Alistair Darling writes his resignation speech?

Having read Alistair Darling's article in today's Guardian I am now convinced that Gordon Brown's days as our "Chosen One" are numbered. It is inconceivable that he can hang on much past the Labour Party's annual conference in Manchester without some miracle occurring.

When the Chancellor of the Exchequer thinks "that Labour faces its toughest challenge in a generation (and) admits that Brown and the cabinet are partly to blame for Labour's woes because they have 'patently' failed to explain the party's central mission to the country, leaving voters "pissed off"...then you know that Prescott's "tectonic plates" have shifted.

Economic forcasters are predicting 2 million unemployed before Christmas. If this is true then whatever Gordon Brown tries to do ressurect house prices falling at 10% per year so far will probably be pointless.

No change there, then. Gordon has always been pointless.

Darling On The Rocks

At the end of May I posted THIS on the Northern Rock fiasco coming back to haunt Alistair Darling and noted THIS post on the FT Westminster blog headed: "Alistair Darling - are you sure about Northern Rock’s assets?"

In today's Times it is reported "Repossessions rise 40% as mortgage arrears worsen" saying that "the statistics bear out warnings that the number losing their homes will reach 45,000 by the end of this year, compared with the 75,500 whose homes were repossessed at the peak of the 1991 housing downturn."

After today's news that Darling has been forced to pump a further £3.4 billion of taxpayers' money into the already nationalised bank, he must be very afraid to go asleep in case his eyebrows turn white over night!

Either he knew that NR's mortgage book was not all that it was cracked up to be, and lied to us, or he (and by extension, Gordon Brown) is even more incompetent than even I thought he was.

And as for that economic "sage", Vince Cable, I hope his much vaunted reputation is now so tarnished that people will realise that his advice is worthless - just like the LibDems's claims to be a credible party.

We're Doomed, I Tell You - Doomed!

Well, at Least Alistair Darling has the guts to admit it - unlike the other denizens of the deep mire that Labour has got us into. In THIS piece in the Times today "Prophet of economic gloom, Alistair Darling, is set for a summer in his bunker" he says :"The downturn in the economy could last for years rather than months."

Now will all the silly people in the Labour Party stop spouting that all is well and that "fundamentals of the economy are sound" and other such tosh about "sustainability".

Oh, and by the way, the latest opinion poll by ComRes (reported by UK Polling Report) in tomorrow's Independent on Sunday shows the Conservatives on 45%, Labour 24% and the LibDems on 16%. This is the lowest level for Labour ever recorded by this particular polling company.

Darling - You Are Between A Rock And... Er, Well Another Rock!

First we had the "most successful Chancellor for 250 years". Now we have the most unsuccessful Chancellor for, well, maybe 250 days. Poor old Alistair Darling - he is really proving to be the patsy for Gordon Brown's useless, and short-lived premiership.

It is just a few months ago he delivered his first Budget speech yet he has already been forced to undo the removal of the 10p tax band by adding to the national debt by borrowing £2.7 billion - in the hope that this would rescue the Labour Party from the first Conservative gain in 30 years at a by-election in Crewe and Nantwich.

Now it looks like he's going to have to backtrack on his proposed plans to increase duty on fuel and vehicle exercise duty - see the Daily Telegraph HERE as just one example of what the MSM are saying.

It also looks like the Northern Rock affair will be coming back to haunt Mr Darling rather sooner than he thought.

As reported in the Financial Times' Westminster blog the rate of repossessions of so-called sub-prime mortgage lenders is at an uncomfortably higher level than the prime lenders. Not good news when piled on top of all the other bad economic signals that seem to pile up day upon day.

Bet the Chancellor wishes he had never taken the poisoned chalice from Gordon Brown. Oh well, he'll be out of his misery soon when he loses his very marginal seat in Edinburgh!

The Hole in The Government's Finances Gets Deeper

The old adage that "if you are digging yourself into a hole you should stop digging" seems to have passed by Messrs Brown and Darling (and, I dare say, Balls too).

Once again I urge you to turn to John Redwood for a clear appreciation of what this means for the taxpayer and every family in the country. When will we be rid of this bunch of cretins?

Let's hope George Osborne's promise not to support the nationalisation of Northern Rock starts the clock ticking on the final and complete demise of this discredited Labour Government.

Stop Press: England opt out of the Euro!

Why was this man picked as the England goalkeeper?

All the pundits criticised the manager before the game on his controversial selection of a relatively untried newcomer at a senior level.

Gordon Brown, who was the deputy to the previous manager, and whose own position is now in doubt said: "I have every faith in him." This is despite the fact that he lost by 25.

It's not clear whether this is £25 billion, 25 million personal records or 25 own goals but several post-match reviews will make this clear. "Lessons will be learnt" said a beleaguered Brown. "Lord Hutton has been appointed to carry out the investigation so the blame can be laid at the feet of the Croatians".

Hat tip to Comment Central for the photo.

Move over Darling?

Some people say that Alistair Darling has the worst job in the Labour Cabinet - having to take over as Chancellor of the Exchequer from Gordon Brown. Watch him here having to explain yet another debacle.

Some say he's been unlucky to have so many bad stories breaking in his first few months in this high office. Some have even suggested that Gordon Brown has been interfering in the running of the Treasury.

But what is clear is that Brown and Darling have both been involved in this Labour government for more than 10 years and they are both culpable when things go wrong.

And another thing is certain - this Government does not deserve it's reputation for competence.

It's the Economy Darling (Stupid)!

Hope Alistair has read this Daily Telegraph article here.

If this doesn't convince those that think that throwing - sorry, investing - taxpayer money at every problem has been a disastrous experiment that should be stopped immediately, then I don't know what will.

We're doomed! Doomed, I tell you!

Time to kick this Labour spin machine out and get back to good old fashioned sound money policies.