Bernard Dineen: As I say farewell, Britain starts anew after Brown's years of lies and anger

The column began life when Labour was dragging Britain to its knees; when the dead lay unburied because of strikes, and the IMF had to be brought in to run the economy. Now the situation is different but no less serious, with Labour having again inflicted grievous damage on our finances.

Gordon Brown and his acolyte Ed Balls plunged the country into a terrifying morass of debt. When Brown became Chancellor, Government debt was 6bn; now it is 170bn. Britain has dropped to 13th in the international league of competitive economies. Interest payments to our international creditors amount to more than we spend on defence or education. Our credit rating is in danger. Putting it right will be a backbreaking job for many years.

Every excess or blunder has been protected by a barrage of lies. Brown's greatest achievement has been to disguise his responsibility for the economic crisis. Thus the parrot-cry that our problems were "global", nothing to do with Labour and that "the Americans were to blame". But the Americans were not to blame for wrecking our banking regulation. They did not force unregulated British banks into buying dodgy securities. They did not persuade Northern Rock to dole out 125 per cent mortgages. They did not destroy our pensions by robbing pension funds.

Anyone who spoke the truth about Brown's record became a target for character assassination and Brown appointed "attack dogs" like Damian McBride and Charlie Whelan to smear opponents. Shamefully, there were culprits in the media who acted as conduits for the smears and lies.

As the Cameron government will find to its cost, Brown has left behind a host of unexploded roadside bombs, designed to go off in the years to come. The hidden mountain of debt from Public Finance Initiatives, public sector pensions, and much else. The biggest unexploded bomb is immigration. For decades, I have been warning about the problems caused by uncontrolled immigration. I now believe that the battle has been lost and there is no way in which the problem can be solved. We are already too far down the road.

Third World immigration coming in, sometimes via the EU, plus abuse of the asylum system, have created an insoluble problem.

I sympathise with future generations who will be landed with an ever-

increasing burden of social problems.

Meanwhile, you can sneer at the Cameron-Clegg love-in but at least it makes a welcome change to the seething hatred of Brown for Blair.

As I take my leave, I would like to thank my readers, including those who disagreed with me. It has been an interesting experience to share my thoughts with you.

THE new Prime Minister, David Cameron, is taking on a job that many people would not wish on their worst enemy. It will need all his reserves of character and determination.

Fortunately, the signs are that he possesses the courage, intelligence and sheer grit needed. He has handled the debacle of the election result with skill and dignity.

You can imagine how Gordon Brown would have behaved if Labour had won the largest share of the vote and number of seats. He would have been screaming blue murder if anyone had tried to deny him the keys to Number 10. Cameron simply accepted the rules and got on with the job.

Having to share power with the Lib Dems cannot have come easily, but he accepted the inevitable and behaved generously. He was right to do so.

The expected protests from some Tories were handled tactfully. More can be expected. But Right-wing Tories and Left-wing Lib Dems had better learn quickly that there is nothing to be gained by destabilising the new Government. It is a good moment for keeping a curb on their tongues.

WE had a glimpse last week of the glories of proportional representation. The days of horse-trading, bribery and confusion are precisely what would occur after every General Election under PR.

Say what you like about our first-past-the-post system: it is a thousand times better than the alternative. Transforming Nick Clegg into the most powerful political figure in Britain, after his party had lost both seats and votes in the election, was ludicrous.

We are told our present set-up is unfair to the smaller parties. Is that such a bad thing? Would you really like to see 10 BNP MPs in the House of Commons? Because that is what their total of votes would have entitled them to.

BERNARD DINEEN AND THE YORKSHIRE POST:

FOUR DECADES OF FORTHRIGHT OPINION

Fierce, fearless and often funny, Bernard Dineen slayed many political dragons in his 50 years at the Yorkshire Post.

It was a career that took in several senior editoral posts as well as a long-running role as a polemical columnist and countless public appearances as chairman of this newspaper's Literary Luncheons.

The policeman's son joined the Yorkshire Post as a down-table sub-editor in 1960 when Sir Linton Andrews was at the helm, although by then Bernard had already distinguished himself in another field, having joined the Royal Armoured Corps and taken part in the D-Day landings.

When Kenneth Young replaced Sir Linton, Bernard became Features Editor and when the Literary Luncheons were launched, he became deputy Literary Editor.

Bernard went on to be Literary and Business Editor and it was at this time that he began to write a Monday column, with the extraordinary political characters of the 1970s providing the perfect fodder for his acerbic style.

As Ministers, Britain and the Yorkshire Post all changed, Bernard's no-nonsense approach remained popular with readers. Over the course of nearly 40 years, his column punctured the pomposity and sophistry of those in high office. He also met one of the main demands of any writer on the opinion pages – making people think and debate – and was regularly applauded and denounced on the letters page.

Bernard was known for his scathing assessments of politicians who dared to take Britain in the wrong direction but, in all his writing, he was quick to recognise the integrity of his opponents' principles. In the 21st century world of anonymous blogs and personalised attacks, such a considered attitude is increasingly rare – yet one more reason why Bernard's retirement should be regretted.