Saturday 28 March 2009

Michelle trips up Gordon



The writer (centre) enjoys one of the best glasses of red wine he has ever had in the courtyard of Chile's presidential palace

Gordon Brown's quest for support ahead of the G20 summit has taken him as far south as Chile. Nothing wrong with that: Chile is a country I like a lot and I am looking forward to returning there in July.

Gordon denied that he was going round the world looking for comminqués, but probably did not expect a rebuke from Chilean president Michelle Bachelet. Ms Bachelet pointed out that Chile had saved revenues from its copper exports 'during the good times', enabling it to put in place a fiscal stimulus package worth 2.8 per cent of GDP.

Britain is now running out of money for any substantial further fiscal package and George Soros has raised the spectre of a bailout by the International Monetary Fund. 'You couldn't make it up,' chortled shadow chancellor George Osborne. 'Gordon Brown is getting lessons from the Latin Americans about sound public finances.'

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