In Ed Miliband’s big speech this morning about the cost of living he said:
The task is to create a more prosperous capitalism…
It seems Ed has been converted to the cause of capitalism since becoming leader, despite having called himself a socialist many times over the course of his leadership campaign. And with talk of a “fairer” capitalism, presumably he meant things like taxing the financial services sector in a “progressive” way?
The Resolution Foundation, the venue for Miliband’s speech, is bankrolled by Clive Cowdery, an insurance tycoon and Labour donor. He spoke alongside Ed today to launch the foundation’s latest report. Cowdery sold Resolution Plc in 2007 for £5 billion, earning himself close to £150 million. As is the way with these things, he has based his company offshore in Guernsey, to minimise tax exposure, like The Guardian does. The company is effectively run from London through the limited liability partnership Resolution Operations LLP, the company made £1,189 million in net profit. If it was domiciled in the UK corporation tax on these profits could have amounted to £333 million. Miliband said:
I want to begin by paying tribute to the work of the Resolution Foundation… Politics today is being conducted in the shadow of the financial crisis: the argument about the deficit and how to return the economy to growth. But what your work is showing is that we cannot settle for a return to business as usual: life before the crisis hit.
That deficit is not helped by Resolution shirking one-third of a billion pounds in taxes. Gordon Brown’s former deputy chief of staff and economic adviser, Gavin Kelly, runs the foundation. So Ed’s call for a new way of doing things was made to friends, donors, tax-shirkers and long-term colleagues…
The Irish have been counting the results of their general election on… Friday, Saturday, Sunday, and still today, Kilkenny has gone to a thirteenth count. Imagine if last year’s general election had taken days to count, n0t to mention negotiate a coalition at the same time. The markets wouldn’t have taken kindly to that…
As MPs return to Westminster today after their half-term holidays the Speaker might be well advised to reflect on the fact that half the PoliticsHome panel of insiders think Bercow won’t be Speaker by the end of the Parliament, and after reports that Ministers are ready to see him removed punters are now giving him a 25% chance of going this year. Watch out for procedural machinations…
Without any trace of irony Chuka Umunna says…
“We’ve had enough of people going into politics for self-aggrandisement.”
