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  • this is your economy Britons

  • This recession wasn't as bad as the one in the early 80s. Black Wednesday was bad and Major shouldn't have signed the Treaty, but we did recover quickly, more so than the one from the early 80s. By early 1993 unemployment was quickly falling and optimism came into the country. Major did make mistakes but tell me, what pm has NOT made a mistake in his lifetime? Harold Macmillan one of the greatest pms we've ever had, during the Suez Crisis but no politician had ever been perfect.

  • Black Wednesday, Black Friday...every day of the week should be black [laugh track]

  • @Sixxstring90 Get your facts straight. The Major governments paved the way for making the Bank of England independent. It was a Major-Lamont policy goal but they didn't survive to implement it. And Major inherited massive public spending deficits from Thatcher, and had to deal with a recession. Many of her economic policies were a) failures and b) came at the expense of compassionate government. Not a great record.

  • Look out for DC on Lamont's right.

  • день моего рождение это бля! а не черная среда сука!

  • It's hilarious how labour were even greater supporters of the ERM.

  • @Sixxstring90 Big whoop. I grew up during the Thatcher and Major years, my parents were earning less than £100 a week, which even for the 80s and 90s was a terrible income. The electric was always getting cut off and they'd go without food to feed me. Then Labour came in and sorted out a national minimum wage and tax credits for the not so well off.

  • @MrGurlyboy Yeah - and now your kids are going to have to pay for it. Nice one dad.

    

  • I would love to know what Cameron was doing in his role as a treasury policy adviser while all this was going on.

  • @ciaran3707 Furthering his career of course :). Soros wins. The people lose over £1 billion pounds.

  • £14 Billion gone in a day. And they say Labour can't run the economy!

  • 0:15 David Cameron...

  • "If the £ isn't revalued, will the last person to leave Britain please turn out the lights" It just sound as effective as the 92 election headline though

  • If only we'd listened to maggie.

  • When Norman Lamont made that speech David Cameron was actually with him, at the time, he was his policy adviser.

  • "Today has been an extremely difficult and turbulent day!

  • In February 2005, John Major and Norman Lamont were accused of holding up the release of papers on Black Wednesday under the Freedom of Information Act. Black Wednesday refers to September 16, 1992 when the British government was forced to withdraw the Pound from the European Exchange Rate Mechanism (ERM) by currency speculators - most notably Circle member George Soros who made $1 billion that day.

  • The writing was on the wall for the Tory Government from this day onwards. All the other shannigans since Black Wednesday leading up to 1997 only added to their woes.

  • @getmadgetmad1 As a share of GDP spending on health and defence was down. On benefits and social security it was up; as was the tax burden for that matter.

  • @getmadgetmad1 Zero deficit in 2001? Brown ran a surplus for most of that year!

  • @getmadgetmad1 Actually Major was Chancellor by then; not Nigel Lawson. Funny how the iron lady managed to climb down on the ERM but not on the poll tax. Shows just how much she was losing it.

  • @getmadgetmad1 It was entered while she was PM. She can't hedge her bets like that. Collegiliality has to extend to the PM.

  • @getmadgetmad1 I dont think you know what Thatcher's children means? It means her policies are still affecting Britain today in a very negative way. She set us back years, people were leaving work due to enormous stress as increasing demands were placed on them & for less pay. People were losing their homes left right & centre through no fault of their own. People were having breakdowns.OMG where were you? If it wasnt for Labour, vat on fuel, our biggest, non luxury, bills, would be 17.1/2%. 

  • @getmadgetmad1 Moderate?I'd have said right wing. Incidentally, I am a socialist because I care. Thatcher did some terrible things & society has not recovered & we now have what is known as Thatchers children. She created anger in socety because of the unfairness of the policies. Look at poll tax. Tories had a record number of turning millionairres into billionairres whilst putting others on the poverty line partially by abolishing minimum wage, people were working for £2 per hour! disgusting!

  • @getmadgetmad1 How can you possibly claim help is there for those who need it? Moat needed it and needed it badly and it wasnt there and look what happened! Moat said what he was going to do and nothing was done and he went and did it! Take responsibility for their own actions indeed, he was mentally ill, dont you get that? Did I say anything about a govt psychoanalysing? You are not on the same page. What about making sure measures are in place to HELP mentally ill! It's not rocket science.

