The graph above shows the estimated personal wealth of the Tory and Liberal Democrat front bench, with the exception of two cabinet ministers whose income I could not get two independent sources for. The combined wealth of the ministers is shown in the graph below. In each case, the amount cited is the average amount reported by the various sources. In some cases Cameron's wealth was reported as £30m but the average of £20m was cited instead. In some cases George Osborne's wealth was cited as £10m+ but an average of £4m was cited. And so, the estimates are conservative (excuse the pun). I have also excluded their future pensions from calculations. In Fred Goodwin's case, I could find few reliable estimations of his wealth because a) he took a pension cut to £355k b) He is going through a divorce which is certain to cut his wealth and c) He has a super injunction prohibiting us from reporting some aspects of his current activities. But by taking the estimations of his wealth prior to his cut in pension, and assuming he loses £0.00p in his divorce settlement, his income is now valued at £8.8m
The reason I have made this comparison is simple. We, the great UK public, have passed a moral judgement upon 'Fred the Shred'. We conclude that he should not enjoy so much financial wealth because he led a company in which millions of us we involved to economic ruin.
David Cameron and his cronies, have led an economy that was growing at an annualised 4.4% in May-June 2010 to a dismal 0.7% for 2011-2. That means that the economy will be growing at 1/6th of the speed that the Tory Party inherited. In the meantime, millions of us have invested in UK plc. Our tax credits are to be cut, taxes to be increased, pensions to be squeezed and our wages are to be frozen.
I wonder how many of the current Tory cabinet will go onto get knighthoods? I wonder how many will ensure comfortable state pensions? I wonder how many speaking tours or consultancy contracts will emerge in future years from this front bench?
One last question, if the entire nation shares moral outrage at the unethical wealth that Fred the Shred enjoys despite of his cock up of RBS, should be be morally outraged at the wealth enjoyed by the current Tory shysters wrecking our economy?
I dont know if your estimates include the money they have in blind trusts? As the amounts will be a lot larger with those taken into account but I dont know if its possible to get hold of that information? http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2011/feb/04/coalition-ministers-blind-trusts
ReplyDeletepriceless......literally priceless
ReplyDeleteSo what?
ReplyDeleteIn any case, apart from Cameron and Tam Strathclyde, none of the others are that rich. £1m or £2m isn't that much money at all these days, and probably wouldn't be enough to get Tony Blair, Lakshmi Mittal or JK Rowling out of bed in a morning.
Are you saying Goodwin has an income of £8 million or holds wealth of £8 million? And is that table of Cabinet Ministers in millions per annum? Vince Cable's figure, if a measure of wealth, would be a semi-detached house in Surbiton with the mortgage paid off. If a measure of income, it looks mighty grand (given all the other economic benefits of holding public office). I think it's very important to distinguish between the fixed assets of wealth and the temporary benefits of income, even though very large incomes can be the basis for an accumulation of considerable fixed assets.
ReplyDeleteIs 0.7% actually growth? Really?
ReplyDelete