In the last week we have seen some rather ugly truths laid bare.

First we saw in the Pre-Budget Report (PBR) a Chancellor proving himself to be the King of Wishful Thinking. His plan for tackling the budget deficit is to simply close our eyes and wish ourselves out of it.  Darling’s entire plan for deficit reduction rests on wild growth forecasts to deliver the tax revenue needed to plug the black hole in our country’s finances. Unfortunately, these forecasts go against what any expert predicts. Darling says the economy will spring back to life in 2 years. History teaches us otherwise. When we were in a comparable situation in the 1970s we endured 5 years of near stagnation.  Pie in the sky predictions are dangerous as they will only serve to worsen the deficit by leading us down the wrong path.

Then the myth, perpetuated by the Labour, that Gordon Brown was a prudent ‘Iron Chancellor’ was totally blown out of the water once and for all with the revelations that he is putting the wellbeing of the Labour Party ahead that of the country. Brown overruled Darling’s attempts to raise tax revenue through VAT and insisted on even more government spending rather than debt reduction. While Darling may be overly optimistic in his predictions for the country, at least he has the intention of reducing the Government’s debt.  Brown, on the other hand only has his party’s electoral interests at heart. He is perfectly happy to see the economy slide down the tubes provided he manages to get a little more of his core vote out. He has always been addicted to spending and never put the interests of the country first.

For a man who bangs on about ‘Britishness’ and patriotism, this is one of the greatest acts of treason in modern times.