron which Osborne had absolutely no answer for other than to say "but we do want proper regulation". It seems clear that the Tories are desperately hoping that nobody examines their "light touch" policy on The City in too much depth.
Osborne tried to justify the Tories high moral line by arguing that under Tory governments in the past no banks went under. Sadly it seems that someone who wants to be the Chancellor of the Exchequer has never heard of the Bank of Credit & Commerce International (BCCI), a large bank which although foreign owned, was based firmly in London which under a Tory government (and virtually no monitoring or regulation, as is the Tory was) went bust. Though no HBOS, BCCI went under in relatively bening times and without the Tory government having a clue that it would happen.
the Tories would be much better off holding their hands up and saying "We were wrong on regulation and we now see the need for it" rather than denying their guilty secrets and making us all suspicious of whether we can believe them about anything.
7 comments:
Gee - you really don't like them, do you? Getting a bit paranoid methinks.
It would be paranoia iof my views towarsd them had changed. It hasn't because I am old enough to remember them in power. Some people are lucky NOT to be old enough to remember just how awful and hated they were.
...yeah, they were almost as hated as this present lot, except this lot managed to earn a similar level of hatred 7 years, or 52%, more quickly. By my calculations, that means the next lot should score national derision within a single term. Perhaps then we might actually be given some real choice.
BTW ~ I do hope you don't teach Economics, Nich. Whilst I can forgive the dumbed down BBC for repeating the 'twas a lack or regulation' mantra despite the actual evidence, I would hate to think you were feeding such simplistic tripe to your kids.
It is likely that precisely one of the next Tory Cabinet served in the last one.
'Light touch' regulation is infinitely better than 'heavy regulation that makes things worse'.
The banks didn't go bust under them - but there were millions on the dole and double figure interest.
J, the Tories cannot have it both ways. They claim that they are new and it is unfair to judge them on the basis of the last Tory government then they try to give the eample of previous Tory governments actions to justify why they are up to the job now. It is a contradiction in terms.
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