Young's boast

The comment defined the era. Tellingly, no British politician has since made the same boast – which makes similar remarks by Lord Young, the Government's enterprise adviser, all the more extraordinary.

In referring to Britain's "so-called recession" which people would look back upon and "wonder what all the fuss was about", he was not only wrong but insulting to millions of unemployed whose numbers will only increase as public services are devastated in forthcoming cuts, as well as to those suffering pay freezes, pay cuts or on short time. Lord Young pointed to the benefits of record low interest rates, which he claimed left some households up to 600 a month better off.

There are those who have benefited from lower mortgages. But there are many more who have not and huge numbers who are unable to get a mortgage due to the problems in the banking sector.

Millions of savers, many of them pensioners reliant on incomes from nest-eggs, have seen returns collapse and their value eroded by stubbornly-high inflation.

Even in his advisory role, Lord Young must have met many businesspeople unable to take advantage of low interest rates because banks refuse to lend to them. Lord Young was said to be one of Margaret Thatcher's favourite Ministers. Her successor David Cameron did not immediately act to sack him yesterday and only belatedly accepted his resignation.

Mr Cameron's political honeymoon, as he embarks on savage cuts, is over. He must demonstrate that his administration is in touch with the pain felt by the public otherwise he will look back on the last six months and realise his Government "never had it so good" again.