Tomorrow will see the publication by the National Audit Office of its report into the privatisation of the defence company QinetiQ. It is expected to be very critical of the Treasury and the Ministry of Defence for allowing a process which created multi-million-pound windfalls for ex civil servants and huge profits for the American firm Carlyle. Vince Cable, acting leader of the LibDems, at Prime Ministers Questions on Wednesday, described the report as the "next financial time bomb" to hit the Government.
The Goverment does remain a shareholder, and claimed to have raised £800m from the sale. The fact remains, however, that most independent observers feel that the company was considerably undervalued, and enabled Carlyle to increase the value of its holding from £42m to £300m in just three years. Gordon Brown, of course, was Chancellor then, as he was when we sold foreign exchange gold reserves at a price beyond which they subsequently soared.
He was also the Chancellor who devised the confused 3-way control for the banking system, which led to the confusion and delay surrounding Northern Rock. His successor, Alastair Darling, did not help the situation, but the architect was Gordon Brown.
He was also the chancellor who, against advice, forced through the merger of Inland Revenue with Customs, and compelled it to take on the unfamiliar role of benefit payments. At about the same time, he demanded sweeping staff changes, in fact 20,000 posts shed, approaching a quarter of the labour force. There is no surprise that morale at HMRC is very low! In 2004 the Treasury Select Committee found that no cost-benefit analysis had been done before the merger, and no efficiency savings had been calculated. The whole process was as the result of a man with his whim!
The man is arrogant, in apologising for the lost benefit information computer disks, but despite suggestions from David Cameron not accepting any responsibility. His finger prints are all over the three mistakes - QinetiQ, FSA etc, and the HMCR merger.
How many more times can he evade responsibility?
Thursday, 22 November 2007
Troubles (for the Government) never come singly
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2 comments:
I can't wait for tomorrow and the publication of the report. The Audit Commission usually does a thorough job and doesn't pull any punches!
Things are falling in on them, - all they've got left is talk. So many things are going wrong that I almost feel sorry for them - almost but not quite, after their gloating at the Tories 15 years ago, and the constant refrain of "sleaze"!
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