Reply to: George Osborne

[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.

[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.

[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.

[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.

[minestrone]

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

Think he was a trapeze artist.

[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.

[Bagpuss]

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


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

[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.

[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

[Doggy Styles]

He obviously was aware that government has a duty to step in to try and influence household budgets. So can we say that if he was still PM we would not be in this debt bubble now?

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.

[ace00]

He obviously was aware that government has a duty to step in to try and influence household budgets. So can we say that if he was still PM we would not be in this debt bubble now?

Yes I think so, UK could do with more like him.

[sasguru]

Big Major fan myself. The guy may have been dull, and had to deal with tulip largely out of his control (ERM fiasco) but he knew what was best for this country.

best PM that has served in my lifetime (since 1979) imo.

Shame conservatives have nobody of his calibre at present.

Best piss take post of the day.

[Solidec]

Big Major fan myself. The guy may have been dull, and had to deal with tulip largely out of his control (ERM fiasco) but he knew what was best for this country.

best PM that has served in my lifetime (since 1979) imo.

Shame conservatives have nobody of his calibre at present.

[TheFaQQer]

Didnt JM works a banker in the city before politics?

Major left school at 16 in 1959, with three O-levels: History, English Language, and English Literature. He later gained three more by correspondence course, in British Constitution, Mathematics and Economics. Shortly after becoming prime minister, when pressed about his precise qualifications, he answered "he couldn't remember" what he had attained. Major applied to become a bus conductor after leaving school but was beaten to the post by another applicant ... His first job was as a clerk in an insurance brokerage firm Pratt & Sons in 1959. Disliking this, he quit and for a time he helped with his father's garden ornaments business with his brother, Terry Major-Ball ... After a spell of unemployment, he started working at the London Electricity Board (where his successor as PM Tony Blair also worked when young) 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.

[minestrone]

I just read Major's wikipedia page there and one thing stood out..

in spring 1990. He publicised it as a budget for savings and announced the Tax-Exempt Special Savings Account (TESSA), arguing that measures were required to address the marked fall in the household savings ratio that had been apparent during the previous financial year.

He obviously was aware that government has a duty to step in to try and influence household budgets. So can we say that if he was still PM we would not be in this debt bubble now?