Brown is having tent trouble
James Forsyth 5:13pm
When Gordon Brown first announced the outsiders he had recruited to his ‘ministry of all the talents’ there was much chuckling in Westminster about whether Digby Jones or Mark Malloch Brown would be the first minister to be sacked. Early on, Malloch Brown moved into pole position with an insufferably pompous interview in the Telegraph that caused Brown all sorts of problems in Washington and led to a public slapping down of the over-mighty junior by his boss David Miliband. But now Comrade Digby must be the bookie’s favourite.
Digby’s unhappiness over the changes to capital gains tax announced in the pre-Budget report has not exactly been a state secret. But he has now gone further, telling business leaders in Bolton:
“I have learned that medium-sized businesses, in particular, think this is a terrible thing. I want to understand your questions and concerns and I promise I will relay what you have said to the Chancellor in private."
The Tories have seized on this, with George Osborne saying:
“Gordon Brown made a huge song and dance about appointing Digby Jones to government. So now he must pay attention to what his loose-tongued Minister has said about the way businesses feel about the 80 per cent increase in capital gains tax. The sooner the Prime Minister accepts that he needs to U-turn the better.”
Digby will probably weather this mini-squall--the rest of his comments were supportive enough of the change, but I wouldn’t give him much longer than six months. A disillusioned Digby might turn out to be quite a thorn in Gordon’s side.
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Mike
October 25th, 2007 9:28amDigby Jones has made a huge mistake in joining Brown's big tent. If he wants to retain some credibility and dignity he should either resign or very publicly dissent from this governments stupid economic and business policies and get sacked. How much is that Baronetcy and ermine worth? Does he support an 80% raise in capital gains tax paid by SMEs and entrepreneurs? Does he support a 55% cut in the capital gains tax paid by MPs on their second (state funded) home? Does he support the government in paying for 5.4M people of working age not to work and live in poverty? Does he support the growth in welfare provision so that one in three households is dependent on the state for more than half of its income? Does he support the fact that 61% of single parent families are wholly dependent on the state for their income (vs. 9% in a two parent home)? Is he comfortable that families with income over £50,000 are able to claim state benefits in the form of tax credits? Does he support the wholesale destruction of the private pensions system through adverse regulatory change and taxation of dividends? And so on......(and I havent started on the fragile state of our fantasy island economy and our potentially disastrous credit and property market risks) Digby - make your choice quickly if you want to retain any credibility and leave New Labours sinking ship fast...