After the catastrophic mismanagement of the economy and other aspects of British society, the Labour Party should be facing a massive defeat at the next election. However, recent opinion polls have predicted a very slim majority for the Conservatives.

Let me introduce the Labour Party’s secret weapon: George Osborne MP, please stand up! I can’t quite work out whether the Shadow Chancellor is an imbecile. He throws up a lot of daft suggestions, but then so does Boris Johnson and I don’t really think Boris is an imbecile. Boris’s apparent barminess is an integral part of his persona; he has a certain wit and charm and, more importantly, his bumbling manner allows him to make abrupt changes of policy when he has encounters public opposition or realises belatedly that an idea isn’t quite as good as it appeared to be.

I do hope George Osborne will prove to be as adaptable as Boris. His latest - particularly preposterous - proposal is to sell off shares in the nationalised banks early at a discount. It is hard to envisage a more effective mechanism for transferring vast sums of money from the poor to the rich than this. Poor people have no spare cash lying around to buy shares, so only the rich will buy them - and they will be buying them from all the other taxpayers who cannot afford to buy them - at a discount!

Forget what I said before. I think I can work out whether George Osborne is an imbecile.