Andy Burnham just had to do it. He simply couldn’t stop himself. And now we’re in a right old mess.
Andy Burnham has just written another cheque with your money (Image: Getty)
Our loose-lipped Prime Minister will promise anything to anyone, particularly when it’s taxpayers picking up the bill. It’s only money, after all. He blunders about, making flashy commitments that sound wonderful for five minutes, without thinking them through. Have we ever had a more spineless and irresponsible PM? We’ve had some wrong ‘uns, but every single one had the sense to sidestep the financial and moral quagmire he’s just dived headfirst into.
King Charles is touring the Caribbean, where he faces constant demands for slavery reparations. It’s a red-hot cause on the left. Even TV funnyman Lenny Henry has thrown his weight behind it. Slavery was a monstrous crime but Britain was also the country that abolished the slave trade and sent its navy around the world to stamp it out. You wouldn’t know that from listening to some campaigners, who seem to think our entire national history can be reduced to one shameful chapter. Some are demanding an astonishing £18trillion in reparations. That’s roughly six times our annual economic output. Still, why let a little thing like affordability get in the way?
Every British PM has stoutly refused to apologise formally or accept liability for slavery. That might sound mean-spirited, but there is a sound reason. An apology could bring us a step closer to accepting legal responsibility. Then court-mandated compensation. And whatever we pay, campaigners would insist it wasn’t nearly enough. Burnham has just given more power to their elbow.
There is the obvious question of why today’s taxpayers should compensate people for crimes committed centuries before they were born. If every country started paying reparations for every historical injustice, money would be flying around the globe in every direction. Britain couldn’t afford it, although we might get a steady income from Germany.
Yet just as King Charles arrives in Antigua, Burnham blunders in and says he’s considering a formal apology for slavery. That was a couple of days ago. Now he’s reportedly open to increasing financial assistance to Commonwealth countries to atone for Britain’s role in the slave trade.
He hasn’t agreed to the full £18trillion, yet. But he has opened a Pandora’s box, and there is no guarantee he can shut it again. If he does apologise, it will be dismissed as inadequate. If he sends a few hundred million in extra aid, it will be treated as a downpayment.
There’s a pattern here. Remember when Burnham floated ending the personal allowance freeze, only for Downing Street to row back? Yesterday I drew up a list of his off-the-cuff promises that have subsequently had to be reversed.
Well now he’s done it again and this one could be the most expensive and damaging yet. It risks establishing a precedent that could haunt British taxpayers for generations.
Once people see that Britain is willing to pay anything for a quiet life, the demands will keep rolling in. And Andy Burman will probably keep agreeing to them. That’s what he does. He’s signing blank cheques to anyone who asks, and you will pick up the bill.