What planet are they on? @ No. 10

"What would you like for your birthday, mi old pal?" Arturo asked with a very sly grin. "I can give you anything - I truly mean anything - that you want in the world!"

I was gobsmacked! Arturo was generous - but to offer me anything in the world was a bit too far, even for him!

"Do you spy a catch in the offer?" He queried. "It's no more nor less than what 'Boy David' Cameron is offering to the whole country! He's giving tham a 'pledge' to give them everything and anything that they could possibly want. There's just one teeny-weeny proviso - they have to vote Conservative on May 7. What d'ya think of that?"

I decided to investigate this 'pledge' Arturo was on about. It wasn't hard to discover. Michael White writing in The Guardian under the headline:

David Cameron's dishonest and foolish tax pledge is an insult to voters

commented:

David Cameron’s latest pledge that a re-elected Tory government would legislate for a ban on tax rises in the next parliament is economically illiterate as well as politically dishonest.

For brazen incoherence it is up there with the kind of Daily Mail front page splash (“Miliband eats babies”) we have been reading these past few weeks. From an incumbent prime minister, even one addicted to tactical solutions, it is quite startling; a “gimmick”, as Ed Balls kept protesting on Wednesday.

Well, well! 'economically illiterate and politically dishonest! Those are hard words indeed. Though to be fair, Michael White didn't absolve any of the other parties either:

Are the plans of the two Eds – Balls and Miliband – for tax and spending much better? Not really, as Larry Elliott’s brisk summary of the Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS) analysis explains. Nick Clegg’s are probably slightly more plausible (I cannot remember their thrust except that they are in between the others), but the Lib Dem leader’s likely leverage on events after 7 May makes it rather less important. The Greens and the SNP? Don’t even ask.

In varying ways they all subscribe to the tree-grown theory of money which suggests something will turn up, probably for the best, that will allow them to make good the spurious promises they make to voters – on housing, the NHS, education, childcare, budget surpluses – despite the fragility of our credit-driven economy.

http://www.theguardian.com/politics/2015/apr/29/david-cameron-tax-lock-pledge-insult-voters

So what was the wording of that particular Cameron 'pledge' that provoked this ire? Writing in the Financial Times, Elizabeth Rigby, George Parker and John Aglionb commented

David Cameron will on Wednesday promise a law banning any rise in income tax, VAT or national insurance in the next parliament, in a highly unusual move that would severely restrict the Treasury’s room to manoeuvre if he won a second term. Mr Cameron hopes the tax promise will inject momentum into his campaign, by highlighting the party’s commitment to low taxes ...

http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/663896e0-edbb-11e4-90d2-00144feab7de.html

Ummmm! So what happens if the famous Rumsfeld adage turns out to be true? You don't recall that - well let me remind you:

There are known knowns. These are things we know that we know. There are known unknowns. That is to say, there are things that we know we don't know. But there are also unknown unknowns. There are things we don't know we don't know.

http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/quotes/d/donaldrums148142.html

Now that convoluted little adage hides the faintest whisper of a truth! There are events in the future that we - and by that I mean Cameron et al, as well - cannot forecast! So - how can a man, hopefully in his right mind and living on this planet, state that :

"I make this pledge that if you elect me as your Prime Minister there will be no increase in VAT; no increase in National Insurance; no increase in income tax."

On ITV News

... Europe Editor James Mates asked Mr Cameron: "Five years ago you promised not to raise VAT, is this promise designed now to convince a skeptical public that you won't break that promise again?"

Mr Cameron responded: "Unlike in 2009, 2010, I've seen the books, I've been doing this job for five years, I know what remains to be done."

http://www.itv.com/news/story/2015-04-29/cameron-conservatives-would-ban-tax-rises-until-2020/

So - my friends - just watch this space! Will the tax 'lock' hold? Will the tax 'lock' give way? Will the tax 'lock' be picked? The possible scenarios are legion! Of course, that wily old bird, Harold Macmillan, knew the real face of politics

When asked what was the greatest challenge for a statesman, British Prime Minister Harold Macmillan reportedly responded, in his inimitable style, “Events, my dear boy, events.”

http://www.othermeanspolitics.com/home/quote-of-the-week-events-my-dear-boy-events

It's a shame that 'Boy David' Cameron is such a rubbish historian and such a shameless PR man!

He's not the only one who is chancing his arm. 'Interfering Old Git' Murdoch is playing a similar game with the voters. The Sun in England gives its support to the Tories! Whereas in Scotland - support goes to the Scottish Nationalist Party!

Do they take the British public to be fools - or horses?

Me and Arturo are still guzzling on the caviar nibbles that are lying about the place. With all these 'pledges' flying around - the good times are still to come - or are they?

Bye