George Osborne

[BoredBloke]

Major left school at 16 in 1959.......in 1963, and decided to undertake a correspondence course in banking. He took up a post as an executive at Standard Chartered Bank in May 1965.

How the frig did he manage that. So aged 20 he buys a couple of banking books and by the age of 22 he's an exec at Standard Chartered

[Purple Dalek]

It's amazing how many highly paid media types, comedians and writers are Labour luvies

Yes, the enemy within. Fifth-columnists the lot of 'em. Should be rounded up and made to pay for all the crimes they've inflicted on hard working families. It's only fair.

[Bagpuss]

Wasn't John Major's dad a circus clown?


Son of a gypo to prime minister, you couldn't make it up

[Mich the Tester]

So aged 20 he buys a couple of banking books and by the age of 22 he's an exec at Standard Chartered

Yes, banking standards were even higher in the 1960s than they are now.

[minestrone]

Wasn't John Major's dad a circus clown?

Think he was a trapeze artist.

[TheFaQQer]

Think he was a trapeze artist.

Something like that.

I remember a sketch from (I think) the Comedy Store Presents some years back, with Major visiting the circus to tell his dad that he was Foreign Secretary, then a couple of weeks later Chancellor, then a couple of weeks later PM.

"Can't hold on to a job, can you son?" comes the response.

[Cyberman]

Most definitely.

In fact, I'm beginning to wonder if anyone other than Gordon Brown had been chancellor we'd have been far better off, even another Labour MP. It's as if Brown's every action was intended to sabotage the economy for future generations.

However, John Major semi-f**ked the economy over the ERM.

The ERM is a minor blip compared to today's ills inflicted by HMG. It also had a beneficial side-effect which has been to scare Brown etc from joining the Euro. The ERM failure cost us 7 Billion pounds, but next year's EU membership will cost us many times that, and of course many of New Lie's failures are vastly more expensive.

[Doggy Styles]

The ERM is a minor blip compared to today's ills inflicted by HMG. It also had a beneficial side-effect which has been to scare Brown etc from joining the Euro. The ERM failure cost us 7 Billion pounds, but next year's EU membership will cost us many times that, and of course many of New Lie's failures are vastly more expensive.

Fair point. I didn't know it was only 7 billion.

I guess it was Lawson's earlier big tax giveaway that kicked off the boom/bust. The ERM came on top, like the wren on the eagle's shoulders.

[BoredBloke]

I heard Lawson talking about the whole ERM thing a while back and it's actuall cost was not that high. Yes they spent billions propping up the pound but when the dust settled they just sold it again so they recouped the vast majority of what they spent. Also the thing was flawed. The rules stated that they had to do what they did and because Labour supported the ERM also, they would have done exactly the same given the same set of circumstances.