Douglas Carswell's Blog

Another reason to love Mrs Merkel

The more I hear about German Chancellor, Angela Merkel, the more impressed I am.

Other Western leaders have been swept along with the fad for stimulus economics. Frau Merkel has encouraged far greater fiscal and monetary restraint.

Other leaders have looked for quick fix solutions; cheap credit, raising demand. The German leader has instead done something to tackle the underlying problem of competitiveness. Her "mini job" boom has reduced German non-wage labour costs at a time when they have risen in Britain.

Now we learn that Frau Merkel told those proposing a merger between BAE Systems and European defence giant, EADS, to get stuffed.

Frau Merkel is being "blamed" for the BAE/ EADS deal falling apart. The rest of us should cheer her.

Why? Whatever her reasons for saying "no", it appears that she, not the permanent officials that surround every Western leader, is calling the shots.

Contrast that to what seems to have happened in our own country.

When news of the deal became public, it seems that a lot of powerful people in Whitehall had already been squared. Extraordinarily, reports appeared in the press suggesting that Jeremy Heywood, the head honcho in the Cabinet Office, had been lobbying ministers to support the deal.  When did anyone ever vote for Sir Jeremy? They didn't? .... so why is he apparently deciding public policy?

Who, besides backbench MPs, was willing to say "no" to the deal?  Who in Whitehall was willing to not only stand up for the national interest, but to even recognise that we have one?

It was left to Angela Merkel to say "no".

"But what is going to happen to BAE now?" you ask. Perhaps if it was broken up, like the banks, we might get a bit of choice and competition in defence procurement?

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