Gordon and George
THAT was George. The new Mr Brown is called Gordon. He too is full of ideas about how the economy ought to be run — vision, investment, the long view, the growth divi- dend — but does not propose to liven up the Treasury by getting at it through the back door. He means to come in through the front door instead. This week he was promising the Treasury a smart new mis- sion statement. The one it has now was drafted a few years ago, as a token of its new-found efficiency, modernity and sus- ceptibility to management jargon. Its aim is (well, I never) to promote rising'prosperity based on sustained economic growth. Then it has a mission, which supports the aim, and objectives which go with the mission. The new Mr Brown seems to think this is pedestrian — sticky, even. A Labour Trea- sury, he says, -will make raising the trend rate of growth an explicit long-term objec- tive. Planning for growth was the previous Mr Brown's solution, too. To see how the story ended, pick up Sir Alec Cairncross's Managing the British Economy in the 1960s. He was chief economic adviser and he kept a diary, on which this book is based. It is a sad tale of wishful thinking and amateurish and ramshackle government (his phrase) ending in disaster. I worry about govern- ments which rush around promoting growth. The best they can do for growth may be to get out of its way.
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