The revenge of Clare Short
This morning’s Chilcott appearance by Clare Short was every bit as rumbustious as you might expect. She blamed the military – rather than DFiD for the disastrous post-invasion reconstruction of Iraq. She accused Blair of “conning” her. And she claimed that Lord Goldsmith “misled” colleagues over the legality of the war. Read more
Tories would cut faster and further…but not deeper. Confused?
It was all just a dream.
You may have thought that the Tories were the party of fiscal probity. You may have thought that they were the ones who were going to get a grip on Britain’s desperate public finances. They were the ones who would prevent the loss of the UK’s AAA credit rating and keep interest rates low. Etc, etc, etc. Read more
Has the Treasury cut its forecasts for income from 50p tax rate?
Lord Myners appears to have caused confusion with his clumsy comments yesterday about how much revenue will come from the new 50p tax rate.
The City minister said: “We have made adjustments for the behavioural consequences of the new higher rate of taxation and have accordingly significantly reduced the anticipated tax take.” The new tax on those earning more than £150,000 will kick in in April. Read more
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Jim Pickard is the FT's chief political correspondent, having joined the lobby team in January 2008. He has been at the FT since 1999 as a regional correspondent, assistant UK news editor and property correspondent.
Kiran Stacey is an FT political correspondent, having joined the lobby in 2011. He started at the FT as a graduate trainee in 2008, working on desks including UK companies and US equity markets before taking over the FT's Energy Source blog.
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