Alistair Darling has hinted that he might one day tell the story of how the “forces of hell” were unleashed on him by certain Brownites after the then chancellor told the Guardian in 2008 that economic conditions were “arguably the worst they’ve been in 60 years”.
Speaking at a New Statesman discussion sponsored by the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales in the City of London last night, Darling also hinted that he may quit parliament within this term.
Pressed to expand on internal briefings against him from certain figures around Gordon Brown — who, at the time of Darling’s comments, was arguing that the economy could recover within six months — Darling said “some things will have to wait” and that “the past week has seen enough kiss-and-tells”, but added: “I have a very good memory.”
The persistently modest shadow chancellor was also pressed on rumours that the bank bailout plan at the height of the crash was his idea rather than Gordon Brown’s. He refused to confirm this, but added that: “My mother always taught me to give others credit.”
Darling reiterated that he had “come into politics to do things” and said he had no interest in being a “Sir Bufton Tufton, asking a question then going off to do something else”. He added that he was enjoying life in opposition, because “I decide whether I want to listen to the Today programme — I don’t have to listen to Mr [John] Humphrys” in the mornings. He also described how recently he had been “sitting under a tree with friends and a glass of wine” and at that point did not miss his old ministerial red boxes. Though he conceded that he did miss “what was in those boxes”.
In other comments, Darling reflected that the last Labour government was damaged not just by the financial crash, but also by the “election that never was”. And of the changeover, he said: “The ‘big society’ means as much to me as the Third Way did — it means everything and nothing.”
Turning to the Labour leadership race, Darling said that “when we elect a leader in the next few weeks, we’ve then got to get on with it. We haven’t got the luxury of going out to lunch.” He denied that his preferred candidate, David Miliband, would quit front-line British politics if he did not win the contest, pointing out that when Miliband rejected calls to become one of Britain’s high representatives to the EU, “he chose to stay in politics”.
Less certain was what Darling himself planned to do. He has always said that he is only in politics to serve, and last night he stressed forcefully that “opposition is not better than government — let no one tell you that it is”.
In 2000, he told the New Statesman: “I’m not interested in being here for the sake of it. You can justify it only if you’re doing something worthwhile.” Asked on the BBC on 21 March if he expected to stay on as chancellor after the election, Darling would only say: “Let’s first win the election. I’m focusing on the Budget and winning the election.”
In March this year, the New Statesman reported that
during last year’s attempted reshuffle, Brown dangled three posts in front of Darling: foreign secretary, home secretary and leader of the House of Commons. Darling rejected them all. This gives a clue to his private thoughts and where he may be heading after the general election . . . Darling is a family man who enjoys nothing more than spending time on his croft on Lewis in the Outer Hebrides . . . [One] friend says that were he to be moved from the job he loves, or were Labour to enter opposition, Darling may surprise us all and just “walk away”. The source adds: “This would not be done in a huff or a sulk, but with dignity.”
The event was chaired by the editor of the New Statesman, Jason Cowley, with some 70 business and financial figures and readers of the magazine present.
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