Michael Foot remembered

Amidst all the fond reminiscences about Michael Foot; his consistency and steadiness of belief being two of his key traits, I don't remember these quotes being recalled:

"The country has a right to hear from the P.M. whether she and the Government envisage the official figure rising to that total."

That was Michael Foot questioning Margaret Thatcher as to whether unemployment would reach 3 million (Hansard 24/06/1981).

There you go, Michael Foot seeker of truth, fighting for the downtrodden.


But hold on what's this?

"No, I will not amke such a prediction. It would not be sensible. Indeed, I do not think that any Government has made predictions of the character suggested."

That was Michael Foot refusing to predict unemployment levels himself just six years earlier (Hansard 28/10/1975).

There you go, Michael Foot hider of truth, fighting for his government.


Michael Foot; was he right in 1981 and wrong in 1975?

Michael Foot RIP

I was always told not to speak ill of the dead and so I won't speak ill of Michael Foot.

What intrigues me is the BBC coverage, their lead page this morning is 100% positive about memories of Michael Foot, not a single negative thought is allowed to be heard. No centreist Labour figures decrying his 'longest suicide in history' 1983 manifesto, nobody pointing out his adherence to unilateralism and CND during the period that CND was (partially) sponsored by the Soviet Union, etc. etc.

If this is how the BBC treat the death of a middling political figure, how will they treat the death of Lady Thatcher? Somehow I doubt that a selection of 100% positive remarks will be printed. I predict phrases such as "divisive figure", "no such thing as community", "miners strike", "unemployment", "lost generation" and "poll tax" will be trotted out and the usual left-wing 'satirists' will be on hand to re-tell their favourite jokes and to metaphorically dance on her grave.

Harriet Harman misinformed as usual

The ever excellent Alex Masterley has a great spot today:

"Harriet Harman thought she had a catchy little bon mot when she told the world that the financial crisis probably wouldn't have happened if Lehman Brothers had been called Lehman Sisters. In Ms. Harman's reassuring world view, it is those arrogant and assertive Y-chromosomes that cause all the trouble and the ever-suffering females who clean up the mess the men leave behind. Which just goes to show that there is no finer feeling than speaking volubly from a position of ignorance.

If Ms. Harman had done her research, she would have discovered that the systemic disaster that is the credit default swap originated from the derivatives team run by the ever so definitely female Blythe Masters (great name for a senior swaps dealer: you couldn't make it up, sheer nominative determinism). Indeed, during the boom years, the lefty feminist press made a great song and dance about the fact that her team booked $4 trillion of the things every year.

We could have said the credit crunch was started by a woman, but we didn't want to make it a gender issue."

Harriet Harman misinformed, who would have thought it. Is there a rule that Labour deputy leaders have to be irritating and incompetent or is it just coincidence? The last six people to hold this post were going backwards (like their thought processes) Harriet Harman, John Prescott, Margaret Beckett, Roy Hattersley, Dennis Healey and Michael Foot. What a glittering cavalcade of the mediocre (at best) and the incompetent; some of them falling into both camps.

Gorodon Brown's inability to give a straight answer

When the BBC Radio 4 Today programme today includes a piece on Gordon Brown's inability to answer a straight question you know his time is all but up. Listen to the piece from around 06:45 this morning and you will hear extracts of the questioning by David Arbuthnot at yesterday's liaison committee session and Gordon Brown's risible attempts at answering them.

When Gordon Brown was being treated as some sort of political and economic genius I and others pointed out it was all imaginary. Then the satirists realised and "dared" to make fun of the great man. Then the columnists and sketch writers joined in but pretended they were cutting edge. Now even one of the last bastions of total Labour solidarity in the media, the BBC Today programme, dares to point out what we all know about Gordon Brown's relationship with truthful answers. Who is left to support Gordon Brown? Is the Labour party's biggest mistake as leader since Michael Foot about to run out of allies?