The Wheels Come Off the Wagon
There is no doubt that Gordon Brown had a good start to his premiership, and it looked possible for a while that at least we might have a government of competence, if not of inspiring vision. His handling of the terrorism attacks, of the floods, and of foot and mouth provided some hope that this would be the case.
Things look very different now, and whilst Alistair Darling may be a lightening conductor for some of the trouble, there is no doubt that two of the major catastrophes that are swirling around at the moment can be laid very firmly at the door of the former Chancellor. I refer, of course, to the Northern Rock fiasco and the fact that this was made possible by ending the Bank of England’s supervisory role of banks. This was a major contributor to the collapse of confidence in Northern Rock – and it was Gordon Brown who drove forward this policy.
The loss of personal data of half of the population in the last week is scarcely less serious. Indeed it may be more so – who knows, and this is the problem! In the wrong hands the details on those discs would be manna from heaven for identity fraudsters. Nor can I understand how the government feels that it isn’t responsible if this was the act of a minor official in the civil service. The fact that would seem to be regarded as routine for civil servants of all grades to have access to these items of information certainly worries me and I suspect it worries most people.
It was, of course, Gordon Brown as Chancellor that drove forward the merger of Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs with the Inland Revenue. That merger is almost certainly once again a contributory factor to this debacle. Add in criticisms from retired Generals on the state of funding and support for our forces, and there is a worrying mix of incompetence on at least three major fronts.
The Government is really losing its grip.
