I find in the book on Truss aĀ wrong assertion about myself
p 77Ā “John Redwood was a figure early on at Chevening until he made it clear he didn’t want to become minister for personal financial reasons, so he was replaced by Chris Philp, who was to succeed Clarke as Chief Secretary to the Treasury”
I was not offered any job by Liz Truss at any point. I made no statement on my finances.Ā Ā When I went to Chevening Chris Philp was already part of the team they had assembled there. I went to offer her advice on what a first budget could look like. I included a number of tax cuts designed to speed growth though no income tax rate reduction. I proposed some offsettingĀ spending cuts and a much more modest energy support package than they adopted based onĀ helping those on low and no incomes. IĀ wanted to keep the deficit under control.
Anthony has agreed to correct this .
November 29, 2024
I am not a fan of Seldon he get so much totally wrong in general in my view a BBC “think” person so often.
November 29, 2024
One thing for sure the Truss Budget was far better than Reeves let us destroy growth one. The Truss error was not to announce large government cuts at the same time – net zero, hs2, most degrees…
November 29, 2024
Also energy help only the the v. poor and elderly.
November 29, 2024
You presume Ms Truss is capable of joined-up thinking. In fairness to Mr Sunak, he did warn of the lack of awareness of the Truss proposals. But by the time he came into office the Tories had created too many problems, many by him, and were always heading for defeat. Sunak, with his lack of experience, not to mention gravitas, simply made it worse.
November 29, 2024
Seldon was posh school boy Tonbridge, then Oxford PPE and then a perpetual student it seems (which usually means plenty of family money) and later a posh school teacher. I rarely agree with Seldon on much.
Alas Reform have lost Ben Habib with whom I agree on almost everything (though clearly Shamima Begum a British-born national should never have been stripped of her nationality). This perhaps my only difference with this sensible Camb. Nat-Sci chap and businessman.
November 29, 2024
Reform has only two members. Farage and Tice. You canāt run a country on that basis.
November 29, 2024
Reform is doing very well thankyou Lynn. They are the actual opposition and Andersons Rachel from accounts is priceless.
November 29, 2024
God help the UK in that case. Have you seen Habibās statement?
November 29, 2024
@Ian Wragg; “[Reform} are the actual opposition”
If opposition means who shouts the loudest, perhaps; but judged in a more meaningful way, being able to hold the government to account in Parliament, Reform comes a poor runner-up after both the LibDems and the SNP.
Not to mention, given the ambiguous structure of the ‘Party’, there may well be a case for the Electoral Commission to revoke Reform’s Party status, meaning their current MPs would have to sit as Independents, in the same way as the ‘Corbynista’ group of independent MPs do – with no right to ask set-piece questions, no “Short Money” etc.
November 29, 2024
So Jerry, if one person in a political party resolves to leave that party, you want everyone else to have their status revoked by an unelected quango.
Veery odd.
November 30, 2024
@Sam; “Very odd.”
Indeed your comment is, did you even bother to read my comment?!…
My remarks were about the legal structure of the organization, is it actually a Political Party as required under the law, if you look at the legal information on the Reform UK Party website you will see it refers to its self as a ‘Limited Company’, *not* as a ‘Party’ (as all other registered political parties here in the UK do).
What is more, there is a Companies House registration (11694875) to that effect, listing both Mr Farage and Mr Tice as people with significant control, it is also a Private limited Company, meaning shares can not be traded on the open market (thus no shareholder meetings).
November 30, 2024
Jerry you are spot on. As Habib says, only Farage and Tice are members. Habib was thrown out unilaterally by Farage, who, with a majority shareholding has unfettered power.
All those funding Reform are actually funding Farage/Tice Ltd. You canāt have a Government wholly owned by Farage.
Not one person who has ever worked with Farage can stick it long. I have known him since he was 20.
Those who know him best love him least.
This is tragic for the UK because the Lib/Lab/Con cabal is unacceptable as I think we all agree.
Farage ensures that there will never be a Trump for the UK.
November 30, 2024
Jerry
Reform has been organised that way for ages and they are accepted by the Electoral Commission.
That’s why they have stood candidates in numerous local and national elections.
If you think it is illegal then report your concerns to the appropriate authorities.
