DAILY MAIL COMMENT: Mr Brown's legacy is part of the problem

DAILY MAIL COMMENT: Mr Brown’s legacy is part of the problem

One can only marvel at Gordon Brown’s brass neck in lecturing the Tory leadership candidates on how to manage the cost of living crunch.

Having inherited a buoyant economy from the Conservatives, by the time he left office it had crashed. Then, as now, a global shock was largely to blame – but his profligacy with our money had made a bad situation far worse.

New Labour’s aversion to commissioning new nuclear power stations on his watch is also a root cause of the looming energy gap we have in Britain now.

Inevitably, his solution to today’s problems is the same as his solution to every other – a massive splurge of state spending.

Gordon Brown’s profligacy with our money made a bad situation far worse

This Government has already given £15billion in handouts to cushion the blow of soaring energy bills, aimed mainly at the poorest. It is almost certain that the new PM will decide to give more taxpayers’ money away, as part of a mixed package of grants and tax cuts.

But she (or he) need take no economics lessons from the sanctimonious Mr Brown. For him, and the rest of the spendthrift Left, no amount of state subsidy is ever enough – even though the money all has to be borrowed, saddling future generations with crippling debts.

He is right about one thing, however. The Tory leadership race feels as if it has been rumbling on quite long enough.

Tory membership polls show Liz Truss to be the unassailable winner, so many will agree with our columnist Stephen Glover today that Rishi Sunak should now stand down. It is, of course, his prerogative but with his increasingly desperate supporters launching ever more toxic ‘blue-on-blue’ attacks against Miss Truss, the reputation of the party is being undermined.

This interregnum, coming in such perilous times, also gives a dangerous sense of drift. Mr Brown’s suggestion that Boris Johnson should announce a spending package before leaving office is preposterous.

Only the new PM has the authority to do that. And though both candidates are doubtless taking steps now to ensure they hit the ground running, the contest still has another month to run.

Unless Mr Sunak chooses to end it sooner by falling on his sword.

BBC’s own goal

Like the theme music to The Archers and Desert Island Discs, Sports Report’s rousing signature tune is part of the soundtrack to British life.

When the music fades, after a few breathless headlines it’s straight into the Saturday ritual of the classified football results. Well not any more.

As part of its baleful campaign of cultural cleansing, the BBC has axed the results from their 5pm slot on Radio 5 Live.

The five minutes it took up is being filled instead with yet more inane chatter (as if there weren’t enough already!) in the build-up to the 5.30pm match.

There could hardly be a more ill-judged decision. It achieves nothing and alienates listeners who hold this tiny jewel of British sporting tradition in huge affection.

It’s the latest example of obtuse programme planners chipping away at everything that gives the BBC its meaning. Pretty soon, there will be nothing left worth saving.

  • After the revelation that up to four in ten cross-Channel migrants are from Albania, it was perhaps predictable that Albanian parents are in the top ten of foreign nationals having children in Britain. Albania is not a war zone, not in the EU and not a place where political or religious persecution is rife. The Daily Mail has nothing against Albanians – but are they really genuine refugees? If not, how is it that so many are allowed to come in and reside here?

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