Beneath contempt

So, the idiot Boy, after the space of only a month is relaunching his drive to cut regulation. "I want us to be the first government in modern history to leave office having reduced the overall burden of regulation, rather than increasing it", he says.

Of course, EU regulation is not touched, so just who does he think he is kidding? Just how stupid does he think we are? Does he really think that we are so gullible that we do not understand that most business regulation comes from Brussels and, therefore, anything his provincial government can do is minimal?

And haven't we been there before? This was a previous prime minister talking about deregulation:

You know the things I care about - we all care about - the things I dreamt about as a boy. The chance to get on in life. To acquire knowledge, security, the prospect of a better future - and a life fulfilled. A corner of life that you can call your own. That's what people struggle for and sacrifice for when they watch their children grow.

If we're going to meet those hopes, fulfil those dreams - then we must build a strong economy. And looking around the world, we can see even more clearly what makes an economy strong. A Government that secures two things; low inflation and the right climate for business to succeed.

It is people who create wealth. People, not Government. Business, not bureaucracy. Enterprise, not interference. But business can't succeed if Government doesn't play its part.

He goes on ...

And now is the time to mount a new offensive. We're already on the march against the Eurocrat and his sheaf of directives. But you know, it isn't just Brussels that rolls out the red tape. It's Whitehall. And town hall. Everyone likes to tie another knot. Admirable intentions - disastrous combinations. Piling costs on industry. Mr President, that must stop.

It's not just big business that suffers. Far too often, it is the small firms who really suffer. Small firms - fed up with filling in the forms - who feel that it is just not worth being in business at all.

Of course, we want to have confidence in the safety of the food we eat, the homes we buy, the place we work in, the people who take charge of our children. But when this reaches the point where you may need 28 separate licences, certificates and registrations just to start a business, then I say again, this sort of thing must stop.

I have asked Michael Heseltine to take responsibility for cutting through this burgeoning maze of regulations. Who better for hacking back the jungle? Come on, Michael. Out with your club. On with your loin cloth. Swing into them!

You know, deregulation isn't just about making life better for business. It's about making life easier for everybody. Take the bureaucratic controls which mean Whitehall decides whether you have the chance to stop off the motorway. Every parent knows what I mean. Next services, 54 miles - when your children can't make 10!

They've got to go. And so those rules have got to go!

That, of course, was John Major – his Conservative Party conference speech on 9 October 1992, launching his great deregulation initiative. That failed then, and this one will fail now. The gilded Boy has learned nothing from this, and will learn nothing from the current experience. It is nothing more or less than cynical window-dressing.

And there is nothing I detest more in a politician than when they take us for fools. I may possibly have said this before, but the man is beneath contempt.

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