Further Reading: the failure of Tory “cashgordon” campaign
The story in a nutshell: The Tories get modern/digital and set up a website emphasising Labour’s links to Unite. Unfortunately they fail to moderate the Twitter page and are inundanted with mocking messages taking the mickey out of them. Meanwhile it emerges that the page was taken off the shelf from a US rightwing lobbying group.
I can’t work out if this is a storm in a teacup or a sign that the Tories aren’t as digitally “with it” as they thought. Maybe it is both. Read more
Darling’s Austerity Budget
Labour have had a lot of fun at the Tories’ expense by mocking the idea that Britain is heading for a long period of austerity. But austere is exactly what Wednesday’s Budget is shaping up to be; short on the usual frills, promises, gimmicks and baubles that typify such events in the recent past. As Darling himself pointed out yesterday; no Christmas trees.
Darling is likely to stop short of spelling out the tough overall departmental spending cuts which will take place from 2011, but he will at least offer some insights into £11bn of “efficiency savings” already promised by the government. 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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