Help to Buy mortgage subsidies show how little politicians learnt from the bubble years

Gordon Brown used to joke that there are only two types of Chancellors: ‘those who fail and those who get out in time.’ Inside this joke lay his strategy: he was stoking a debt-fuelled bubble that was going to burst, but he hoped it would do so after the election or on someone else’s watch. It’s the textbook definition of putting party over country. I’m afraid that we can see its reflection in Help to Buy.

David Cameron’s article in the Sun today shows this politicking is back. Look, he said, this policy shows I’m on the side of aspirational voters. If you want to get on in life, the Tories are on your side – they’ll kit you out with a sub-prime housing loan. After all, what could possibly go wrong?

As James says, this strategy may pay political dividends for the Conservatives. But it is a piece of economic madness.