Did the 2007-08 financial crisis cause Brexit, the election of Donald Trump, the rise of Jeremy Corbyn? George Osborne’s answer, 10 years on from it all, echoed Zhou Enlai on the French revolution: it’s too early to say. But at a Spectator event at Cadogan Hall, in conversation with Andrew Neil, Osborne defended not only his policies as chancellor, but also – by implication, and rather unexpectedly – Gordon Brown’s.
Looking back, he said, even if Britain wasn’t particularly well prepared for the collapse of Northern Rock and all that followed that autumn a decade ago, there was nothing ‘radically different’ that could have been done to respond to the crash, either by him or his predecessor.
QE was necessary: even if it has given those with assets a leg up while wages for those in work stagnate, the alternative – leading to higher unemployment – would have been worse.
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