Where are the Euro-enthusiasts now?

'Lord Mandelson, Nick Clegg, Lord Heseltine, Paddy Ashdown and Ken Clarke have all gone incredibly quiet on the subject of the single currency.'

However people of that ilk don't apologise for being so, so, so wrong in the past, they just move on to the next way of achieving their ends.

Iain Martin in The Mail explains...

'Surely, it was one of the greatest escapes in Britain’s history.

If we had been foolish enough to go into the European single currency we would be in an even more dire economic situation than we are now.

The euro’s lower interest rates would have made money even cheaper and easier to borrow during the boom, making the recession deeper when the bubble burst and more difficult to get out of.

You won’t hear any of this from those in the political establishment who cravenly backed Tony Blair when he was madly trying to abolish the pound.'

Read the whole article for an explanation as to how EU rules have been bent to allow the bailouts but above all remember this:

'We are on the hook in other ways, too, unfortunately. The most disgraceful last act of the Labour government was to sign us up to take part in the financial rescues for Ireland and Portugal.'

Yes as with so much that is wrong with this country, it is the last Labour government's fault and they should be both blamed and held to account.

As for the people named at the top of this piece, shouldn't they be asked about their previous (and for all we know current) Euro enthusiasm and whether they admit they were wrong? And whilst we are the on the subject, shouldn't just one interviewer ask Peter Mandelson where his loyalties lie bearing in mind that EU pensions are, I believe, paid on the understanding that the EU can remove this pension, if in the view of the Commission or the Luxembourg Court, they "fail to uphold the interests of the European Communities".

Et tu Ed?

An incredible story in The News of The World, apparently:

"GORDON Brown's closest ally Ed Balls is hatching a sensational plot to get rid of the Prime Minister, the News of the World can reveal.

The Schools Secretary has stunned Labour MPs by confiding that unless the polls show a miraculous recovery HE will tell Mr Brown he must quit.

Backbenchers were shocked to hear Brown's most trusted henchman, thought to be completely loyal, say he is prepared to oust the PM at Labour's annual conference in September. "

And Ed Balls is meant to be a loyal close friend of Gordon Brown...

Elsewhere in the NOTW's article is this quotation:

"One Labour MP told us: "The people around Brown-like Balls-are incredibly loyal to him. But their first loyalty is to the Labour party. "

Am I alone in thinking that it would be nice if the people around Gordon Brown and Ed Balls were loyal first to the Country rather than the Labour party, but I suppose that is too much to hope for; nice to have it acknowledged in print though...

Loyalty?

David Miliband is very good with loyalty, he has just stated that Gordon Brown was "the right man to take us forward into the next general election" and urged the party to pull together. He also said the whole cabinet should take responsibility for the "big beating" Labour took in the recent local elections.

Oddly Mr Miliband was just as loyal to Tony Blair just over a year ago when on Question Time he said, before Tony Blair resigned, that "People will be saying 'wouldn't it be great to have that Blair back because we can't stand that Gordon Brown'". The ever loyal David Miliband then tried to have his cake and eat it by saying that Mr Brown would be a "very successful" prime minister.

You almost have to admire David Miliband's 100% focus on keeping his Government job with its (limited) power but then maybe it's the salary, the expenses, the perks or of course the taxpayer funded final salary pension scheme that keeps him motivated. Or maybe it's the fact that in the real economy his chances of highly paid employment are rather low. Mind you he could always fulfil childhood ambition and become a bus conductor, perhaps Boris could put in a word for him at TfL.