  • @getmadgetmad1He said he was a callous murderer. We all know what Moat did & I think it's unprofessional for a PM to talk like that. Some people felt sorry for Moat, & I don't think Cameron understood why.To some extent I feel sorry for Moat (& his victims) because he was mentally ill & didn't get the help which could have prevented the murders, after all he'd made threats about it in prison.Maybe Cameron was using diversory tactics to manipulate the public in order to cover up the grave errors?

  • @getmadgetmad1Where do you get that from?I don't think it was a cheap shot, it's just all he thinks.Has he said or done anything positive, like finding out where it all went wrong after Moat made threats & nothing was done? No action cost people their lives!How does making inflammatory remarks help? it just incites even more anger & hatred & that's the type of thing that the gutter press does & a PM shouldn't it does nothing to deal with the issue of prevention & thats whats important!

  • @getmadgetmad1 Why dont you understand?Im NOT 'sticking up' for Moat at all.Im saying it is wrong for a PM to talk like the gutter press, most tories are like that. They don't see the real issues that need dealing with. For goodness sake, he made threats from prison as well, it should be investigated why that wasnt acted on to make sure it doesnt happen again, it could have prevented these murders! That's whats important, isnt it? & KC is putting more more criminals on the streets soon - great!

  • @getmadgetmad1 What an assumtion! In fact I dont read the Guardian & I would never just recite what papers put, that would be stupid because they can be biased and have their own agenda. I use my own head, observation & think things through thanks. Can you say the same thing??

    Anyway, I thought you would have gathered I am not gullible when I spoke of my dislike of the gutter press!

    Have you heard of Thatchers children?

    BATTY? thats a bit childish.

  • @getmadgetmad1 Thatcher brought this country to its knees!

  • @getmadgetmad1 What are you talking about? Police? as I said Moat asked for help with his mental health problems & that was obviously before this all happened. Of course I know he killed, but you've missed the point, I'm talking about the PM trying to do something constructive to try to make sure people get the help they need to try to PREVENT it happening again instead of just reacting like you have and like the gutter press! Tories - well known as the nasty party & they've earnt that title!

  • @getmadgetmad1 It was an example of their mentality...and how typical of you that there was no mention of how Moat asked for help & didnt get it & about how we ought to learn from it & do an investigation into why he didnt get that help to try to prevent it from happening in the future - that would be sensible but no, just gutter press mentalilty ....no proper measures to deal with it, just call him callous and a murderer like the simple minded gutter press would..see what I mean.....

  • @getmadgetmad1 The only thing they want to replace the NHS with is everyone paying for private health care and not everybody can afford that but they dont take that into consideration and they dont care about those people either. You cant take the NHS away from Labour it was their finest hour, tell me what is tories finest hour?

  • @getmadgetmad1 so instead of a PM talking like the gutter press, dont you think it would be better if he investigated why he didnt get the help he asked for which could have prevented the murders? and perhaps it could prevent it from happening in the future? Just another sample of the lack of very basic intelligence in the tory minds!!

  • @getmadgetmad1 There is no point talking to you because you dont have any long term vision as well! You are one of those people that will have to wait for it to happen before you realise the repercussions, thats if you do even then! As i said Tories have been called economically illiterate by financial experts & they are! Cameron has said that Moat is callous & doesnt deserve sympathy.Moat had asked for help when he knew he had mental health problems but they refused& said he didnt need it cont

  • @getmadgetmad1 Incidentally, exagerration? who are you kidding? It can all be verified as being perfectly true with just a little reserarch.

  • @getmadgetmad1 cont.. the same amount, the UK would have made £2.4billion profit on sterlings devaluation. Newspapers also revealed that the Treasury spen £27billion of reserves in propping up the pound" I saw the documentary a few years later where the tories admitted that they had absolutely no idea what to do that day & that behind closed doors it wzas utter chaos. That documentary may even be on YT.  They have been described by financial experts as economically illiterate.

