Regrets? Just the one
- 28 Sep 08, 08:01 PM
One comment came to haunt the last Tory government. It was uttered by the then Chancellor Norman Lamont. Watching him was his adviser - a young politician on the rise by the name of David Cameron.
Lamont said "Je ne regrette rien"* in answer to a question at a by-election news conference - words subsequently used by the then Labour opposition to suggest that a callous Tory party did not regret the economic mess the country was in and the personal cost of it in terms of repossessions, soaring interest rates and unemployment.
Cameron believes - hopes - that Gordon Brown's pledge to end the "era of irresponsibility" is another similar gaffe. Again and again you will hear Tories claim this week that he was responsible for that irresponsibility whereas they will restore responsibility to government.
Hence, their plan to create a new Office of Budget Responsibility to stop a future government bingeing on cash and to restore powers to the Bank of England to stop the banks allowing us all to binge on money we haven't got.
* Lamont was, in fact, simply cracking a joke to try to avoid answering a skilful question posed by my colleague John Pienaar in the Newbury by-election in May 1993. Pienaar asked Lamont at a press conference whether he most regretted claiming to see "the green shoots of recovery" or "singing in his bath". He replied by quoting the Edith Piaf song "Je ne regrette rien".
