During a recent Question Time, the PM was censured for using the word ‘hypocrisy’ because it was ‘unparliamentary’.
I am not governed by the same strictures, so I can say that it is hypocritical of Ed Miliband to criticise those who are wealthy, and wealth creators, whether through their own hard work or inheritance, when you have considerable wealth yourself! Referring to the government as ‘multi-millionaires’ and ‘out of touch’ because of their wealth, is hypocritical when you, yourself, live in a multi-million pound property and have an income which is well beyond most people’s wildest dreams. If Ed wants a class war, he is attacking himself and his own family, and the families of those on his front bench who are also multi-millionaires.
Lord Mandelson famously said that he had ‘no problem with people being filthy rich’, and certainly he wasn’t slow in making a substantial fortune during his years in public service, and will shortly collect an additional very substantial pension in return for his short sojourn as an EU commissioner. The Blairs have followed in his footsteps, making squillions in the few years since he left office; there have even been questions over the amount of tax he pays, and certainly over the fact that you and I are still forking out around £6m a year for the former PM’s security. Labour actively encouraged a culture of excess, which led to public and private indebtedness.
Let’s also remember that, along with members of the government - Conservative and Liberal - both the Milibands and many on Ed’s own Labour front bench benefited from a fine education at some of the UK’s, and indeed the world’s, greatest universities. It is a shame that too few of them didn’t also benefit from having ‘proper jobs’ in the real world.
Now they have the hypocrisy to court the ‘middle classes’, whose standard of living has suffered in recent years – due in no small part to Labour’s excesses; never forget the financial largesse delivered in the electorate’s name, not least the multi-million off-balance sheet PFIs which are a millstone round the necks of hospital administrators struggling to balance the books, as well as the Prescott fantasy of regional fire HQs, which have never been occupied and continue to cost us many millions a year.
Which leads me onto the unseemly attacks on bankers. Let me make it clear that I believe that excessive pay is an affront to society, especially when those who are paid such large sums appear to be without a social conscience. The same could be said of some footballers, paid vast sums for kicking a ball around!
Nevertheless, apart from RBS, banks are private businesses, owned by shareholders which include pension funds. I resent politicians populist ‘bashing bankers’ because it gives the wrong impression to business, and that includes overseas business, which want to expand or create new investments in our country. If we over-tax and have an anti-business culture, they will go somewhere else, taking their billions and job creation with them. This is what happened under previous Labour administrations, and it took years to rebuild confidence in the UK.
We need banks to lend to existing and new businesses, homebuyers and those of us who may want to buy a new car or build an extension.
Finally, may I remind you that the biggest failure of the banking industry was bad regulation – and whilst there are key figures who were culpable for mismanaging their own banks, the major culpability lies with the last Labour government. Gordon Brown, Ed Balls, and Tony Blair, and every other Cabinet member, who set aside their financial responsibilities for political gain, by promoting the ‘no more boom and bust’ mantra. They had a duty to all of us to manage our finances efficiently, not selling our gold at the lowest ever price, and not permitting the economy to overheat.
They failed miserably. Ed Miliband should remember that next time he accuses the Conservative front bench of being out of touch; it is Labour which is out of touch by refusing to acknowledge how badly they let us all down.
Lest he forget, the ‘middle classes’ are the backbone of this country, they survive without public sector largesse, paying their own housing and children’s costs, living within their means without the latest big screen telly. They include hard working people who previously fell within Labour’s 50% tax rate until the Conservatives cut it to 45%, and they are still paying more tax under this government than they ever did under Labour.
Some Ipswich Borough staff are losing £40 or more a week under their latest plans, whilst council house rents are to be increased by another 5.5% for the second successive year – adding another £240 p.a. to tenants’ outgoings. Whatever happened to the ‘cost of living crisis’ Labour claims exists?
Vote Labour and sign up to hypocrisy on an institutional scale.