From: The Unit
To: GB
Subject: Economic stimulus package

Tactical Briefing

So, pretty good week. Just to update you - the Obama "private" number we've got definitely doesn't work. We left it ringing for three-quarters of an hour on Wednesday and eventually an irascible gentleman answered claiming we had got through to the staffroom of a Dunkin' Donuts in Utah. Are you sure this is the number he gave you? We could get another number from the Foreign Office, but you may have to ring and ask for it directly. Access to that one has been restricted since a junior minister got hold of it late on election night and made the president-elect an offer of a sexual nature.

So in these halcyon days of a world remade and the UK recession really starting to bite, just want to float with you one idea that we have been knocking around here - which is that now might be a great time to resign? You would jump from a commanding position of strength - only nine or ten points behind? We might be able to swing you coming in as BO's Middle East envoy? Claim we thought TB had "finished" his attempt? Or we could follow up the IMF situation. Might be your chance to remake Bretton Woods? (re this - what is Bretton Woods? We know, obviously, but want to check).

Something else worth us checking in case it becomes important later is: what is the situation as regards the money we were talking about spending a few weeks ago, ie, the £50bn we promised to stabilise the UK's financial system? And was it £50bn or £500bn, in the end? We saw both figures quoted and briefed journos with them ourselves, but during that period it was pretty easy to say anything at all from No 10 and people just wrote it down and put it in the newspapers.

Also have another question on our mind. It's very much a question we feel we already know the answer to - it's just that we can't formulate that answer. The question is: what has actually happened to that money? In the sense of: where is it? Did we give it to whoever/whatever we said we were going to give it to? (Libor?) And if we have not yet given it to Libor, do we need to actually give it now, since (and this may be a simplification) things seems to be basically fine again now?

And on the related subject of the stimulus package and its dimensions - think we are in a new realm as regards public acceptability of very large sums of money. Focus group polling indicates that voters don't mind the idea of a £100bn deficit. Think politically we could sell beyond a £1,000bn deficit right now. Unless a thousand billion is a trillion. Research suggests that people find it hard to take trillions seriously and start to mistrust the people who mention them.

Let us know your thoughts.

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