The Prime Minister’s Jekyll-and-Hyde personality masks a ruinous socialism that threatens to bankrupt us Daily Telegraph 22/0 Don’t be fooled by the strange case of Andy Burnham, a Jekyll-and-Hyde politician par excellence . There are two contradictory sides to his personality: one reassuringly conventional, affable rather than ideological, the other darkly terrifying, committed to persecuting the petite and haute bourgeoisies of southern England. The first facet, on prominent display for the benefit of the financial markets, is that of the inoffensive tinkerer, the Dr Jekyll of the North, the fake outsider, the establishment Leftist who speaks a good game, wears T-shirts but is ultimately a standard non-player character, an instant captive of the Blob, a rearranger of deckchairs who will damage but not ruin Britain. Ten-year gilt yields are up, but have yet to explode. Burnham’s “big” ideas, so far, have been strikingly underwhelming and unoriginal for a man committed to “e...
If our new PM really wanted to put more cash in our pockets, he’d cut the green levy on energy bills, not the VAT that saves just 86p a week Daily Telegraph 21/07/26 Sometimes it’s the small things that reveal how tough times are. On Saturday, I went to pick up a suit from the dry cleaner. I asked the owner, a charming smiley man, how business was and he gestured glumly towards a long rail of clean garments in their plastic sheaths. “They’ve been here for weeks. People aren’t coming to collect their stuff,” he said. “They haven’t got the money.” Ours is supposed to be a prosperous market town so it’s a pretty clear sign that all is not well with the economy when picking up the dry cleaning becomes a luxury rather than a necessity. Hard-up people used to default on the mortgage, now it’s a Phase Eight cocktail dress. Cutting the 5 per cent VAT on electricity (not gas) bills, as Prime Minister Burnham just announced , will save struggling consumers a grand total of 86p a week – not...