  • @getmadgetmad1 "Tory govt were forced to withdraw the pound sterling from ERM after they were unable to keep sterling above its agreed lower limit" The cost was £3.3billion which was revealed under the FOI Act. "Trading losses in Aug & Sept were estimated at £800million, but the main loss to taxpayers arose because the devaluation could have made them a profit. The papers show that if the Conservative Govt had maintained $24billion foreign currency reserves & the pound had fallen by.. cont...

  • @getmadgetmad1How you play down the fantastic introduction of the NHS by Labour. Something the tories wouldve NEVER given us & dont want us to have today! Something that has & continues to help billions of people! The tories turned our hospitals into the Florence Nightingale days almost! Hospitals were a shambles! Tories hate public sector & want to privatise everything and thats where it goes wrong.

    Putting people out of work and on benefits, that's something the tories are very good at!

  • @getmadgetmad We havent recovered from the Thatcher years yet! Can't you remember how bad things were when tories were last in power or are you too young? Are you pleased with what they are doing already? Havent Drs got enough to do without havent to manage finances? Dont you think patients will suffer? Free Schools which willl obviously open the doors for corruption. Scrapping the labelling of foodstuffs & so allowing harmful additives, even saying Jamie Oliver hasnt helped! They are mental!

  • @getmadgetmad1 Thats not true. I can remember & morale in the police force had never been so low. Schools had 50 pupils to a class, couldnt afford to heat the crumbling buildings due to massive underfunding. Couldnt buy books for children. The tories were exposed for wanting to lose the NHS, FACT! I think the landslide for Labour said it all and this govt wont go beyond 5 years, no way. They are putting people out of work & on benefits straightaway! & Gove has shown their incompetence already!

  • @getmadgetmad1NHS had to be built back after Tory rule! as well as schools, roads, police force etc etc Last time they were in power Tories were talking about LOSING the NHS altogether & everybody having to pay for private medical insurance whether they can afford it or not.So what do those of us do that can't afford it? die?Tories policies are ill thought out & they havent got any long term vision, they dont understand the repercussions of their unfair policies. Blk Weds is a typical of them.

  • The Conservatives, they certainly live up to their name don't they, The nasty party and their nasty unfair policies creating an even bigger divide between the haves and the have nots.

  • @getmadgetmad1 What has Labour done? are you for real?

    For a start Labour gave us the NHS!!!!!

  • Thank you George Soros

  • This was no Style!

  • If we would have the guilder again, that currency would go up. Because we would be out the PIIGG boat.

  • Yep that's David Cameron. I just Google it and i heard he was working for him at the time. Did you know he,s related to the queen? The main thing is these people are selected not elected. They all belong to the aristocratic elite. And they do not let the ordinaries in. Whether you vote left or right it doesnt matter. Basically the think tanks run the world. Look at it like left hand right hand, there still a part of the same body.

  • cameron was a junior advisor - hardly the chancellor! brown however cant wriggle out of the facts. he's run our economy into the ground. like every labour gvrntment it spends more than it raises. then it taxes and taxes and taxes and eventually tories cum in and sort stuff out

  • @longlivejackoTories sort things out?Are you mad?Gordon Brown has brought us into recovery from the HEIGHT of a GLOBAL recession with reports that we were heading in the right direction. But now..tories policies are already putting people out of work, 600,000 are estimated, that's very good for our economy!! Kenneth Clarke is going to put criminals on our streets with police numbers decreasing, good eh?Strikes are expected, homelessness is predicted to rise, will they abolish minimum wage again?

  • @longlivejacko Actually only a labour government has left a budget surplus to its successor since ww2.

  • Isn't that Dave Cameron at the beginning walking out at the front? :|

  • !!! OWN'D BY SOROS !!!

  • She was PM when we went into the ERM. I'm sorry to inform you that collective ministerial responsibility is something that includes the prime minister.

  • @getmadgetmad1 Don't trust the Tories..

  • The Conservatives cannot be trusted with economic competence - that remains the same now as it was in 1992...

  • good to see david cameron by lamont's side at the beginning of this clip

  • Looks like Thatcher was right. What a shock.

  • Hmm, nothing black in the air today eh...

  • if you look carefully in the back ground one of the 2 men that were walking behind Lemont was the future PM David Cameron

  • Am waiting for a U.S Version of black Wednesday.

    The Dollar is starting to look dull as hell.

  • It is on a wednesday this year!

