The Staggers

The New Statesman’s rolling politics blog

Cameron sinks Gove's yacht

A new royal yacht would not be an "appropriate use of public money," says No. 10.

By George Eaton Published 16 January 2012 13:18

"Some ideas are so stupid," George Orwell wrote, "that only an intellectual could believe them". Michael Gove's suggestion that, in these straitened times, £60m of public money should be used to buy the Queen a new royal yacht falls into this category. It was a perfect example of what the novelist Joyce Carey once described as a "tumbril remark" - the sort of statement seemingly designed to ignite class war. Marie Antoinette's infamous (and likely apocryphal) riposte to the news that the poor were suffering due to bread shortages ("let them eat cake") is the most celebrated historical example.

Thankfully (and inevitably), Gove's yacht has now been torpedoed by messrs Cameron and Clegg. The PM's official spokesman has said it would be not be an "appropriate use of public money given the state of the nation's finances", while Nick Clegg has observed that a new yacht for the Queen is not top of the public's "list of priorities".

One only wonders why we have heard nothing from that bastion of frugality, the TaxPayers' Alliance.

Special Offer: Get 12 issues of New Statesman magazine for just £12

Tags: Michael Gove

More from George Eaton

13 comments

Mon, 2012-01-16 16:55 — Kippers

Has Gove been sacked? Of course not. The story was a complete set-up.

Mon, 2012-01-16 16:57 — Keir

Gove is unfit for the democratic process.

Mon, 2012-01-16 19:40 — Barny

'A new royal yacht would not be an "appropriate use of public money," says No. 10.'

No shit.

Mon, 2012-01-16 22:31 — willoyen

Gove lives in the 1940s-50s. Bring back Empire Day! Have children wave the flag! Gove even looks 1940s-50s. His style is 1940s-50s. His suits. His hair. Everything about him. The sad thing is that the British too are 1940s -50s. Their infrastructure. Their democracy. Their entertainment. Their buildings and architecture. It’s all times past. The British are the past, and passed. A tiresome country, languishing in their pathetic past glories, and blaming the Europeans for all their ills. A country of ghosts of the dead. Or just the dead.

Mon, 2012-01-16 22:43 — David Lindsay

An admirable use of public money to stimulate the economy by providing unionised, high-wage, high-skilled, high-status jobs to working-class men. If necessary, fighting the European Commission for the right to insist on such a workforce would be a most welcome reassertion of our sovereign right to create millions more such jobs.

Mon, 2012-01-16 13:39 — representingthemambo (not verified)

Thank god for that!
Our take on it as:
http://representingthemambo.wordpress.com/

Mon, 2012-01-16 13:40 — representingthemambo (not verified)

should say "our take on it at"

silly billy mr mambo!

Mon, 2012-01-16 13:46 — Dave C (not verified)

Roman Abramovich has at least two yachts. Perhaps he could lend one to the Queen.

Mon, 2012-01-16 14:16 — super huey (not verified)

Good man Cameron! If the Queen actually turned around and said 'Gove I don't need a yacht, my people need the money' I'm sure she would have gained lots of brownie points and the royal family would be abit more popular.

Mon, 2012-01-16 14:19 — Joe Swann (not verified)

It's irritating that some idiot from Labour immediately came out with a "Gove is out of touch statement". When did this become a thought police state? What is wrong with making suggestions? It would not necessarily be a waste of money, after all, there are still a few (admittedly a few) ship yards in the UK, building a new ship there would count as capital injection into the economy, and it would go into the pockets of the masses, and not be immediately be banked at the ECB. After all, the UK welfare bill is over £100 bn,and the UK is building a couple of aircraft carriers for £7bn, how can spending £60m on a struggling sector of UK manufacturing be such a bad thing, and be roundly condemned without any thought whatsoever? Answers on a postcard please.

Mon, 2012-01-16 14:56 — la potenza della speranza (not verified)

I don't understand the Taxpayers Alliance. They seem an odd bunch. If they don't want taxes to be spent on Public services, what then do they want to spend it on?

Mon, 2012-01-16 15:24 — celeriac (not verified)

If we have ever had our chains yanked, it's with this story. A total set-up!

A false leak that enables both Clegg and Cameron to show their bogus 'sensitivity' to the relentless impoverishment (both financial and intellectual) that is resulting from their noxious policies.