James O'Brien plays 'crackpot conkers' with Conservative commentators who've reacted to IMF warning
28 September 2022, 13:17 | Updated: 29 September 2022, 13:39
James O'Brien slams the 'logic' of five political commentators
James O'Brien plays a game unofficially named "crackpot conkers" where he pits the logic of five Conservative commentators who've reacted to IMF warning against each other.
Kwasi Kwarteng is falling under increasing pressure to change financial course after the International Monetary Fund (IMF) criticised his mini budget.
In an extraordinary statement, the IMF said it was "closely monitoring" developments and urged the Chancellor to "reevaluate" his plans after a raft of tax cuts and increased borrowing spooked the markets.
Starting with author Andrew Lilico, James read out one of Mr Lilico's tweets which said he was "Embarrassed for the IMF.
This is the IMF self-declaring as a left-wing body. The UK should now withhold its IMF contributions".
"So, it's time to leave the IMF. Eventually we're going to leave the solar system," James joked.
Read more: Food inflation at record high as prices surge 10.6% higher than a year ago
Moving on, James addressed the comments made by former Brexit minister Lord Frost.
"Before he was a lord he was the head of The Scotch Whiskey Association, and now he thinks that he understands international economics better than the International Monetary Fund does.
"But, he has to say, 'The only way forward for Britain is lower taxes, spending restraint, and significant economic reform. Liz Truss and Kwasi Kwarteng are rightly focused on delivering this and they should tune out the criticism from those who are still in the intellectual world of Gordon Brown'."
James then dissected the claim by Lord Hannan that the pound "isn't crashing" because of tax cuts but because "the markets are terrified of Keir Starmer", and Crispin Odey's claim that the "rout in the wake of Kwasi Kwarteng's tax cuts was actually triggered by remainers".
Finally, James took on Tory MP John Redwood.
Quoting him, James said: "'The IMF and some big foreign investment banks and funds do not want the UK to be more competitive with lower taxes', which makes sense not even to people with pencils up their nose and underpants on their head."
The Bank of England has launched an emergency UK Government bond-buying programme to prevent borrowing costs from spiralling out of control and stave off a "material risk to UK financial stability".
The Bank announced it was stepping in to buy Government bonds - known as gilts - at an "urgent pace" after fears over the Government's economic policies sent the pound tumbling and sparked a sell-off in the gilts market.
