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Post by mouse on Apr 27, 2010 9:47:27 GMT
Gordon Brown adviser says City all-important - and 'rest of the country can be turned over to tourism' A senior economic adviser to Gordon Brown said the City of London was all-important to the Government and “the rest of the country can be turned over to tourism”, it is claimed today. By Gordon Rayner, Chief Reporter Published: 10:02PM GMT 02 Mar 2009
A report on defence spending quotes the “influential” official as telling union officials that manufacturing had “no value” but the financial sector had to be “supported at all costs”.
The alleged comments, made before the collapse of Northern Rock but only now made public, appear to shed new light on the Government’s decision to press ahead with a £1.3 trillion bail-out of the banking sector while being criticised for doing too little to support industry.
Government debt: That?ll be £2.2 trillion, pleaseThe report by the UK National Defence Association (UKNDA), an independent body, quotes the government adviser as saying: “Defence, aerospace, manufacturing and engineering have no real value to us.
“Only high-quality professional services, financial services and the City of London have any real value and they should be supported at all costs. The rest of the country can be turned over to tourism.”
The report, which highlighted a £15 billion shortfall in defence spending, will lead to intense speculation over the identity of the unnamed government adviser.
Dr Liam Fox, the shadow defence secretary, said: “If these comments are true, then it lays bare the contempt this government has for the defence industries, which play an important role in supporting British exports and British jobs.
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Post by mouse on Apr 27, 2010 9:48:18 GMT
what a charming view they have of this country and what utter contempt
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Post by Big Lin on Apr 27, 2010 15:19:04 GMT
Whoever gets in will have to deal with the City.
Cameron would be WORSE than Brown or Clegg in terms of sucking up to these people.
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Post by fretslider on Apr 27, 2010 15:40:16 GMT
Whoever gets in will have to deal with the City. Cameron would be WORSE than Brown or Clegg in terms of sucking up to these people. Are you sure of that? Rewind back to the early - mid 90s. Remember Brown's charm offensive? All those working breakfasts etc desperate to persuade the City that they could trust a Labour government. After Michael Foot and the uber corrupt Kinnock they needed an awful lot of persuading. Who knows what Brown promised to get them on side, but when it hit the fan they called in the favours and Brown threw money at them like confetti. Is it any accident that the non-existent regulation of finance commenced on day 1 in 1997? No, of course it isn't You can't get a Rizla between them, they're all corrupt lying reptiles.
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Post by Big Lin on Apr 27, 2010 19:28:12 GMT
But Cameron comes from the sleazy world the City scum inhabit. Brown only wishes that he did.
Yes, I am totally convinced that Brown is a lesser evil than Cameron in almost every respect. I prefer Clegg to both of them but I'd rather have Labour back for another term than see the pathetic shower, totally barren of ideas, that call themselves the Conservative Party.
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Post by fretslider on Apr 27, 2010 19:53:07 GMT
But Cameron comes from the sleazy world the City scum inhabit. Brown only wishes that he did. Yes, I am totally convinced that Brown is a lesser evil than Cameron in almost every respect. I prefer Clegg to both of them but I'd rather have Labour back for another term than see the pathetic shower, totally barren of ideas, that call themselves the Conservative Party. I won't defend any of them, but Cameron is not of the City. He's always worked for the Tory party. Maybe he, like Brown, is a wannabe. As I said, as Shadow Chancellor, Brown worked hard to present himself as a fiscally competent, something that we have learned, to our great cost, is not true. There is no lesser evil where these men are concerned and Clegg too is a seasoned trougher. When the votes are cast and the dust settles, no matter who gets in and how great the democratic defecit, it will be business as usual. The difference between us is you are thinking within the current paradigm.
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Post by Big Lin on Apr 27, 2010 23:10:20 GMT
I think you're wrong about how I think, Fret. I very much want to get BEYOND the current paradigm which is why a Conservative government would be so disastrous for the country.
Cameron is just Blair Mark II.
At least Brown has a few brain cells - neither Phoney Tony nor Dodgy Dave does!
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Post by fretslider on Apr 28, 2010 7:22:35 GMT
I think you're wrong about how I think, Fret. I very much want to get BEYOND the current paradigm which is why a Conservative government would be so disastrous for the country. Cameron is just Blair Mark II. At least Brown has a few brain cells - neither Phoney Tony nor Dodgy Dave does! Lin If you go with ANY of the three under FPTP you will get the same old same old. I'd like to think Brown and the others do have a neuron or two, but frankly I haven't seen any evidence to suggest they have. None of the above!
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Post by mouse on Apr 28, 2010 7:25:07 GMT
it would make a change to actually HAVE some government.....good governance would be a miricle.......clegg is definitely a no as far as i am concerned brown on his record is another no and cameron i dont like one little bit....so not a lot of choice there apaears to be no one with vision..skill.. the country interests at heart but labour having inflicted us with extra millions have shown their utter contemp and arogance for the country and the peoples of the country.....let them eat cake or in this case ""turn it over to tourism""
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Post by firedancer on Apr 28, 2010 11:44:33 GMT
So we are told Lin. Pity he wasn't using them when he sold off our gold reserves at the bottom of the market......
Don't take that as a vote of confidence in Cameron either though.
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