German Ambassador exposes Gordon?

sianlloydwebber Tue Oct 07, 2008 at 12:58:46 AM GMT Print-friendly version Facebook

Did anyone notice what the German Ambassador said on BBC’s Newsnight (6 October’08)? He categorically said that despite Germany’s efforts/proposal a year ago to bring in global regulations to control the banks – which Gordon claimed at the Party Conference to have attempted – UK and USA blocked it!



And now, after his u-turn from neo-liberalism, Gordon’s trying to take the credit for attempting regulation – just as his Republican mate McCain is doing on the other side of the pond! And Ed Balls cheekily saying now that the Tories believe in free markets, without admitting that that was his belief too!

Isn’t dishonest spin one of the worst insult to our intelligence?

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German Ambassador exposes Gordon? | 4 comments (4 topical)

Re: German Ambassador exposes Gordon? (#1)

by NorthernMonkey on Tue Oct 07, 2008 at 03:45:56 AM GMT

Believing in global regulation for the financial sector in no way conflicts with a general belief in free markets.


Re: German Ambassador exposes Gordon? (#2)

by adwilliams134 on Tue Oct 07, 2008 at 08:34:00 AM GMT

Irrelevant anyway.  Once this nonsense stabilises the electorate are going to want answers and the first question is:-

Which member of the Government was directly responsible for ensuring that the banks were properly scrutinised and supervised?  Why did they not carry out their job?  When will they be publicly fired?


[ Parent ]

Re: German Ambassador exposes Gordon? (#3)

by madasafish on Tue Oct 07, 2008 at 01:24:39 PM GMT

Which member of the Government was directly responsible for ensuring that the banks were properly scrutinised and supervised? 

Chancellor of Exchequer. i.e Gordon Brown. 
(Darling is Chancellor in name only)

Why did they not carry out their job?

Rather Obvious..

When will they be publicly fired?

Labour appear to accept failure in politicians. So never.


[ Parent ]

Re: German Ambassador exposes Gordon? (#4)

by snowflake5 on Tue Oct 07, 2008 at 03:25:06 PM GMT

My view is that the german Ambassador was embarassed at Merkel having criticised Ireland one day and then done the same as them the next, and also embarassed at having claimed it was all an Anglo-Saxon problem only to find his own banks in trouble. So he was trying a spot of buck-passing.

Gordon Brown has in fact been lobbying for the World Bank and IMF to be reformed to take on board global supervision of modern economies. He made a speech in Jan 2007 which was reported in the Guardian by Larry Elliot:

Urgent and far-reaching reform of the United Nations, the International Monetary Fund, the World Bank and the G7 is needed to make old-fashioned international institutions fit to cope with the "seismic shifts" of globalisation, Gordon Brown said yesterday.


"The post-1945 system of international institutions, built for a world of sheltered economies and just 50 states, is not yet broken but - for a world of 200 states and an open globalisation - urgently in need of modernisation and reform."


.......America has exerted particularly strong influence over the fund and bank, but the chancellor said they could not be effective unless modernised - "the IMF to ensure the stability of the whole world economy, with its primary role no longer to manage balance of payments crises but on crisis prevention through the surveillance of our economies.


Poor Gord was blocked by the Americans though. As for German proposals, I couldn't find out what they are! Can anyone shed any light?


German Ambassador exposes Gordon? | 4 comments (4 topical)