For the conservatives the financial crisis has proven a very useful excuse for a broadly ideological project. I believe when the history books are written the Cameron Osborne partnership will be seen as one of the most effective of modern times, implementing a really substantive neo-liberal reform agenda that Mrs Thatcher would have only dreamt of, from a position of first coalition and now tiny majority, using the power of falsehood to huge effect.
The need to counter this is of course huge, for the UK and for the world- (not least because having such a right wing and enormous internationalist proactive aid agency is uncharted territory) and the importance of not underestimating this government and their backers is also critical.
Cheers
Max
Max Lawson
Head of Global Policy and Campaigns
Oxfam GB