Gordon Clown .Com

The Telegraph has an early christmas present for Gordon, reminding us all of how hopelessly debt-ridden his economic miracle has become. Highlights include the following:

The truth is that the “Iron Chancellor” has long shown a cavalier attitude towards fiscal management. Year after year, his borrowing has turned out to be much higher than his forecasts. Last week’s PBR – less an economic statement than the latest staging post in a remorseless political campaign – was a classic Brown performance. Drunk on ambition, he did nothing to acknowledge the true scale of his liabilities, or the fact that his fiscal rules lie in tatters. Yet the man who presents himself as our next prime minister is living in a never-never land of debt.

It has become painfully clear just how wrong Gordon’s predictions on debt have actually been:

In his budget five years ago, the Chancellor said he would borrow a total of £28bn between 2001 and 2006. He has, so far, taken on debts of £129bn during that period. His prediction was a jaw-dropping £100bn astray. Since 2002, borrowing has exceeded £30bn – more than Brown’s five-year total – every single year. That’s why “prudence”, Brown’s former mantra, wasn’t mentioned once in either his March budget or this latest PBR.

Last week we learnt that the Chancellor intends to borrow another £182bn on our behalf between now and 2012. So he will be taking on extra debts annually, amounting to one and a half times the UK’s total council tax receipts. And, on past form, even this vast amount could be an underestimate.

This borrowing binge has shattered the Chancellor’s much-vaunted “golden” rule, which requires government spending to be balanced over the course of the economic cycle. But Brown keeps moving the goalposts in an absurd bid to convince us it remains intact.

And when reality does strike, the results are likely to be surefire election-winners:

In fact, careful reading of the PBR suggests government departments may be in for a shock next June when Brown unveils his spending plans. Instead of 4-5 per cent, spending will rise in real terms by more like 2 per cent a year – which will feel like a serious cut. Expect the salaries of teachers and nurses to be frozen. Expect public sector strikes.

After years of high borrowing, this Chancellor simply lacks the political grit and judgment to exercise restraint. So he will be forced to raise tax even more. Brown has already raised the tax burden sharply since 1997, while our competitors have been moving in the opposite direction.

As others have said, the sooner this lunatic is removed from his position by whatever means, the better.