November 30, 2024
@Sam; “Reform has been organised that way for ages”
No, only since 23 November 2018, and even before the Dec. 2019 election their status was somewhat ambiguous, since when with the ousting of members and Director resignations that ambiguity has grown.
If you bother to check your facts Sam, you would see 5 out of the 8 people listed on the Companies House have resigned, one resigned in August 2024, four resigned between 28 March and 8 May 2019.
November 30, 2024
2018 is ages ago Jerry.
The Electoral Commission currently and previously have no problems with the way Reform organise itself.
I repeat if you are so sure the way they are set up is illegal then report them to the appropriate authorities.
Let us know how you get on.
November 30, 2024
@Sam; Is wasting our hosts time you hobby Sam?…
2018 is a mere 6 years ago, a company needs to keep their records for longer, ones HMRC tax liabilities last longer! Reform UK themselves do not call themselves a Political Party, other than informally, their LEGAL status is a LIMITED COMPANY and that is how they describe themselves. You are at best wish-listing, Sam, at worse repeating a lie that you have been told.
November 30, 2024
As I have already said Jerry, if you strongly feel Reform is incorrectly established under election rules then report your views to the appropriate authorities.
Looking forward to hearing how you get on.
November 29, 2024
I can always know when people are beaten- they , like you Lynn, always start telling lies!
I am a payed up member of the North Devon Branchā yes ! we have local committees and members branches.
If you are ignorant of facts I advise saying nothing
November 30, 2024
Correct. And I am a paid up member of the West Dorset Branch.
November 30, 2024
Why didnāt they field a candidate in the recent general election?
November 30, 2024
@NFD; @Donna; You can both be a paid up “member” of your local Gym, or a Golf Club too, doesn’t make either a Political Party though. Why do some people choose to jump head first into water of unknown depth?… š
November 30, 2024
Because like you Jerry they make claims that having a political party that at it’s centre is a limited company is somehow not correct despite it being accepted by the Electoral Commission
November 30, 2024
@Sam; What the hell can’t you grasp, even Reform UK do not LEGALLY call themselves a Political Party but a LIMITED COMPANY!
The daft thing is, Farage and Tice could sort out their organizations ambiguous status very easily, one really has to ask why they don’t – but as Lynn suggests, the most obvious reason they won’t is it risks giving volunteers real control over decisions making, even who leads the Party.
November 30, 2024
As I have already stated Jerry, report your accusations to the appropriate authorities.
Looking forward to hearing what response you get .
November 30, 2024
See if you are a āpaid up memberā of Reform Ltd.
I resent your accusation of lying when it is in fact you who has been duped.
You can apologise anytime once you find out what you have joined and that no political party can be a wholly owned limited company.
November 29, 2024
By far the most impressive and effective Reform MP is Rupert Lowe.
November 29, 2024
Labour seems to have zero sensible ministers.
November 29, 2024
My impression of this book was that it was promulgating a thesis formed in the author’s rather biased mind, rather than based on researched facts.
Off topic, but while on the subject of books, I would like to thank you for your recommendation of Professor Clark’s ‘The Enlightenment’, which I read with huge interest and enjoyment. I am now following it with ‘Thomas Paine’.
November 29, 2024
But it is sad that someone somewhere thought that this was a possibility and you yourself may have unwittingly not picked up on it and taken it along.
November 29, 2024
Like many of the other claims made in this opportunistic and prejudiced book, it is an extraordinary assertion to publish about an individual without firm evidence.
Truss seems to have met with the same patronisingly sexist insults and demolition attempts as Thatcher, intended (as in Thatcher’s case) to prevent anything but the same old tax-and-spend economics that has brought us to this ruin we now face.
November 29, 2024
I would be interested in your assessment of the broader assertions in the book. Did you find it was worth reading?
November 29, 2024
@SH; Of course this book is worth reading, if the subject matter is of interest to you, it’s not as though either the Paperback or Hardback editions are expensive, even if you come away disagreeing with every word, at least you now know what the opposite opinion is. Life should not be an echo chamber!…
November 29, 2024
The cost of a book is mainly in the time taken to read it not the price of the book. I suspect it is not worth my time.
November 30, 2024
@LL; That comment might say more about you than it does the book! šÆ
November 29, 2024
Well that was the fatal decision made by Truss. She had the chance to appoint JR as Chancellor and did not. Stupid woman!
