28 March 2009

Not the headlines that Brown wants this weekend

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Six days before the G20, and while Brown is still marooned in Chile, these are not the headlines Moses will have wanted to see this Saturday.

The Times reports that George Soros thinks Brown may have be bailed out by the IMF:

You have a problem that the banking system is bigger than the economy . . . so for Britain to absorb it alone would really pile up the debt

Asked about the chances of Britain having to seek help from the International Monetary Fund, he said:

that if the banking system continued to collapse, it was a possibility.

At this stage, he added:

it was not a likelihood.

I sure Brown will be grateful for that.

Then over at the Express (not a paper that I usually pay any attention to) there is warning about interest rates.  Spencer Dale, the Bank of England’s chief economist warns:

The committee adjusted monetary policy boldly and ­decisively on the way down in order to meet the inflation target. And let me assure you that, when the time comes, we will be prepared to respond with equal vigour on the way back up.

Yvonne Goodwin, an independent financial adviser based in Leeds, said:

Most of the banks and building societies are offering savers three to four-year terms with relatively low rates.

This is usually a good indication that they think interest rates are likely to rise over the coming months.

They are likely to take off again once the Government’s policy of quantitative easing gets moving.

Good for savers but hardly what Brown wants to hear at the moment.

Yesterday it was the his plans to change the rules of succession to the throne, which have subsequently been kicked into touch.  Today the Falklands and another embarrassing press conference.  Then our hyper-active leader attends at some minor conference that no other left-leaning leader in the world is bothering to turn up for.

Then, after a failed trip, he will travel home exhausted to the UK for the final phase of the worst premiership since the days of Anthony Eden.

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