Thank you to the Sunday Times for letting the cat out of the bag in terms of who controls the financial markets. Well, surprise, surprise, it is certainly not necessarily politicians, we kind of knew that already. But even more so, it is certainly not anyone right of centre. David Smith’s article in the Sunday Times yesterday just told us how Liz Truss was toppled as Prime Minister, and how her not so right wing successor, Rishi Sunak became Prime Minister, thanks to the bond markets.
It has also told us / reminded us how and why we had 14 years of faux conservatism, and perhaps a little regarding the ERM debacle in 1992, and why Margaret Thatcher had to go in 1990. But as the article reminded us, Sir Keir Starmer insisting he would not walk away actually cause bond yields to fall in the UK. Yes, the biggest debt addicted government in history, is a plus for the debt markets, and has just caused interest rates to go down from their highest since 1998. We are all familiar with the idea of the tail wagging the dog, and how important the bond markets are to fund the UK’s welfare state.
However, the democratic vote should be sovereign, and no one should be at the mercy of unelected money deciding our fate. This is particularly the case when it is clearly backed by the Davos / World Economic Forum / Centrist Tyranny that we have had in force for the past 30 years. Nothing wrong with the aforementioned big three, but the key point here is that they are unelected.
They should not hold sway or be a decider as far as economic policy is concerned. On this basis it should have been that the ill fated Liz Truss was not forced out by the bond markets, even though she was not really elected either! The worry here is that the powers that be in the financial markets have the power to be king / queen maker, and that we the people can have any government as long as it is centre or left, certainly not right. All of this will prove to be interesting should Reform start to get nearer to Number 10 Downing Street. Will interest rates start to soar and the Pound collapse the nearer we get to Nigel Farage becoming Prime Minister. Will economic chaos be the level to ensure that he does not win. Judging by the recent past this could very well be the case. The prospect is as sinister as it is upsetting.
Of course, there are still some 3 years to go in terms of the big battle ahead, and it may be that Sir Keir Starmer decides to fall on his sword sooner rather than later. In the meantime choosing between being ruined by either a weak Pound, or high interest rates, or both, does not seem to be very appealing. Fortunately, as things are it all appears to be something of a fait accomplit.
