Justin King is always confident, even on a sticky wicket. This week he could afford to be the flattrack bully, after reporting a 7% increase in underlying pre-tax profits, even using his stand at the crease to attack No 10.
“Unfortunately, what we have seen over the past couple of years is something that could not be described as a consistent pursuit of a clear policy that the consumer at large understands,” he said. Bill Clinton, another confident customer, captured the requirement in an earlier era. “It’s the economy, stupid,” is still the watchword in the politics of recession.
Yet instead of focusing its attention, with single-minded zeal, on the pursuit of recovery and growth (or focus, drive and broaden, as Booker’s Charles Wilson might say), the government has allowed itself to veer off, like the headless chickens running Blackburn Rovers, in every direction.
“The government has allowed itself to veer off, like the headless chickens running Blackburn Rovers, in every direction”
Adam Leyland, Editor
After the disastrous Budget, with its pasty tax, granny bashing and - this is the really big one - its tax relief for the rich - I hoped the Queen’s Speech would provide a platform for some single-minded purpose. In terms of enterprise and banking reform, measures to simplify the employment tribunal system are to be welcomed. The banks will also, rightly, be more accountable (incidentally, Mervyn King’s admission, last week, that the Bank of England was in the wrong was right up there with the Pope admitting he was a Catholic). But I find it hard to believe the Groceries Code Adjudicator will boost the economy. And, as (Justin) King said, “the government has not yet made clear where it would make its big bets in terms of investment - rail, road, airports, schools or hospitals”. In fact it’s not made itself clear on its future growth plan at all.
In the meantime, we have this ludicrous situation in which grocery retailers and wholesalers are forced to go to the most absurd measures to cover up the legal trade in tobacco, as if we were operating in 1930s Chicago. This government was supposed to free up enterprise. Instead, with yet more ill-judged dogma and pointless tinkering on the cards, it is distracting everyone, including itself, from the task in hand.
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