The things they wish they hadn't said!!

 There are times in your life when things you have said in the past come back to haunt you. With the continuing turmoil in the markets across the globe, and the potential meltdown of the Euro, I thought it might be interesting to look at what some of our illustrious leaders have said in the past.

• "The reality of the euro has exposed the absurdity of many anti-European scares while increasing the public thirst for information. Public opinion is already changing as people can see the success of the new currency on the mainland." (Ken Clarke, 2002)

• "The euro, despite gloomy predictions from anti-Europeans, has proved to be a success. We cannot afford to be isolated from our biggest and closest trading partner any longer." (Charles Kennedy, 2002)

• "If we get rid of sterling and adopt the euro, we will also get rid of sterling crises and sterling overvaluations. This will give us a real control over our economic environment." (Chris Huhne, 2004)

• "The euro has done more to enforce budgetary discipline in the rest of Europe than any number of exhortations from the IMF or the OECD." (Nick Clegg, 2002)

• "If we stay out, the price we will pay in lost investment and jobs would be incalculable." (Peter Mandelson, 2002)

Isn't it comforting that our leaders past and present have got their fingers firmly on the pulse?

My thanks once again to Dan Hannan for his inspiration this week.