A specter haunts the Labor Party, the specter of a 1992-style disaster
The photograph on the front page of the Daily Telegraph on March 17 1992 showed a smiling John Smith, the shadow chancellor, leading his team on their way to hear him set out the party’s tax policy for that year’s general election.
The intent was an honorable one: to be open and honest about the consequences of installing a Labor government. He gave precise details of what would happen to income tax and National Insurance as though he was delivering a real Budget. He said it would take 700,000 people out of tax altogether, to be paid for by increasing…Continue Reading