So another £50 billion has gone into propping up the UK housing market, so the BBC reported an hour ago. In 1992 the then government blew at least £3.4 billion during Black Wednesday. Using a helpful internet inflation calculator, I see that Black Wednesday would have cost £5.07 billion in 2007 pounds. We all know the political legacy of that day. David Cameron was skulking behind Norman Lamont as Grandpa put the house on black, but it came up red and the Tories have sat out the last three UK elections as a result. If I were a Labour campaign director I'd be blowing this pic up all over billboards when Gordo finally plucks up his nerve to face the electorate in his own right.
However, if Captain Darling is wrong about the effectiveness of this latest instance of moral hazard, as I suspect he may be, it should be noted that the scale of this bet is ten times that of Grandpa's little flutter. What would be ten times worse than the political damage suffered by the Conservatives since 1992? It's almost impossible to think of an example. Lloyd George's deal with the Tories that took the Liberals from power for 86 years and counting?
(trivia: which party did the real Grandpa stand for in 1998? The wikipedia link above will tell you if you don't know)
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