A fearful hole
NOW LOOK what happens. The whips expel the eight who would not vote the tick- et on the bill for making work in Brussels, financing fraud in Italy, and other worthy causes. The Government then asks for the money to pay for this, but the whips have destroyed its majority, and left Kenneth Clarke in what he would call a fearful hole — a holein his nice new Budget. So the last of his predecessor's post-dated cheques on the taxpayer has, when it came to be pre- sented, bounced. Perhaps he should have put it on his credit card. The flotsam and bobtail have had the last laugh, and Mr Clarke has been left looking for the sticking plaster. The first strip was at once supplied by the Bank of England, ostentatiously rais- ing its minimum lending rate. (The Guyer: nor should scrap this silly terminology gnu (To back to the two words that ring the bell: Bank rate.) Coming in good time for the Christmas trade, this should bring the New Year sales on three weeks early. The Bank has been pressing for it, but the timing ma'ie it look political. The Chancellor's message is clear: You're bad boys and girls, not to eat up your nourishing Budget, Value Adde,d Tax and all — now see what you get. We 11 make you sorry, even if it hurts us. Ministers, too, are now under the whip.
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