Tony Blair comes out as a Socialist
Or rather 'came out'.
Herewith a link to his 1983 maiden speech.
The best bit:
"I am a Socialist not through reading a textbook that has caught my intellectual fancy, nor through unthinking tradition, but because I believe that, at its best, Socialism corresponds most closely to an existence that is both rational and moral".
Some other highlights:
"When I say "well off" I mean very well off. It is not those who earn the average wage who have benefited from the Government's fiscal policy, or even those who earn double the average. The only beneficiaries are those who earn more than three times the average".
OK, so it was Mandelson who was relaxed about people becoming filthy rich, but he was one buttock of the same backside as Mr Tony.
Propping up dead ducks:
"Yet, despite the 40 per cent. unemployment, NSF, a subsidiary of the National Coal Board, announced in February this year a proposal to close the Fishburn coke works....In the recession, NSF loses money. However, the direct cost of closure in terms of redundancy payments, lost taxes and other related costs amounts to £3 million in the first year and £1 million in the following years. To close Fishburn is an act of economic madness multiplied by social disregard on an unbelievable scale. Its only true justification is a blind allegiance to dogma".
Standing up for cigarettes:
"There is not a pit left in my constituency. In the 1960s and the early 1970s, new industry came to the constituency, but it often lacked strong roots. When the recession began to bite, many companies—particularly the multinationals — saw their northern outlets as the ones to be cut. Some still remain, including Thorns and Black and Decker, although both have suffered cutbacks. Carreras Rothman, also in Spennymoor, is one area of growth, but in general terms the picture is bleak".
I've tracked down Heath's and Thatcher's debuts too, Hansard fans. Maybe today, maybe tomorrow.....
Herewith a link to his 1983 maiden speech.
The best bit:
"I am a Socialist not through reading a textbook that has caught my intellectual fancy, nor through unthinking tradition, but because I believe that, at its best, Socialism corresponds most closely to an existence that is both rational and moral".
Some other highlights:
"When I say "well off" I mean very well off. It is not those who earn the average wage who have benefited from the Government's fiscal policy, or even those who earn double the average. The only beneficiaries are those who earn more than three times the average".
OK, so it was Mandelson who was relaxed about people becoming filthy rich, but he was one buttock of the same backside as Mr Tony.
Propping up dead ducks:
"Yet, despite the 40 per cent. unemployment, NSF, a subsidiary of the National Coal Board, announced in February this year a proposal to close the Fishburn coke works....In the recession, NSF loses money. However, the direct cost of closure in terms of redundancy payments, lost taxes and other related costs amounts to £3 million in the first year and £1 million in the following years. To close Fishburn is an act of economic madness multiplied by social disregard on an unbelievable scale. Its only true justification is a blind allegiance to dogma".
Standing up for cigarettes:
"There is not a pit left in my constituency. In the 1960s and the early 1970s, new industry came to the constituency, but it often lacked strong roots. When the recession began to bite, many companies—particularly the multinationals — saw their northern outlets as the ones to be cut. Some still remain, including Thorns and Black and Decker, although both have suffered cutbacks. Carreras Rothman, also in Spennymoor, is one area of growth, but in general terms the picture is bleak".
I've tracked down Heath's and Thatcher's debuts too, Hansard fans. Maybe today, maybe tomorrow.....
Labels: a thousand years ago, Mr Tony
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on Tuesday, July 28, 2009 at 11:18 am.
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3x average salary in today's money is about £75k. Presumably he has stuck to his morals and now donates every penny that he earns above that to his chum Gordon and the Treasury?
Tony Blair comes out as a Socialist
Not possible, is it? :)
BE - I believe that The Beast to End All Beasts accepts donations, a point I have made to lefties supposedly upser by tax cuts.
James - It would be amusing to hear him deliver that speech again.
I tracked down McDoom's first contribution...asking the MoD not to cut warship and RFA refits in Labour-voting Clyde constituencies.
How different things might have been if labour constituencies built helicopters, eh?
ASE - you know, I think I might have enough to tide me over until the blighters stop skiving, some time in October or whenever it is.
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