Quote:Cameron aide: 'You've never had it so good'
Thursday, November 18 11:01 pm

A senior adviser to David Cameron has apologised after claiming that most Britons have "never had it so good". Skip related content

In a newspaper interview, Lord Young of Graffham said the Bank of England's decision to cut base rates to a record low of 0.5 per cent since March 2009 had left many home-owners up to £600 a month better off.

He told the Daily Telegraph the swingeing Government cuts announced last month would only take state spending back to the levels of 2007, when people were not "short of money".

Those complaining about the cutbacks, totalling more than £80 billion over four years, were "people who think they have a right for the state to support them", suggested the peer, who was appointed Mr Cameron's enterprise adviser earlier this month after completing a review of health and safety laws.

He dismissed forecast public sector job losses of 100,000 a year as "within the margin of error" in the context of the 30 million-strong job market. People will look back and "wonder what all the fuss was about", predicted Lord Young, who was Trade and Industry Secretary in Margaret Thatcher's administration.

The peer has now written to the Prime Minister to "apologise profoundly" for his "inaccurate and insensitive" comments. He added: "I deeply regret the comments I made and I entirely understand the offence they will cause."

His comments were in stark contrast to the public comments of senior Government ministers, who have acknowledged the measures being taken to reduce the UK's record budget deficit will hit individual voters.

In his speech to the Conservative conference last month, Mr Cameron said "reducing spending will be difficult", while Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg has said cuts will be "difficult and painful".

But Lord Young suggested the Government had overstated the impact of spending cuts to shore up the value of the pound, saying: "Part of the rhetoric was to protect the pound. The fact that we seemed to be going through such big cuts really meant that the pound was saved, so far."

Quote:In 1977 Young, an active Conservative, became a member of the Management Board of the Centre for Policy Studies, a 'think-tank' founded by Margaret Thatcher; he was made a Director of the CPS in 1979 shortly after the general election that brought Mrs Thatcher to power. On the first day of the new government, Keith Joseph, the Secretary of State for Industry appointed him his advisor responsible for what later became known as privatisation.

Because of his involvement with vocational training through ORT, he was picked by Norman Tebbit when he was Secretary of State for Employment to be the Chairman of the Manpower Services Commission in 1981, the Government Agency dealing with unemployment and training matters. As such he became involved in government decisions and the Cabinet ministers who dealt with him regarded him very positively; he made his position as a 'dry' on economic policy. He received a life peerage as Baron Young of Graffham, of Graffham in the County of West Sussex on 10 August 1984. One month later, on 11 September it was announced that Young was to enter the cabinet as Minister without Portfolio (the first for twenty years) to advise the government on unemployment issues. On 2 September 1985 he became Secretary of State for Employment.

Quote:The Centre for Policy Studies (CPS) is a British Conservative policy studies think tank whose goal is to promote coherent and practical public policy, to roll back the state, reform public services, support communities, and challenge threats to Britain’s independence.[1]

It was founded by Conservatives Sir Keith Joseph and Margaret Thatcher in 1974 to champion economic liberalism in Britain [1] and has since played a global role in the dissemination of free market economics along monetarist and, what today would be called, neoliberal lines. Its policy proposals are claimed to be based on the principles of individual choice and responsibility. They also assert that they prioritise the concepts of duty, family, liberty, and the rule of law. The CPS has a stated goal of serving as the champion of the small state.

Quote:Many grassroots Tories on the right wing of the party will feel today that Lord Young of Graffham was forced to resign for speaking the truth about the Coalition’s spending cuts.

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His departure was mourned yesterday by the Institute of Directors, which said: “Lord Young had a clear vision for the UK’s business environment and was one of the few politicians willing to grapple with the politically sensitive, but critical, issues of health and safety and employment law reform.”

Hours after being interviewed by the Telegraph on Wednesday lunchtime, Lord Young was made Peer of the Year at The Spectator’s annual parliamentary awards.

David Guyatt Wrote:What I also see here is a case of "protective" psychological thinking on their part, which manifests in these "you've never had it so good" comments is a compensatory shadow projection.

They can never, ever accept the true reality without first facing their own inner demons first.

And this'll not happen.