George Osborne and Ed Balls are now locked into something of a staring match over the Libor scandal, with one waiting for the other to flinch. After Paul Tucker’s evidence to the Treasury Select Committee yesterday cleared the Shadow Chancellor and his ministerial colleagues in the Labour government of leaning on the Bank of England, Balls demanded an apology from Osborne for his comments to the Spectator.
Andrea Leadsom, one of the members of the committee, saw enough in Tucker’s testimony to publicly call for an apology. This is significant because Leadsom is not the sort of MP who openly briefs against her bosses. She may have a slightly rebellious streak over Europe, but she’s no Nadine Dorries when it comes to making pronouncements on the Government. She told The World Tonight:
‘I think obviously he made a mistake and I think he should apologise, but I think the real issue that concerns people in the country is what exactly is going on in the banks.’
Asked whether Osborne had been using the accusations against Balls to obscure the debate away from what was taking place in the banks, Leadsom said:
‘No I don’t think so at all, I think it was a very valid discussion at the time about who knew what and that’s now been completely squashed by Paul Tucker and that is a valid conversation to have had, and now at a personal level he probably would want to apologise.
Comments
Join the debate for just $5 for 3 months
Be part of the conversation with other Spectator readers by getting your first three months for $5.
UNLOCK ACCESS Just $5 for 3 monthsAlready a subscriber? Log in