Friday, November 19, 2010

Lord Young quits as Cameron's adviser after claiming that Britain 'has never had it so good' in this 'so-called recession'

By Daily Mail Reporter
Last updated at 1:59 PM on 19th November 2010

Young leaves after telling PM of his deep regret
Peer dismissed jobs crisis a 'so-called recession'
Whingers 'think they have a right to state support'
100,000 unemployed is the 'margin of error'
Labour call him 'dangerously out of touch'

Climbdown: Lord Young said he understood the offence caused

Out: Lord Young has resigned after downplaying the recession

A senior adviser to David Cameron quit today after sparking outrage by declaring Britons had never had it so good.
Lord Young of Graffham resigned this lunchtime over the crass remarks, which led to a storm of protest.
David Cameron had earlier stopped short of ousting him from Government but had declared he would be doing a 'bit less speaking in future'.
But the Tory peer decided to walk after seeing the horrified response from critics today.
A Westminster source said: 'Lord Young has reflected on the reaction and doesn't want to do anything to cause problems for the Government.'
The Prime Minister's spokesman added: 'He offered his resignation and the Prime Minister accepted it.'
She stressed that Lord Young had done some 'very, very good work' in his spell at Downing Street.
In an extraordinary interview, the multi-millionaire - who was trade secretary under Margaret Thatcher - had said people complaining about the cutbacks 'think they have a right for the state to support them'.
And he added that low interest rates meant ‘for the vast majority in the country today, they have never had it so good ever since this recession – this so-called recession – started’.
The enterprise tsar, who echoes former PM Harold Macmillan's 1957 statement about Britain's prosperity just before wage cuts were announced, said people would look back and wonder what all the fuss was about.
Mr Cameron had tried to draw a line under the row this morning but admitted the peer was mortified.
'Obviously he's extremely embarrassed. He's withdrawn what he said, he's apologised for what he said, and that's absolutely right,' the PM said.
'I mean, he's not a member of the Government, he doesn't speak for the Government and I think he'll be doing a bit less speaking in the future.
'He should get on with what he has been doing and he was obviously extremely embarrassed and he was very quick to retract completely what he said.'

Aide: David Cameron made Lord Young enterprise advisor after he completed a review of health and safety laws

David Cameron made Lord Young enterprise adviser after he reviewed health and safety laws

Loyal aide: Lord Young, who was Margaret Thatcher's Trade Secretary, was a devoted supporter of the leader

Former high-flyer: Lord Young was Margaret Thatcher's Trade Secretary

Lord Young had already written to Mr Cameron to 'apologise profoundly' for his 'inaccurate and insensitive' comments before he resigned.
‘I deeply regret the comments I made and I entirely understand the offence they will cause,’ he said. 'They were both inaccurate and insensitive.
'Low mortgage interest rates may have eased the burden for some families but millions of families face a very difficult and anxious future as we come to grips with the deficit. I should have chosen my words much more carefully.’

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Labour Treasury spokesman Kerry McCarthy had accused Lord Young of insulting workers who had lost their jobs.
In his interview, the peer 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 national workforce.

But Miss McCarthy hit back, saying: ‘Lord Young is factually incorrect. Even the Government admits 500,000 jobs will be lost in the public sector, with independent forecasters predicting at least a similar number in the private sector.

Labour Treasury spokesman Kerry McCarthy said Lord Young was 'dangerously out of touch'

‘It is ridiculous to suggest that spending cuts of 20-25 per cent will not have an impact on the lives of ordinary people.
‘But it is also insulting to all those who have lost those jobs and all those who fear they may lose theirs.
‘Like many people in Government he clearly lives in a very sheltered world which is dangerously out of touch.’
Outrage was not confined to Westminster. This morning Lord Young's Wikipedia page was tampered with. His profile summary read: 'David Ivor S***head, Baron S***head of Graffham, PC DL (born 27 February 1932) is a British Conservative politician and businessman, as well as a worthless arrogant t****r.'
Lord Young was appointed Mr Cameron’s enterprise adviser earlier this month after completing a review of health and safety laws.
His comments stand in stark contrast to the public comments of senior 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 Tory conference last month, Mr Cameron said reducing spending would be difficult, while Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg has said cuts will be painful.
Chancellor George Osborne said in his spending review tough action had brought Britain back from ‘the brink of bankruptcy’ and if the Government were to water down its cuts programme the country would be ‘on the road to economic ruin’.
But Lord Young suggested the Government had overstated the impact of spending cuts to shore up sterling.

THATCHER'S 'DRY' OLD HAND

Lord Young, who is one of three Tory peers who served in the 1980s Cabinet to be given roles in the Coalition Government, is a Thatcherite to his core.

In 1981, after a successful business career, he was asked lead the Manpower Services Commission in 1981, the government agency dealing with unemployment and training matters.

He was regarded by Margaret Thatcher as a ‘dry’, those Tories who strongly supported ‘monetarist’ economic policy despite soaring unemployment.

He received a life peerage as Baron Young of Graffham, in 1984 and joined the Cabinet at minister without portfolio.

He later rose to become employment secretary and then trade secretary before leaving government in 1989.

The years out of mainstream politics have not dimmed his Right-wing instincts, many of which will be shared by large numbers of grassroots Conservatives.

ECHOES OF HAROLD MACMILLAN

The phrase ‘You’ve never had it so good’ was first uttered by former Prime Minister Harold Macmillan 1957.

Unlike today, the proclamation then was made at a time when the country was riding high on the post-war economic boom.

But in 1961 Mr Macmillan's government imposed an unpopular wage freeze and other measures to curb rising inflation.

His early comments came to be seen as overblown optimism and the public increasingly believed the statesman and his Eton-Dominated Cabinet as out of touch.

The Profumo scandal of 1963 also harmed the Tories' reputation and, later that year, Mr Macmillan resigned in ill health.

In 1964 punished the party by electing Labour’s Harold Wilson as PM. In 1984 he was granted the title Earl of Stockton. He died, aged 92, two years later.

‘Part of the rhetoric was to protect the pound,’ he told the Daily Telegraph. ‘The fact that we seemed to be going through such big cuts really meant that the pound was saved, so far.

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‘Most people with a mortgage who were paying a lot of money each month, suddenly started paying very little each month.
‘That could make three, four, five, six hundred pounds a month difference, free of tax.
‘That is why the retail sales have kept very good all the way through.
‘If you actually look at the cuts after four years we will be back with Government spending the same as it was in 07.
‘Now, I don’t remember in 07 being short of money or the Government being short of money.
‘So, you know, I have a feeling and a hope that when this goes through, people will wonder what all the fuss was about.’