Cameron's 'Sorry' Shows Up Brown

Tory leader David Cameron has been quick to say sorry and urged MPs caught out in the expenses sham to apologise, as revelations turn the spotlight on top Tories, now under fire after the relentless battering of New Labour ministers. Showing bunkered Brown and his bunch of greedy cronies how it should be dealt with, some Tory peers now reckon only a general election can clear the rotten air. 

The Telegraph's revelations reveal a handful of top Tories living it up on the Westminster gravy train of shame but none can hold a candle to the widespread flipping over second homes which is dogging Brown's cabinet and low-life ministers. 

Cameron was in like a shot last night, shortly after the Telegraph story broke, saying his MPs must say sorry over controversial expenses claims. That's a far cry from the dithering and moronic performance of battered bunkered Brown, as the disgusting second homes allowance scam engulfs his greedy bunch of chancers. 

In a sideways snipe at Brown and his New Labour crooks who've hidden behind the rotten rules, blaming "the system", Cameron said: "The public are really angry and we have to start by saying, look, this system that we had, that we used, that we operated, that we took part in - it was wrong and we're sorry about it."

The revelations are deeply embarrassing for some greedy Tories. They got it coming to them and deserved to be named and shamed. Some are promising to pay back their ill-gotten gains. 

Alan Duncan must be cursing the day he dangled a gold-plated Smith-style bath-plug on Have I Got News For You - not a good idea - and Cameron seems to be genuinely hopping mad about the whole affair. But it's not as bad for the Tories as some had feared and others had wished. 

As the Orange Party and others have been pointing out - as well as the bung it all on expenses culture, it is the flipping and fiddling of second homes to exploit the expenses system and milk it dry which is at the centre of the scandal. 

Some senior Tories have come out of it with rotten egg on their faces and should hang their heads in shame but there's nothing in the revelations to touch the wholesale shameful practice of the New Labour cabinet and ministers. Though the Telegraph has yet to reveal the scale of any back-bench Tory scams.

The Telegraph claims Michael Gove and Andrew Lansley both "flipped" properties designated as their second homes to claim for multiple properties at the taxpayers' expense. 

Other senior Tories who made dodgy claims include Alan Duncan claiming thousands for gardening and Oliver Letwin claiming £2,000 to replace a pipe under his tennis court. 

But Gove does seem to have been unfairly branded a "flipper" on his second home designation and just moved homes. 

What no one wanted to hear was another round of bleatings of the tired New Labour line that it was "all within the rules". Cameron didn't disappoint. He said sorry. 

Acknowledge it, say sorry, pay any money back where appropriate, sort it out properly, move on.

Top Tories who punters may have heard off - Cameron and Hague - have come up squeaky clean, though shadow chancellor Osborne, had the cheek to claim for a chauffeur using his office allowance.

Meanwhile the spinning over a "new" audit unit revealed by Blair's knighted MP Sir Stuart Bell which was flammed up yesterday is being shot down in flames as nothing more than a smokescreen and part of a "Labour plot" to keep MPs' allowances under wraps in the future, according to the Times. 

Cameron's lot have got off lightly but then they would. At the heart is the rotten culture of a second homes scam, with greedy New Labour cronies in both Houses flitting and flipping away to feather their own nest.

After a decade of power, familiarity has bred contempt. Contempt breeds greed. Greed breeds corruption and with it the damning, damaging end-game of a fag-end government and morally corrupt ministers. 

The doomed New Labour project is rotting in its own Brown mess. Only a general election now can clear the air.

In highly unusual moves for peers, former commons deputy speaker, Tory Lord Naseby, said parliament had been brought "right down into the pits" and should be dissolved if the expenses scandal continues to rumble on, leaving a fresh vote and general election the only option. And, as William Rees-Mogg puts it in today's Times: "A new prime minister, a new parliament and a new speaker would help to restore public confidence."

UPDATE 10am: After hiding in the bunker for a couple of days Brown finally got round to saying 'sorry'. Sort of. A tad too late old chap.

Read More...

Who Will Rid Us Of This Turbulent Debt?

Eye-watering levels of national debt are revealed today as the country plunges further into the red, with the government's borrowing binge now soaring to a staggering £9 billion in February alone. 

But New Labour ministers are burying their heads in the sand, leaving new Tory Cameron to have a stab at what to do about it. 

The dire state of public finances is revealed in record figures for the month, bringing borrowing in the 11 months of the financial year so far to £75.2 billion, the highest since records began in 1993, according to Office for National Statistics (ONS).

The worsening state of the economy was also driven down by government tax receipts, which plunged almost 10% over the month, compared to a year earlier, as the recession tightens its grip. 

The £75.2 billion figure has rocketed to more than three times the £23 billion recorded a year ago.

That borrowing blows out of the water useless chancellor Darling's forecast of £78 billion for the current financial year, with economists predicting the figure could reach £90 billion or higher. 

As the government's own official unemployment figures top the two million mark and continue the upwards spiral, a rise of £1 billion in social benefits takes that total to £12.1 billion.

The UK is now labouring under a debt burden of £717 billion, more than £100 billion above a year earlier, with questions asked whether political parties are hiding behind a conspiracy of silence.

The mind-boggling figures leave ministers in a quandary, refusing to come clean about the miserable mess they've created and what they now plan to do about it. Ministers simply talk the economy up and talk the debt-burden down. 

But Cameron and the Tories are still caught between the devil and the deep blue sea. With such an horrendous debt, the truth may be hard to stomach amid accusations of scaremongering and, with drastic action needed, prompting the question - if things are really so bad then exactly what  action is proposed when they eventually take power. 

New Labour ministers seem quite content to live in economic la-la-land, knowing full well they'll be out on their ears in a few months time. 

For both the Tories or New Labour the only solution will be the once political suicide note of higher taxes and spending cuts, now on the cards whoever wins the election.

The Orange Party believes honesty is the best policy, even for politicians. Voters are grown up and economically savvy enough to be able to take the truth on the chin rather than the spin. 

  

And Cameron, to his credit, is starting to warn of spending cuts, albeit still treading rather carefully. 

As the general election draws closer and the phoney war hots up, the new Cameron is more bold and upfront but he needs to do much more to explain how the public finances will be restored on his watch and where exactly the spending axe will fall.

Today the Cameron election battle cry was: "We’re all in this together ... That means we must solve Labour’s Debt Crisis together. We will reduce this deficit together. Paying down our debt must not mean pushing down the poor."

The state must now achieve "more for less" with spending, as he pledged greater scrutiny to boost efficiency, scrapping wasteful ID cards and an end to the culture of "quango fat cats".

Those views chime with voters and that's why New Labour doesn't stand a cat in hell's chance of any more years in power.

Read More...