tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7049208109612299827.post4730862493071265514..comments2023-12-06T23:58:59.189+00:00Comments on ffranc sais: Google is not everythingFrank Littlehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12447989626809704972noreply@blogger.comBlogger1125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7049208109612299827.post-77295555511841592662016-02-12T16:12:08.598+00:002016-02-12T16:12:08.598+00:00As to the cuts, Margaret Beckett made a telling po...As to the cuts, Margaret Beckett made a telling point in that same session: "Is the Minister aware that I was fortunate enough to be the Leader of the House who put through the settlement on Short money to which my hon. Friend the Member for Rhondda (Chris Bryant) has referred? At the time, we had a massive majority and every opportunity to use office to disadvantage our opponents, had we wished. The Conservative party was politically on its knees, and financially as close to it as it had ever been. We had experienced one of the features of the proposal that is being considered, namely the freezing of the grant after it has been cut. We experienced inflation of 10% to 15% under the triumphant preceding Conservative Government. Consequently, not only did we treble the money and make special provision for the special needs of the Leader of the Opposition, but we inflation-proofed it. That is why the money has gone up for the past five years: it is his party’s own record on inflation that the Minister is criticising."<br /><br />I felt at the time that the Conservative party should have been treated like any other bankrupt organisation because of its own financial mismanagement and was sorry that the Labour government turned a blind eye. As the saying has it, "no good deed goes unpunished".Frank Littlehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12447989626809704972noreply@blogger.com