I watched a good part of Treasury questions on the BBC Parliament channel. I think that George Osborne could do a little less of the partisan point scoring, most of us have got the message that Labour made serious fiscal policy errors. It would be better if he cast himself as someone above the fray steering the nation through a serious financial crisis.
Lord Lawson when he was Chancellor used to complain about 'teenage scribblers' which was slightly ironic as he had once been a financial journalist himself. Looking at the Treasury bench with Danny Alexander sitting there it looked as if we now have teenage ministers, although I suppose this is the equivalent of saying all the policeman look young today. Alexander is no doubt very smart, but he does gravitas less well than his predecessor.
Alexander was thrown quite badly by a question from a grumpy Scottish Labour MP about the No.10 comms director, Andy Coulson, an Essex boy made good (a label that could also be applied to me). It was interesting to see George Osborne reassuring him after the exchange and the chemistry between them seemed to be good.
I still find it a little odd to hear Lib Dem ministers and Conservative MPs referring to each other as 'my honourable friend', but that's Coalition Government.
1 comment:
There seems to be some inconsistency. Sometimes they say 'honourable friend', sometimes they don't. Any idea what the official line is? Doesn't honourable friend refer specificially to someone of your own party?
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