November 29, 2024
Yes. All five of them had the chance and not one of them has survived the misjudgement.
November 30, 2024
Question is whether we will survive their idiocy Rose.
December 4, 2024
I donāt think anyone over 60 has the time to recover from this idiocy and for the poor choice of the last five Tory MPs not to appoint JR to Chancellor. I wonder who told this author the false information about JRās involvement in the Truss short government. Now that would be interesting to know.
November 29, 2024
Obviously a biography of Liz Truss’ administration would require a degree of padding even if that would involve a an elaboration of the facts in order to bring it up to book length. Maybe reporting the administration along the lines of the TV program 24 with Jacqueline Bauer taking on the Blob.
November 30, 2024
Wow, your auto complete turned Jack into Jacqueline. Or was he married to someone with the same name – when shortened.
November 30, 2024
I don’t use autocomplete.
November 29, 2024
Did Seldon tell you who had passed on this false information to him ? Makes you wonder what else he’s got wrong – plenty I imagine. In a similar vein Tim Shipman has written a four book series which purports to chronicle the behind-the-scenes story of the Brexit/Boris years but he’s also had to pay substantial libel damages for false information he wrote on Twitter – so again, why should we believe a word he says ? Glorified gossip columnists both.
November 29, 2024
Dear Sir John,
You point out that you did not favour a general energy subsidy. That was also Ms Truss’s position when she was campaigning for the premiership. After winning, however, she concluded that a general subsidy was needed yet failed to rein back her planned tax cuts – particularly the revenue-heavy ones – to accommodate this boost to spending. It was this failure, or lack of flexibility, that made the Truss-Kwarteng Budget irresponsible.
November 29, 2024
Yes Lifelogic, losing Mr Habib, the friendly unthreatening face of Reform, is a loss to that party. Equally saddening is Mr Farage’s trumpeted glee at the departure. It confirms that he has not lost his apparent compulsion to fall out with colleagues who have minds or standing of their own, including senior MEPs and the only elected MP of his former party. That sort of leadership may work for his American hero but not in a system where Cabinets are largely drawn from and answerable to MPs.
November 29, 2024
Thank you, Sir John for revealing your advice to Liz Truss. Though I am not convinced she was wrong to cut Income Tax immediately as a political statement of intent, if she had any sense she would have made you Chancellor of the Exchequer preferably immediately or at least after she dismissed Kwasi Kwarteng. If she had done so she would have lasted much longer as Prime Minister.
November 29, 2024
@Geoffrey Berg; ” I am not convinced she was wrong to cut Income Tax immediately as a political statement of intent”
I’m not so sure. Her immediate intent in Sept 2022 should have been stability, steady the ship. Had there not been what many saw as an ’emergency’ mini Budget, had Liz Truss waited at least until the usual Autumn Statement, such measures might well have caused less ripples – after all didn’t Ted Heath and Anthony Barber wait nine months, following the 1970 general election, before delivering similar Income Tax policies, during less turbulent times?
November 29, 2024
She only had two years. They had five.
November 30, 2024
@rose; Sept to Nov, and the usual Autumn Statement, is a mere two months, I was simply pointing out how long Heath/Barber took to bring forth their Budget, of course what is unclear is how quickly Macleod would have presented his Budget had he not died a month into the job.
November 29, 2024
Liz Truss was trying to achieve a change of direction to prioritise economic growth and lower taxes and I think she was right to make that unambiguously clear to all at the outset.
November 30, 2024
@Geoffrey Berg; Well clearly it was the wrong decision, even if her polices weren’t, like drama, politics is about timing!
November 30, 2024
Her fatal mistake was not cutting the east to pay for the tax cuts. The moment she said so at the Despatch Box I knew she was toast.
Stupid woman. One of the worst Foreign Secretaries we have ever had too – and that in,cures Johnson and Lammy!
November 29, 2024
John,
Your thoughts on the big picture laid out by Dom Cummings, in things like
“How the Deepstate Fails Britain | Dominic Cummings: Start Ups and State Failure” on YouTube
Would be interesting?
Cheers
November 29, 2024
The man has long been a maddening lightweight, not an historian
December 1, 2024
Good morning.
Sue !