ZoomClouds: John Redwood MP for Wokingham

... . On the doorsteps we hear about high taxes, rising mortgage payments, and many complaints about the state of the nation. This morning the Chancellor told us he is reviewing mortgage finance. I had a feeling of deja vu. This government has endlessly reviewed the housing market. They used ...

Today we will hear a statement from the Chancellor announcing a much heralded statement offering up to £50 billion of near cash to the banks in return for some of their mortgages. How is this done? The government itself will borrow the money, by issuing bonds “ IOUs “ on the ...

... trying to keep his administration together against a background of resignations by senior politicians. Others refused to serve. He had to be his own Chancellor of the Exchequer following six rejections from Parliamentarians he had approached. Perceval had persisted with the Peninsular War d...

... e: œWe™ve had enough. We can™t afford all the bills. Labour™s backbenchers, ably led by Frank Field, œgot it well before the government. The Chancellor has gone from zero to hero with Labour MPs for his lend-lease approach to tax reductions. He hopes his one-year special offer of a tax cut ...

... that interest rates could not be lowered again this year or next. Newspapers wrote that we are to look forward to letters from the Governor to the Chancellor explaining why inflation is well over target. They even gave the press the opportunity to ramp the story up, by using colourful language, t...

I always knew the former Chancellor was no good at economics. Whilst most people were busily repeating Labour spin about his genius at running the economy, I was critical of the way he trashed the Bank of England and taxed the pension funds to death at the beginning, disagreed with the huge surge o...

Over the Brown years the Chancellor/PM has applied an iron law to the Opposition - they must speak no tax cuts and no spending increases. If they venture either Labour reserves the right to list the worst kind of spending cuts to “pay” for them, as no “unfunded” spending inc...

The Chancellor™s devastating interview shows we need a Parliamentary statement on Monday to give us a completely new set of forecasts for the UK economy. Parliament should be in session to cross examine him over one of the biggest downward revisions to forecasts ever made by an incumbent Chancello...

The portrait of the Chancellor in the Guardian today by Decca Aitkenhead is devastating. Intended to lift the veil on the private man and to help him project his image and his message, the interview reveals a man completely out of his depth without a clue about the financial crisis swirli...

The Chancellorâ¬¢s devastating interview shows we need a Parliamentary statement on Monday to give us a completely new set of forecasts for the UK economy. Parliament should be in session to cross examine him over one of the biggest downward revisions to forecasts ever made by an incumbent Chancel...

... blic borrowing and spending as part of a package of better economic management. Floating rates takes the immediate sting of such a crisis away from a Chancellor wishing to prolong his holidays away from London. A little bit of devaluation, when you are running a big balance of payment...

... get all their passengers home in an orderly way. I appreciate the CAA does not have the same duties on solvency and liquidity for airlines that the Chancellor and his regulators have for banks. Nor am I advocating more regulation. I do think, however, we should ask why such an expensive system w...

... ationalisation as well as through conventional borrowing, at a time of big credit increases in the private sector and relatively good growth. 6. The Chancellor was wrong to give a lecture on moral hazard and telll us there would be no bail outs just before the run on the Rock. 7. The UK government...

... to the banks, who then might lend some of it back to us for interest and a fee if we are lucky. Yesterday in Parliament I pointed out to the Chancellor that the 3 banks he is considering buying shares in have combined balance sheets of £3 trillion. Yes, £3 trillion. That’s twice our n...

... curdling statements with inappropriate action to handle the financial and economic downturn. Mr Bean, deputy Bank Governor, has gone further than the Chancellor and the Governor with lurid language. Do these people not understand that markets are listening to their every word, and moving prices on t...

... raising the public debt. Second, he set up a so called independent Monetary Policy Committee. Every member of it was either appointed by the Chancellor, or by someone appointed by him. We have not been told how they were selected, and why some were renewed and some were not. The Committee w...

... n us. I have called for much lower interest rates to ease the pressures on borrowers. Others now have decided to join me, including the Chancellor. This is essential for depositors as well, to avoid more banks losing money they have lent to others, which in turn makes it difficult for...

... cuts we need be on the massive public debt the government needs to raise? The Governor and his committee should spend a day penning letter to the Chancellor. It should say: “Dear Chancellor, We accept that we need much lower interest rates than currently, to lessen the depth an...

... rrowing requirement has shot up from the £43 billion forecast in the Spring, to more than £120 billion. The MPC should have written a letter to the Chancellor, saying that for inflation reasons they wanted to cut rates substantially, but they needed guidance on the likely size of the government de...

... oney markets of funds to prevent banks lending more, forcing Northern Rock and a couple of other banks into trouble. In 2007 we had lectures from the Chancellor and the Governor that people had borrowed too much and banks had lent too much. They were told they wrong to have lent so much , and they ...

... firms that are vital to our economy have access to the loans and capital they need to let their businesses grow and develop. An announcement from the Chancellor at the end of last month means that Britain™s small and medium-sized enterprises stand to benefit from up to £4 billion in loans from the E...

On September 13th 2007 I posted a blog which was very critical of the Chancellor’s important remarks on banking. Mr Darling told us: “Institutions have in some cases been prepared to lend to people without checking if they were ever going to repay it” “...

... he rest is the impact of the recession on Stamp Duty, NIC, Income Tax, Corporation Tax and the rest. The borrowing this year was said by the Chancellor to have almost doubled to £78 billion. This figure left out buying bank shares and other expensive financial transactions. At the back of t...

... been the subject of media debate for twenty four hours beforehand, and when I have been able to get my views across about it on the media before the Chancellor rises. Meanwhile a more gripping drama was unfolding in the USA. Paulson’s much battered and changed bank bail out plan ha...

... take over or eventually the Administrator would be called in by the creditors to do it. It is time for the rest of the Cabinet to warn the PM and Chancellor in private, and time for Parliament to raise the roof beams, warning this government there are limits to how much a country can borrow. ...

... markets still allow them to do that. Before the last round of interest rate cuts I suggested that the Monetary Policy Committee wrote to the Chancellor and said they would only cut rates if the government agreed to keep its borrowing under reasonable control. There was no letter, but the Ba...

... ty, financial and business services, areas which are entering difficult times. The government™s is spending and borrowing too much. The Chancellor told us he planned to borrow £78 billion this year compared with the last Budget forecast of £43 billion. The back of the new Forecast book...