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Man on the debt mountain
Oone of the country's most important jobs is held by a little-known 49-year old civil servant called Robert Stheeman. As head of the UK Debt Management Office, it is his responsibility to find financial institutions prepared to take the risk for the record-breaking amounts of British government debt flooding the market. He has until April to unload an eye-watering £157billion of debt.
This is, indeed, the true figure. No one should be misled by Chancellor Alistair Darling's claim in his pre-Budget report that government borrowing would 'only' reach £78 billion this year. Disingenuously, Darling came up with the figure only by excluding the money needed to bail out the banks. Moreover, debt will rise, according to official statistics, next year to 8 per cent of GNP. That, too, will be Stheeman's responsibility. Meanwhile, he should reflect that if he is successful, it will be Gordon Brown who will hog the credit. If he fails, it will all be Stheeman's fault.
Mike
Oone of the country's most important jobs is held by a little-known 49-year old civil servant called Robert Stheeman. As head of the UK Debt Management Office, it is his responsibility to find financial institutions prepared to take the risk for the record-breaking amounts of British government debt flooding the market. He has until April to unload an eye-watering £157billion of debt.
This is, indeed, the true figure. No one should be misled by Chancellor Alistair Darling's claim in his pre-Budget report that government borrowing would 'only' reach £78 billion this year. Disingenuously, Darling came up with the figure only by excluding the money needed to bail out the banks. Moreover, debt will rise, according to official statistics, next year to 8 per cent of GNP. That, too, will be Stheeman's responsibility. Meanwhile, he should reflect that if he is successful, it will be Gordon Brown who will hog the credit. If he fails, it will all be Stheeman's fault.
Mike
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