  • Brown had an easy ride as Chancellor. When Labour came in we had falling inflation, interest rates, and unemployment. Brown didn't have any difficult decisions to take, just sit back and watch the economy tick over. It wasn't really too difficult to maintain. Also remember, the whole world was booming during this time.

    You accuse Thatcher of boom-bust economics yet we are now heading for the biggest bust since the 1930's.

  • if the torys had listened to mrs thatcher this day could have been prevented

  • The tories were responsable for the 15 years of economic growth which Labour keeps taking credit for...and which Labour had finally ruined.

    we are going to be hit harder than any other developed country because of that incompetant twat Brown!

  • This is the kind of economic management Cameron wants for this country.

    Vote Labour.

  • But is Labour's economic policy that different?

  • The Bank of England controls interest rates.  Labour government is irrelevant.

  • Well let's think where we'd be if Tories never came to power in 79? Strikes, strikes, strikes.

  • Well, this is what you'll get if you vote Tory.

  • @RJWooller Labour supported entry into erm as well you cock.

  • 0.07-the man to Lamont's right is David Cameron. Seriously. He was Special Advisor to the Chancellor when this happened. And now he wants to run the country.

  • Thatcher is a nob head

  • whats black wenesday

  • it was a day where the England's Stock markets were so out of control, the british shut down the market and went into meetings to try and stabilize the market before it reopened. It is what America is about to do if our markets keep going the way they are. Cheers!

  • It was not the stock markets, but rather the currency markets. Britain had pledged to keep its Exchange rate with the Deutschmark within a certain band as a precursor to joining the Euro. When the Pound threatened to drop out of this, the government first raised interest rates to 15% to try and keep it in, then bought sterling at unrealistic prices, thereby spending the entire national reserve before dropping out of ERM anyway.

  • Stock Markets, Currency Markets, whatever. This is what you get with lassez faire neo Conservative economic policy designed to benefit the very rich.

  • Exactly.

  • Fact they tried to do something is what went wrong. If they had left interest rates and done nothing it would have been better.

  • Labour should have reigned in and regulated the Thatcher economic approach ten years ago, which could have avoided Britain's economic meltdown, but Blair was a Thatcher man, so he wouldn't,

  • Thatcher herself would not have let things get so out of hand...Thatcher didn't even approve of people having credit cards, she belived in people living within their means, not all the personal debt that Labour stoked up for their own partizan reasons

  • my b-day, same year too

  • OMG!!! thas soooooo cool!! that must get you lots of girls

  • oh, i get it. thanks, ur rly clever.

  • still, call me stupid, but what is the pounds minimum level/value? how can it like fall below this and what is this level or value exactly? i sound like such an idiot but i do not understand any of this

  • ha ha!

  • The day the tories lost the election shame we had to endure another 5 years of this lot

  • i don't quite understand what Black Wednesday was about. Somebody explain it simply. Please?

  • I think this must be from the BBC Nine O'Clock News on Wednesday 16th September 1992 (Black Wednesday) - the reporter is Peter Jay who was the BBC's Economics Editor at that time.

  • John Major, in his speech in Glasgow just one week before Black Wednesday,imprudently let his intentions be known just how rigorously he would reinforce the pound at 2.95DM.parity.

    George Soros and other speculators,who had the foresight that Major lacked, knew that his policy was unrealistic. Major's incompetence allowed billions of pounds to be pumped into the hands of these wealthy speculators thus clearing out the coffers of the Bank of England. Major was too stubborn to admit he was wrong.

  • Coming from a poor family himself John Major ought to have realized the havoc his crippling mortgage rates were having on families and small businesses with overdrafts.

    Instead he bragged that " If it isn't hurting it isn't working".

  • Don't know anything about the in's and out's, but it was hell on earth for me. I lost my job because the 15% sent my boss under, thanks to them and then had the likes of Peter Lilley snearing down my throat on the tellie calling people like me spongers.

    Don't get me started, they were all bastards at the end and I'm horrified to see a baby Cameron was there at the time.

  • the first person out of the buildng, one young mr david cameron, lamonts advisor. prime minister, come on people, wise up please!!

  • Agreed. I lived through the shit they caused. The only people who would vote tory are those too young to know about it or those that were loaded and made a mint out of the 15% interest on their savings accounts.

