Am I right to be suspicious?
Last week, CMA published a report showing that despite Britain apparently retaining its Triple AAA rating, the market had in fact marked us down to –aa.
Yesterday Standard and Poor downgraded Greece’s credit rating to ‘Junk’, the lowest possible rating. Simultaneously there was a widespread stock market sell-off.
“The investors will go from Greece, to Portugal, Ireland, Spain and then will move to the UK. They will move to where they perceive the weakness to be.
“We have a budget deficit as a per cent of our economy that is not to different from Greece, so the situation is spreading.”
He added that it was a “mystery” to him “why Britain has a triple A credit rating: “We have got a budget deficit that’s 12 per centof GDP our debt is doubling.
“It is escalating and I think the financial markets have already taken things into their own hands they are actually pricing in a downgrading of our credit rating anyway. ”
“It is very similar to what has been happening to the banks. It is the first real test for the Euro zone. If we let Greece go, then what is next?”
In the middle of what should have been major headlines detailing the financial crisis forecast for Britain if we didn’t take substantive steps to cut Britain’s debt, and not just the deficit, we have Brown’s Bigot gaffe dominating the head lines.
In order to believe that this is purely coincidental, we must assume that Sue Nye, who has been at Gordon’s side for 13 years, introduced him to his wife, and is by all accounts his most trusted employee, suddenly took leave of her senses and pushed a real live member of the pubic in front of Gordon, without grilling her first as to her beliefs.
The fact that Sue Nye is married to Gavyn Davies, a former Goldman Sachs partner, who would have been fully aware of the blackening cloud of financial realism hanging over the day’s news, must not be allowed to colour our judgement.
While Goldman’s links to the UK government are not as extensive as those in the US, there are still significant connections. Goldman’s former chief economist and senior partner, Gavyn Davies, is married to one of Gordon Brown’s most trusted senior advisers, Sue Nye.
We must also assume that the micro management team that surrounds Gordon were entirely unaware that just a short hour beforehand they had wired him up to a live feed going out to all the journalists, and were not on hand to warn him with a glance or a gesture that he was still ‘live’.
We must even assume that Gordon had a spare 45 minutes in his busy schedule to allow him to go back and apologise to Mrs Duffy for her non-bigoted and entirely innocent question as to where Eastern European’s came from.
I have really tried to ignore the reality and believe that an experienced team just happened to allow Gordon to make a gaffe at a time when it was most useful to bury bad news.
I’m not having a lot of success.
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- April 29, 2010 at 11:50
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- April 29, 2010 at 12:07
{ 19 comments… read them below or add one }
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1
April 29, 2010 at 11:17 -
Sue?
Is it her fault?
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2
April 29, 2010 at 11:25 -
I’ve too been thinking it was a little suspicious – I’m not sure they told him though, he can’t be trusted to understand these things in his simple mind.
Which was why it went a bit wrong when he was a bit more insulting than they’d expected.
It’s a set up as bad as Elvis… just playing with him now – payback whilst he’s still in the job.
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3
April 29, 2010 at 11:34 -
Another thing which was brought to my attention. Standard and Poor and the other rating companies are all American? Does that say anything?
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4
April 29, 2010 at 11:38 -
When I read this story, I was first of all surprised to find that Brown said something like that spontaneously, that that was his real opinion. I’d always assumed the super-PC-multiculti thing was an act. And I was pleasantly surprised, because it’s nice to find someone is sincere.
Now you’ve taken even that away!
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5
April 29, 2010 at 12:06 -
A slight stench of mandleson in the air?
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6
April 29, 2010 at 12:12 -
“A slight stench of mandleson in the air?”
I’m afraid that’s my atheletes foot, I’ve just taken my shoes off, similar smell of decay though I will give you that
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7
April 29, 2010 at 12:13 -
They must have set Gordon up without his knowledge. He was visibly horrified and he is not a good actor but I really wouldn’t put anything past “The Dark Lord”.. he is evil incarnate
You have a suspicious mind Anna.
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8
April 29, 2010 at 12:59 -
“In the middle of what should have been major headlines detailing the financial crisis forecast for Britain if we didn’t take substantive steps to cut Britain’s debt, and not just the deficit, we have Brown’s Bigot gaffe dominating the head lines.”
The gaffe is something new. The horrendous economic position is something the Government and media have normalised. Bob Peston did it earlier this week – describing Greece’s 12% deficit as unsustainable but making no mention of ours.
“We must also assume…” that there have been no similar cock-ups which until this week were smothered over with Polyfilla by a supine media and throttling team of spin doctors. The former are no longer playing ball so the latter can not do their worst.
We don’t know how Mrs Duffy came to be within punching distance of Brown. I would hazard a guess if she was approached by an apparatchik she started saying ‘I have voted labour all my life…’ and that was all it took.
How planned this was (with or without Brown’s consent) would be discovered by finding out his intended schedule for yesterday and see what, if anything, was cancelled.
It is perhaps telling, especially for a bigoted and suspicious mind as Gordon has always exhibited (see: Tom Bradbury’s blog and Brown’s other media tantrums), that Sarah Brown was not around when it happened.
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9
April 29, 2010 at 13:15 -
Love the whiff of conspiracy theory. But are they bright enough to engineer this? Seems too good to be true. Coincidence? Now you’ve got me to triple think, dammit!
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10
April 29, 2010 at 13:22 -
No Anna, I know it’s hard to believe, but they really are that stupid.
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11
April 29, 2010 at 13:34 -
The ability for the UK to maintain its AAA rating has alot to do with the oil revenues pumping out of the sea that even the Labour party with all there screw ups cannot destroy that industry.
Although the price we all pay for petrol is a total disgrace. I can see oil rigs in the firths being repaired while I pay £1.30 per litre to buy petrol.
The UK has wasted the oil revenues on wars and government incompetence.
Norway has an oil fund so large it is scary. Hundreds of Billions of dollars just sitting around to be invested in Schools, Hospitals and infrastrucutre.
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12
April 29, 2010 at 13:40 -
According to reports she was suitably ’screened’, and her voting credentials were checked out, before being allowed to speak to him.
What is noticeable though is how his voice/accent etc changes when he’s in the car and relaxes into ‘being himself’.
Maybe they shouldn’t have let him out without his wife.
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13
April 29, 2010 at 14:13 -
For what it’s worth, although this would be delicious, I agree with Ild Slaughter. As rhe saying goes, never ascribe to conspiracy something that can be equally well ascribed to stupidity…
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14
April 29, 2010 at 14:22 -
I read yesterday that it was the local Labour candidate, and not Sue Nye that noticed Mrs Duffy shouting questions and thought it a good idea to take her to meet GB.
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15
April 29, 2010 at 14:24 -
In 9 out of ten cases, if it’s a toss-up between cock-up and conspiracy, it is invariably the former…
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April 29, 2010 at 14:50 -
17
April 29, 2010 at 17:51 -
Stupidity does it for me.
However the real news story has been completely ignored:
BROWN TELLS THE TRUTH!!!
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18
April 29, 2010 at 18:01 -
A conspiracy then Anna. Sue engineers bigotgate to divert atttention from Goldman Sachs trial.
(Let’s see where this comment goes. BTW post on how to be a bigot linked through my name)
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19
April 29, 2010 at 18:05 -
Forgot to mention, our rating was lowered some weeks ago, not officially but suddenly the bond markers were assking for higher interest on our treasury bonds.
And now, get this for insane, the government is lending to the banks at 0.5% and the banks are using the money to buy government bonds that we must pay them pay 3.5% interest on.
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