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I’m going to get up here and guess that Professor Patrick Minford owns his house and isn’t sitting there worrying about skyrocketing mortgage payments.
Last night, Liz Truss’ advisers tried to distance her from her economic guru after he said her tax cut plans could mean interest rates as high as 7 percent.
Professor Minford explained: ‘Yes, interest rates need to go up and that is a good thing. A normal level is closer to 5 to 7 percent and I don’t think it will be a bad thing if we go back to that level.”
With friends like these… Unfortunately for the frontrunner in the Tory leadership, just 48 hours ago she named Professor Minford as a supporter of her strategy.
If interest rates went up to 7 per cent, that would mean an extra £700 in payments each month on the average mortgage. No thank you. It’s a recipe for redemptions — and for taking away the dream of home ownership for first-time buyers. Not a policy that would probably have appealed to Ms. T.
This summer’s showdown between the Foreign Secretary and Rishi Sunak is set to be a less violent affair than the early rounds of the Tory leadership battle. Don’t believe it for a second. The cracking of mortars can already be heard in SW1. There will be 24-hour hostile briefings, with the occasional public inconvenience.
Today Rishi Sunak will preach a return to family values. Some sensitive souls will interpret this as a blue-on-blue attack not only on the outgoing Prime Minister but also on Ms Truss after she had an affair with a colleague in the noughties.
Don’t worry. Just 44 days away before Britain’s next Prime Minister is unveiled amid a blast of glitter guns.
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