Tuesday, March 30, 2010

George Osborne will be pleased.

I watched the big debate on Channel 4 tonight. Turned out much as I would have expected. Don't think it will have greatly influenced things, except to the extent that some had too low an expectation of George Osborne beforehand, and others far too high an opinion of Vince Cable.

Alistair Darling, who now seems to be genuinely enjoying his job as Chancellor, was exactly what we know him to be, cool, unflappable and uninspiring - all qualities well suited to the keeper of the nation's purse. Don't know if Gordon Brown was watching. If he was, a mobile phone or two might have been smashed when Mr Darling kept reminding us that there was not a penny left in the Government's coffers. Perhaps its winding up the Prime Minister that brings pleasure to Mr Darling.

Vince Cable treated the whole thing like a Question Time appearance, milking the audience for cheap applause (successfully). Some people are impressed by this. He's never recovered from that joke he made about Gordon Brown morphing from Stalin into Mr Bean. He thinks he's an entertainer. I find it increasingly difficult to take him seriously as a politician. And he's just so hideously boastful. You would think he'd have been a bit chastened after his humiliation today, when he had to apologise to the Perm. Sec. at the Treasury for misleading the public with his fantasies of self-importance. I suppose people who don't have any real power do tend to do this sort of thing. His snide crack about "pin striped Scargills" (perhaps he meant the financial crook, Michael Brown - biggest donor ever to the Lib Dems) and puerile attacks on his opponents late on were typical. No more than an OK performance, which is all I'd expected.

And so to our man - George Osborne. A good sound performance - cool under pressure from the Darling/Cable combo working in harness, and totally confident in his ability. He would have wanted to look like a potential Chancellor, which I thought he succeeded. Overall, I thought tonight's debate will have most pleased the Conservative watchers, who have read so much bilge in the media about George's supposed weaknesses. He proved that he's no weak link - quite the opposite. Biggest loser was Vince Cable, mainly because of the unjustified reputation he has somehow managed to acquire.

8 comments:

Anonymous said...

It was an admission by Darling that the coffers are empty, but then they accuse the Tories of jeopardising the recovery for wanting to reduce public spending. It's going to have to be reduced sooner or later, and the economy will slacken when it initially happens - but this has got to happen because we can't keep borrowing to prop up our recovery. We should sacrifice short-term recovery in favour of long-term sustainability.

As for the debate, Darling was boring, Cable was smug and Osborne was looking the most like a potential chancellor - but I hope the audience agreed.

Glyn Davies said...

Roman - Being comfortably boring is Darling's strength! Osborne did well because the media have been trying to portray him as a weak link - which he is not. Vince Cabel is just becoming more of an empty vessel - a sort of upmarket George Galloway.

Anonymous said...

So, Opik in the Pandora column in the Indy today, telling us he's going to get himself a jumbo jet and just how famous he is as a pilot.
This fool had huge delusions of gandeur. For all our sakes, Glyn, oust him. Montgomeryshire deserves so much better

Anonymous said...

Have sent a link of Heledd Fychan's blog re our esteemed MP to the County Times - what's the betting they'll ignore it!

Glyn Davies said...

Anon - An airline pilot! Perhaps he's planning an alternative career. I thought he was going off to mediate with Bin Laden.

Anon 2 - I think the Lib Dems have quite upset Heledd by their response to her exposures. There has been some resorting to 'dirty tricks' by all accounts.

Anonymous said...

How typical of the Libs to resort to dirty tricks......Frankly, they have no answer to Heledd's question, because we can all bet our lives on the fact that Lembit Opik still claimed his salary whilst sunning himself and troughing on a luxury cruise. The hypocrisy of Kirsty's stance is stunning. This is a huge deal. His graspingness will prove his undoing, not, ironically, his lifestyle problems.

Anonymous said...

So the Libs resort to type, eh?
Kirsty's hypocrisy is stunning. Of course Opik collected his salary whilst sunning himself and troughing on a freebie luxury cruise, for which, incidentally, he was also paid a fee. How does she marry that with her sanctimonious words? This is a huge deal and should prove the undoing of this grasping and erratic "MP". Ironically, his troughing will probably get him, and not his lifestyle problems. Just so long as he goes.....

Glyn Davies said...

Anons - I have never, and will never criticise my opponents lifestyle choice - a slong as its legal. Voters should judge on other issues - and swanning off for six days on a 'freebie' luxury liner cruise while Parliament is sitting is another matter. It was outrageous, and legitimate grounds for complaint from Heledd and from me.