21 September 2006

Return of the grievous angel

Warning! The undead are clanking their chains. Crazy man Michael is patrolling the battlements and may be about to throw a dirty great spanner into Mr Cameron's hitherto peaceable existence.

The Spectator reports:
"It was fun for David Cameron while it lasted but the Conservative party’s uneasy moratorium on talking about tax cuts is about to come to an abrupt end. The Tory Tax Reform Commission, launched by his predecessor Michael Howard, will shortly deliver its findings — and the prospect is causing panic in the party’s Victoria Street headquarters.
Far from being the modest simplification of the tax code that the Cameroons had hoped for, I have learnt from senior sources that the current draft report includes a blueprint worth up to £19.5 billion a year in net tax cuts to be implemented over the course of a first Tory term, as well as a number of additional uncosted tax reductions. I can also reveal that shadow chancellor George Osborne is fighting a rearguard action to convince the Commission’s excellent chairman, Lord Forsyth of Drumlean, to dilute his plans; while not binding on Cameron, they will be taken seriously by the media and opposition."

If that is the Lord Forsyth which Scotland learned to know and love (sort of) in the late 1980s and early 1990s (which it certainly is), then I don't fancy the chances of Mr George (Gideon) Osborne. Lord Forsyth will eat him for breakfast. And while Mr Cameron may not be bound to accept Lord Forsyth's recommendations, they will be taken seriously - not only by the media and opposition but also by the Tory Party.

Always nice to see a blast from the past zooming up the hit parade...

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