Harriet Harman, speaking yesterday on the Andrew Marr show:
Sir Fred Goodwin should not be counting on being £650,000 a year better off because it is not going to happen. The prime minister has said that it is not acceptable and therefore it will not be accepted.
And it might be enforceable in a court of law, this contract, but it is not enforceable in the court of public opinion and that is where the government steps in.
What?? So now the Labour Party deputy leader does not accept the rule of law? She simply does not care whether he's legally entitled to the money, because she thinks she has "the court of public opinion" with her and so little things like the law don't matter and she feels able to state categorically that his she-concedes-perhaps-legally-entitled pension "is not going to happen"!
This is terrifying. What's she going to take against next, stir up public opinion in opposition to, and then over-ride the law if necessary? Will she decide that I've been paid too much and just take away my property in the way she proposes to take away what she concedes might be Sir Fred's legally-defended property? What about if someone does something she doesn't like but happens not to be illegal - is she just going to have them locked up because public opinion is on her side? Is that where we are now in Britain - mob rule, and to hell with the law?
UPDATE (2.30pm): The Treasury and Number 10 appear to have been desperately rowing back on this this lunchtime, emphasizing that they will be bound by the law. Good. Is Harman's position now tenable? Should she resign?
