I don't think Alistair Darling wants to be Chancellor of the Exchequer

Poor Alistair Darling, he was made Chancellor of the Exchequer by a control freak new Prime Minister who it was obvious would continue to run economic policy along with micro-managing every other government department. Alistair Darling has a couple of times quietly warned of economic troubles ahead and at the weekend he did it again. You can read the whole article here but the headline warnings are that

1) "Alistair Darling, the Chancellor, today concedes for the first time that the economy’s prospects will be dealt a blow by the global credit squeeze, forcing him to downgrade his forecasts for growth next year..."

2) "he admits that the impact of the squeeze in lending markets that triggered the Northern Rock debacle last month would “undoubtedly” have a wider effect on Britain’s growth next year..."

3) "weaker growth will inevitably push the Government’s finances deeper into the red at a time when it is already borrowing heavily..."

4) "The Treasury’s strained financial position means that next week the Chancellor is already set to unveil Labour’s toughest budget plans this decade, with growth in spending on key public services set to slow sharply in the coming three years."


Alistair Darling is in a no win situation and Gordon Brown's record on the economy is finally going to have to suffer some scrutiny even from the BBC or will they spin it into a worldwide problem completely outside of the control of Gordon and Darling?