FAO: All the bitter lefties who were bitching about Zac Goldsmith's election agent

[londonone]

You know the one described as a "braying hooray" amongst very many other insults.

Turns out he grew up on a council estate and went to state schools in London and not of "The Oratory" variety either, so not really a "braying hooray" at all. I am sure that many who labelled him will not care but they are the same type of people who bleat on about "fat cats" and etonians as if they are some sort of special speciea

How about "braying wannabe hooray"? Is that ok?

How about all the bitter lefties need to get over themselves.

Have you heard the news this evening, seemingly Nu Labour's spending was so badly out of control that senior civil servants asked for letters of direction from the relevant ministers.

See below.

Civil service chiefs lodged formal protests at spending decisions by Labour ministers in the dying months of their rule, the BBC has been told.

It culminated in the "nuclear option" of demanding written instructions from their political masters, union leader Jonathan Baume said.

There was dismay at Labour's use of public finances, he added.

Ex-ministers have previously dismissed claims of excessive spending as "spin" by the coalition government.

The government has ordered a review of all spending commitments and pilot projects signed off by Labour ministers since the start of the year.

'Not the right thing'

Mr Baume, leader of the First Division Association, told 5 live's chief political correspondent John Pienaar: "When a permanent secretary asks for their letter of direction from a minister, it is because they feel that a serious decision is being taken, which they feel is not right.

"It's not a decision that is taken very often to ask for such a letter of direction, which is why it is regarded something of a nuclear option. So when it happens it tends to be a big spending decision, where the civil service believes this is not the right thing to do."

The instructions - formally titled "letters of direction" - have been sent to the Treasury, and will be sent on to the cross-party Commons public accounts committee, which evaluates public spending for propriety and value for money.

On Monday, Chief Secretary to the Treasury David Laws told BBC Two's Newsnight: "I think we're very concerned indeed that over the last few months of this government there were a lot of spending commitments that were made and some of those may not represent good value for money."

He said that in some cases the decisions "were made against accounting officer advice".

Prime Minister David Cameron has said his ministers have found examples of "crazy" spending, including paying out bonuses to three-quarters of all senior civil servants.

In response, former Chancellor Alistair Darling accused the new coalition government of "playing the oldest trick on the book" by blaming its predecessor for the state of the economy.

On Monday, it emerged that Liam Byrne, Mr Laws' predecessor, had left him a one-sentence letter, saying: "I'm afraid to tell you there's no money left."

Mr Byrne later told the BBC that this "a phrase that chief secretaries have to get used to using".

Lefty didn't = New Labour when I last looked

Yeah there's no money. The banks/insurance successfully socialised their enormous losses, thanks to useless regulation and politicians who believed all the tripe they were fed by modern economists/the City/Wall St, to whom they were in thrall.

It's called political ideology.

As a result they also overspent believing in the market-fed utopia of endless economic growth. But the fiscal crisis is due to the failure of this ideology - making citizens pay while those at the head of it retain power - and the next recession won't be that far away. Better start saving up.

He still looked fucking awful though.

I have verified this.

It's amazing.

Back to Zac. Londonone - That might explain why (according to my Richmond teenager sources) he has been spotted in a pub on a Richmond council estate - twas possibly his election agent's local pub. I had assumed he was buying drinks for all the locals as part of his campaign .

Who is the agent? Eh? My problem with Zac Goldsmith has always been that he's a person who cheated and walked out on his family and I don't think people who can lie like that to their nearest and dearest have any business in office at all. Because if they have so little respect for their spouse and family, it goes to follow strangers aren't going to be high on their list except in what is in it for himself and his own agenda.

Oh, and that he only gave up being a non-dom to run for office. So tax-dodging is cool, too, for people who then make it their job to decide how others are taxed and how that money is spent.

Just two small problems I have with Zac and others of his ilk.

Couldn't care less about who his agent is or where he went to school or any of that crap.

The disgusting display of (misplaced) inverted snobbery was pathetic.

Well, I didn't engage in it. I think all those MPs who put through ridiculous expense claims should have gone, too. Each and every one.

he did look like a fucking tit though, in all fairness.

CF You are quite right.

Bree Have you ever heard about survival of the fittest? Don't you think it is a bit surprising that all these civil servants became so brave when the Labour government was on their way out? Why did no one speak up earlier?!

He had really bad hair.

Oh, it's worth another cheap laugh - scroll down

I am a bitter leftie but I can't help fancying Zac

yes londonone, I saw that little snippet of info yesterday about the agent and recalled that thread with a wry smile. You do realise though that all the 'bitter lefties' can simply look at that photo armed with this knowledge and simply say 'look at that Zac Goldsmith, you can tell how uncomfortable he is to be standing next to a prole'. And for that matter, that hatred of people who went to state school and grew up on council estates is considered entirely justifiable if they are associated with Tories. It's just part of the natural order of things

If it looks like a braying Tory hooray, and talks like a braying Tory hooray....guess what?

see what I mean?

Making some sort of case that Zac Goldsmith is just a normal bloke is a complete crock of shit. The fact that anyone would waste time and energy trying to prove he is a council estate pleb is just pathetic.

So, no - I don't see what you mean.

Nobody's trying to 'prove' he is a council estate "pleb" (just want to make it crystal clear that that's your word and noone else's), londone simply pointed out that contrary to the insults levelled at him on another thread based on the assumption that he was a public school 'hooray' were very wide of the mark. The fact is that he is from a council estate and did go to state school. It doesn't need proving, just pointing out to try to counteract knee-jerk prejudices, though I think and I think londonone did too that it's probably a waste of time. I thought your original remark proved my point perfectly, i.e. you seem determined to dislike the guy no matter what, hence the 'see what I mean' statement.