Thread by @BettinaSRoss1

#German TV / main news program
(WDR/ARD is a public broadcaster):

"Britain has piled up record debt in the pandemic. Prime Minister Johnson is planning new, expensive reforms. Even his own party fears he is not good with money."

#BorisJohnson #debt #UK

https://twitter.com/WDRaktuell/status/1409014306826502148

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"Some Conservatives in Great Britain are currently worried that Prime Minister Boris Johnson is handling the state's finances in the same way as he handles his own private money - according to the motto: Just spend it, there's never enough anyway."

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"And there's not enough in the national budget - especially now. The Covid crisis has cost billions, more than 300 billion pounds in aid and bailout money, among other things. The United Kingdom's borrowing is at record levels, as the latest figures for May show."

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"Ken Clarke, a Conservative Party politician, was finance minister under Margaret Thatcher and fears that inflation will now become the big risk of the next few years. In May, inflation rose to 2.1 percent. Experts fear it could reach four percent this year."

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"Clarke therefore recommends: sustainable growth, solid finances, and under no circumstances pushing up debt further."

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The article goes on to speak about the care reform, the need to invest in education, Johnson's reluctance to raise taxes, and patriotic projects like the new Royal yacht. It quotes Clarke:

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"This is stupid populism. The 200m for a new yacht 'Britannia,' that's not the problem, but it shows the symptom. There are people in the seat of government 'No 10' who think there is enough money. If you wave the Union Jack and send yachts and aircraft carriers around ...

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the world, that would show what a great power we are. We don't have the money for that."

9/END

The article concludes:
"And for Clarke it is also clear that up to now, the Tories have always stood for sound fiscal policy. But right now, that is in question."

10/add

The first reply to the German tweet by WDR is a telling German perspective:

„Everyone knew that Johnson was a phony & Brexit a shot in the foot. Nevertheless, the British tabloid press hailed the living mop as a freedom hero - simply because it is also right-wing.”