Del Boy And A Wealth Problem

Some pundits have a problem with wealth: they don’t want to let slip they have it, maybe they’re envious of those who do, or they just have a problem with the idea that some folks will always end up more equal than others. For James “saviour of Western civilisation” Delingpole, the problem is that he has a selective difficulty with wealth, thus ending up (again) as a hypocrite.

Delingpole explains why he is always Right

Del Boy starts his odyssey of facing both ways by considering this statement: “The problem is that policy is being run by two public school boys who don’t know what it’s like to go to the supermarket and have to put things back on the shelves because they can’t afford it for their children’s lunchboxes. What’s worse, they don’t care either”, which he does not at first attribute.

He then asserts that “If this quote came from Vince Cable it could safely be dismissed as the peevish mutterings of a typical Lib Dem malcontent”, before changing tack and revealing that the words were in fact uttered by (yes, it’s her again) Tory MP for Mid Bedfordshire Nadine Dorries. This, for Del Boy, means that the statement becomes true, and not mere “peevish mutterings”.

Moreover, as the attack comes from the same party as Young Dave and his jolly good chaps, the usual riposte of “class war” – touched on by Mark Ferguson earlier today – does not apply. But while Delingpole rages about Prime Minister and Chancellor of the Exchequer being out of touch due to their wealth – as well as having a kick at Corporal Clegg – he does not mention one other name.

And that name is Margaret Thatcher, someone who Del Boy regards as one of his political heroes. Had he been paying attention to the Dorries oeuvre, he would have had it pointed out to him that Thatcher, too, was wealthy: in her case, the not insignificant cushion of money came from husband Denis, who had made his pile and retired before his wife became Prime Minister.

And Denis Thatcher was a product of the public school system, just as Cameron, Osborne and Clegg are. Merely because the UK’s first woman Prime Minister went on photo opportunities around the shops doesn’t mean she was any more in touch with recession-hit ordinary people than Young Dave, who memorably and shamelessly bagged shopping in Crewe Asda.

What Delingpole really means is that, having waited thirteen years for a Government more to his liking, the present Coalition is proving a grave disappointment to him, and cannot see that ideological purity does not fare well when it meets the real world. So he takes Dorries’ comment as a way to excuse his jealous ranting, while selectively discarding everything else.

Perhaps he would do better in the USA. Could be a radio show berth free soon.