Best placed economy?

I blogged last week that:

"I have blogged previously in October, in November and and November and in December about Gordon Brown's lie that Britain is best placed to weather the world financial situation. If the UK economy is so well placed then why did Sterling reach an all time low against the Euro today and why is Sterling down over 25% against the US Dollar in the last year? Best placed, I think not; the UK is almost the worst placed economy thanks to the last 11 years of Labour misrule and the incompetent economic management of Gordon Brown."

Today I read that Tessa Jowell says that this recession could be "deeper than any that we have known" and Alistair Darling is reported to have said that:

"The Chancellor cited London's status as a major financial services centre as a reason why the country could be worse affected than others, when asked by Tory MP Adam Afriyie (Windsor) in the Commons why the European Commission and the IMF were predicting the UK would be the hardest hit in the developed world.

He said: "We were bound to be affected more substantially in relation to the loss of revenues we are now experiencing because of the lack of profitability in the financial services sector.

"London is the major financial services sector of the world. Of course we are likely to be more severely affected as a result of the profitability being reduced and I've made that point on many occasions.

"We're also affected by the downturn in the housing market because of the reduced revenues in relation to stamp duty."

Oddly the BBC seem reluctant to report Alistair Darling's words, presumably they are waiting for Gordon, Peter or Alastair to give them the all-clear to move the line of defence.