Cut away the fat and not the flesh
THE truth is being slowly squeezed out of Gordon Brown - and it hurts. Yes, he will make cuts. He just won't tell us where.
You can hear the PM talk about "zero per cent rises" as if he's worried that he'd choke on the truth. But we know it, anyway.
His game's up. The next election will NOT be a choice of Labour investment v Tory cuts, but of who would cut what.
Secretly, both parties have started to draw up plans. And from what I'm hearing, these plans are pretty terrifying.
Instead of asking "where is the most waste?" the parties are asking "where are the most votes?" or "what sounds best?"
Power
You know what that means. The axe falls hardest on the political soft targets: our police, and our armed forces. Result? A police force unable to cope, an army unable to win, and a government deciding that Britain can't afford to be a world power any more.
You see, neither Labour nor the Tories really know how to cut. They are both recovering spendaholics, on a 12-step programme.
Until a few months ago David Cameron was signed up to Brown's spending plans. Drinking at the same bar - on OUR tab.
Now the Tories realise their error and are rightly embarrassed. So they need a cuts agenda, to implement it this time next year.
As ever, they're terrified of looking too much like, well, Conservatives. To woo over floating voters.
In order to play this stupid political game, they have promised NO cuts on NHS and overseas aid - two huge wastes of your money.
Here's why. The NHS budget has trebled under Labour, but does anyone think the service is three times as good?
The new GP contracts pay doctors more for working less. As a result, foreign doctors have to be flown in for weekend cover.
It's madness. Especially (as happened recently) the doctors arrive exhausted and give lethal injections by mistake.
Do the Tories really believe they can't find cuts anywhere in the vast NHS empire, now choc full of bureaucrats and managers?
It is a staggering misjudgment. Yet Ed Balls, who still makes Brown's decisions, says he would protect health AND education. The school spending has doubled, but international studies show (amazingly) that our results are worse than ten years ago.
As we show on Page 2, if you protect schools and hospitals every other budget will have to fall by a crippling 13½ per cent.
Police forces would be decimated. But if joblessness is soaring, with SIX MILLION expected on the dole, crime is sure to follow.
Defence, already cut to the bone, would be told to find another £4.5bn. That means we withdraw from Afghanistan - and the world.
Our Boys have been literally dying in warzones due to lack of kit. They're being blown up on Taliban-inroads, due to lack of helicopters.
Blunder
Cameron is, at least, admitting to cuts. I give him full marks for honesty. But I warn him: protecting the NHS is a major blunder.
I found out recently that before Tony Blair left, he wanted to tear up spending plans - and start again, with a clean sheet.
He wanted to ask: what should a 21st century government do? Send aid to nuclear powers like India and China? Er, no. Yet another great Blair idea that was vetoed by the jealous Brown and tossed in an unmarked grave. The Tories should dig it up.
Meanwhile, I hear the Liberal Democrats may propose NHS cuts - with Vince Cable yet again talking sense and leading the way.
The Tories have won the debate about whether cuts are happening. But for once, they should be prepared for the next debate.
How do we cut the fat, and not the flesh? The next general election will be decided on who best has the answers.
Is Andy pig ignorant?
ANDY Burnham should be ashamed of his ludicrous claim that Britain might have 100,000 cases of swine flu EVERY DAY next month.
Where did our new Health Secretary get this figure? On that basis, we'd have SIX MILLION inflections within eight weeks.
Let's remember that 77,000 cases have been reported. Worldwide. Burnham is talking through his hat.
But sadly, his insane claim has already been picked up by the world's press - ahead of tourism season.
It's the health secretary's job to promote calm. Not spread fear.
THE G8 summit in Italy this week will focus on recession, unemployment and gloom. But at least world leaders will get an invite they secretly dream of: a ticket to a party thrown by Silvio Berlusconi.
Moose of the World
I HAD hoped that moose-hunting Sarah Palin might run against Obama at the next American election, but her crazy decision to resign as Alaska's governor, 16 months early and for no obvious reason, rules her out.
Sarah (right) said she's "not retreating" but "advancing in another direction." But Which one?
Well, the Tories don't have a candidate for North East Glasgow yet.
Nelson's Mandella
SHE may not have been the world's greatest actress, but Farrah Fawcett brought great pleasure to many and bore her final days with dignity.
In a tawdry world her star shines bright.
Nelson's Gollum
NORTH Korean crackpot Kim Jong-Il celebrated American Independence Day yesterday by firing seven missiles in defiance of UN laws.
It's fear of Washington's power that keeps tyrants like this at bay. A reminder: we all benefit from a strong America.
FRASER NELSON is also political editor of The Spectator.
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This article has 1 comment
re Power and Blunder. You are a clever writer Mr Nelson, but one of the main reasons why the Treasury has been drained down, is the enormous sums of money that has had to be found to accommodate the zillions of people who have entered the UK. Cause and effect.
I agree with what you say about Farrah Fawcett. One of the few mentions I've seen about her passing, it having been overshadowed by the press interest on the death of Michael Jackson.
Ditto, our need for a strong America.
By Alexandrina.. Posted July 12 2009 at 12:42 AM.