  • Seriously GeeGee3374 you fail badly.

  • yes, i completely agree with hubert.But has anyone considered the huge floppy penis?

  • I see the British education system did well by you, lets face it with debating skills like yours you should be the replacement for John Prescott although he is slightly more articulate than you. i see you make no comment on the £110bn wasted on Northern Rock, £3,700 per household

  • after Northern Rock, black wednesday doesn't look to bad. only £3,3bn. cmapared to £110bn Northern Rock is costing thats real incompatence

  • It wasn't the £3.3bn that mattered on Black Wednesday, idiot.

  • the unions needed to be smashed they'd brought down the both the previous Labour government in 1979 and the previous Tory government in 1974. when the minors challenged Mrs Thatcher in 1984 she'd had ordered stock piles of coal for power stations to stop any chance of powercuts.

  • The Conservative Party have backed the minimum wage since 1999 and have no intension of repealing it after they win the next election.

    Initially we opposed it because didn't think it would work it has and we support it.

  • Hmmmm Yes, Michael Howard was quoted in saying, "it was a dangerous" policy"...and now you accept it.....lol

  • Was there not more coal mines closed under labour governments than tory ones? I think there was. Deindustrialisation has been happening for many decades under labour and tory, and long before 1979. I'm not saying the tories are perfect but labour have failed and are becoming joke and need chucking out. Actually, It wont matter who gets into power from now on sinse that twat brown has given even more power to the TOTALLY corrupt EU.

  • the imported coal mainly comes from france. As the main pit closure happend in 1993 3 years after Baroness Thatcher left office. Unemployment only went to just over 3 million in 1982, mind considering the pile of economic SHIT handed to her by the previous incompantent labour government i'm not really suprised.

  • We'll have 15% interest rates again before long the way Brown is borrowing and wasting billions, and for what? so he can piss our money down the toilet, agency nurces being paid £140 an hour etc etc...They've learned nothing sinse the 70's and we'll all pay a heavy price soon.

  • The tories arnt divided over Europe anymore, they pretty much united against handing further powers to the EU, unlike treacherous labour who cant wait to hand over as much power as they possibly can while pretending otherwise.

    all parties have sacndals, including the labour party. Where have you been, asleep for the past ten years?

  • Cameron in the background of these pictures!!

  • while you poms were arguing back and forth whether to let the pound float or be included in the ERM, George Soros had shorted the pound and made a billion dollars..all hail the jew

  • Hmmm how delightfully bigoted of you.

    Couldn't be because he saw an opportunity in the money markets could it?

    Perhaps you'd like a command economy, they've really helped the people haven't they?

    Oh my mistake, no they didn't.

  • Vote Labour to prevent this ever happening again. Also, please note David Cameron pictured in the background there, advising his chancellor towards disaster!

  • Yes, vote Labour and instead get 10 years of spiralling financial scandals, and a looming recession bigger than anything we had in the 1980s all thanks to the spend plans of the last Chancellor!

  • Gordon Brown's slogan spend now worry later

  • This happened because we joined the ERM, which labour supported at the time. At least the tories have learned their lesson, labour havn't, they still want us to join the Euro.

  • David Cameron was a minor political policy advisor to Norman Lamont, nothing to do with economic policy. Labour will lose the next election

  • George Soros is a cool guy

  • This is exactly why the Tories mustn't get back in power.

  • They'll win next time, led by Dave Cameron who was at the Treasury on this day

  • no, they won't why would anyone want a leader like cameron who was actually behind black wednesday where the british people lost £70bn due to the conservative mismanagement of the economy?

  • typical Labour double and triple accounting over £66.7bn out. it was £3.3bn treasury figures (check the Guardian Unlimted website) David Cameron will be the next PM as the current PM is a lair he has no political authority & is regarded as a joke.

  • well, he has more authority than david cameron who says he wants to hug a hoody. whatever!!!

  • he didn't say it, it was Labour spin that turned it in to that! He said we should learn to understand the problems young people have & not just castigate them. A little different than Labour's LIES.

