Alastair Darling should be fired without delay. One of the golden maxims of public life is that you never, ever talk down the economy. If there is one cardinal sin of public life that is it. If you do it in Opposition you get roundly attacked and usually it is fatal - remember the "downturn made in Downing street"? To do it in Government is utterly unforgivable.
Why is this? Because the economic success of a nation is all about confidence. If people are scared, they will not take any risks with their money. They will stop buying things. They will not take the risk of establishing or expanding a business. They will not buy a house. A downturn then becomes a self fulfilling prophesy. For these reasons, the provision and maintenance of the confidence to a people and a country is one of the ultimate tests of leadership and fitness for office. To fail to provide it is to be in office and not in power. Darling has failed that test. So he must go. It is as simple as that.
This brings me to what I so admire about our nation. Faced with a Government that just can't hack it and has succumbed to fear, the response of the country has been to blow a collective raspberry. My sense is that it's almost as though people are collectively saying "No, we are better than that. We will not give into the fear of the Chancellor. We will carry on and though times are indeed tough, we will get through it and we know we will come out the other side."
That sense reminds me of what I think is one of the best of most important political speeches ever given - the first inaugural address of Franklin D Roosevelt. Faced with a real economic collapse, the new President soothed the fears of a nation and provided hope and confidence for the future.
"I am certain that my fellow Americans expect that on my induction into the Presidency I will address them with a candor and a decision which the present situation of our people impel. This is preeminently the time to speak the truth, the whole truth, frankly and boldly. Nor need we shrink from honestly facing conditions in our country today. This great Nation will endure as it has endured, will revive and will prosper. So, first of all, let me assert my firm belief that the only thing we have to fear is fear itself—nameless, unreasoning, unjustified terror which paralyzes needed efforts to convert retreat into advance. In every dark hour of our national life a leadership of frankness and vigor has met with that understanding and support of the people themselves which is essential to victory. I am convinced that you will again give that support to leadership in these critical days."
Words like these are the words that should have come from the Chancellor's mouth. It's a funny old World when the country seems to believe in itself more than the Government.