  • what about the bad stuff the tories did in power; the poll tax, maastrict treaty, the sleaze, their policy on the ira which encouraged them to bomb us more, selling arms to terrorist states, the miners strike, putting people out of work.

    i can go on for ever more and still not find anything good the tories did.

    here's one, the privatisation of the rail network, which led to terrible crashes years later?

  • Sleaze? i don't remember the police interviewing Baroness Thatcher or Sir John Major when they were in office can't say the same about Mr Blair. Compared to the current treaty the maastricht treaty was nothing. the Tory government didn't start the miners strike they just finished it, a strike which kinnock didn't support! in a worldwide reccession unemployment happens. the community charge was fairer than the current council tax, it was also cheaper

  • so you are saying that there was a recession when they were in power interesting i will just add it to the list of bad things about tory rule

  • yes it was worldwide

  • and now we know the tories did nothing to stop it,

  • Tories = 15 % interest rates, high unemployment, anti immigration, housing that gets taken off you, war for no reason at all, anti working class, privatisation. come on, you can't argue when you can see it with your own eyes that tory rule is good

  • "war for no reason at all" if ur talkin about the Falklands then it did have a reason, it's British terroritory & we wanted it back! The Privatisations have been a huge sucess, cheaper bills due to competition between companies. Mrs Thatcher and John Major were not anti-working class where do u think they came from? we weren't anti-immigration it was controlled however so we knew who was in the country.

  • what, a small country with people i don't know

    if they are working class, why is she a baroness, doesn't sound very working class to me

    as for privatisation, i will tell you why i am against it, is companies taking over stuff and meaning everything is done for profit no for public service, they crush the unions and it is basicall spreading greedy capitalism, which is just wrong

  • she is Baroness Thatcher as she was made a member of the House of Lords in 1992, as a woman she can't be Lord so she has to be a Baroness.

  • i don't want her to be either. why can't the old bag just go away and leave m,e to live my life in peace. but she has to keep sticking her nose into politics, doesn't she. can't she just go and then she won't be a threat

  • i got it off bbc news and various other sources

  • also just to remind u, when we came in 1979 the country was an absolute shambles the IMF were basically running the economy as Labour had messed things up so much. wen we left office the economy was perfect low unemployment, low inflation and low interest rates. a golden economic legacy for any government.

  • Have u forgotten the war we're currently in Iraq what reason can u give for that? the national debt is going through roof and the economy is going down slowly but it's going. Crime is rising unemployment has gone up this month and on taxation they have gone up and up, what has the money been spent on?

  • will u please all note ladies and gentleman that RJWooller a LABOUR supporter a LABOUR supporter agrees with an illegal attack on Iraq but disagrees with Britain using force to attack and re-take it's territory like was done in the Falklands.

  • i didn't support the war in iraq at all, stop spreading rubbish. i have go all michael moore's books and ama aginst george w bush. it is only fair that if you are gainst one party for war, you have to be against them all, i just don't know where you got i am an iraq war supporter from.

  • i attacked the Labour party over Iraq & u didn't rebut anything I said. U just attacked Mrs Thatcher for re-taking the Falklands

  • i totally agree with you on this one, it is true that neither the tories nor labour are fit for office. there should be a revolution to make britain more fairer for people like me and you. i was totally against the iraq war and feel ashamed of new labour. so next time i won't be voting labour or tory as they just mess this country up.

  • i don't need a revolution britain is fair. I also said didn't say I was against the war in Iraq. I attacked the LABOUR party for lying about it.

  • 'britain is fair' thanks for that so labour is in power and you think britain is fair that doesn't sound very tory now does it, sounds more like a labour suppoerter

    try saying britain is fair to all the people in poverty at the moment

  • Britain has a fair society it also was fair under the Tories. people have a chance in life if they don't take it that is their problem.

  • in Parliament at the moment the LABOUR Government are trying to get MPs to agree to give up a £7bn rebate, won by Mrs Thatcher in 1984, back to the European Union. agree with that?

  • This European treaty that the LABOUR party promised a referedum on at the last election but which they have now moved away because well they'd lose, abit like the general election that never was. Has in it "that all signituries must adopt the Euro as currency". very patriotic

  • And Soros complains about American dominance... The old fossil is a crook.

  • He's doing the same to OUR economy now.

  • JEW POWER!!!

  • Good job Soros

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