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“It was amazing how quickly the cold shoulder came on.” Richard Murphy, tax expert and father of Corbynomics, has heard nothing lately from Labour’s shadow chancellor and Jeremy Corbyn’s right-hand man, John McDonnell.

Back in the summer, when he was propelled into the political limelight by the Corbyn leadership campaign, which was keen to show it had a coherent economic platform, Murphy began to assume he would take a senior role in Labour’s shadow Treasury team.

He was, so I am told, telling all and sundry that a peerage was on the way.

What he actually got was 0.2 of a professor, which looks excessive at that.

But then people collaborating with the Murphmonster after they’ve worked with him for a week or two is rarer than rocking horse shit. Can’t imagine why, obviously.

29 thoughts on “Tee hee”

  1. Have you considered the even more frightening thought that John McDonnell does not consider Murphy sufficiently extreme?

  2. @ken

    That’s what comes across in the article – Richie just ain’t loony enough. I note there’s a comment underneath decrying him as a Blairite!

    I was amused that, on his own site linking to the piece his final line is ‘I am still available…’

    Sad, really, but also very funny.

  3. The Blairite comment was very funny. What a beautiful example of the world Ritchie himself helped to create. He has said the wrong thing and will now pay the price.

  4. What is interesting though is just how much he wants to be a real economist, the Pinnochio of economics. So, to achieve this, he has now decided to inform us that QE or Green QE or PQE should only be used in certain circumstances.. and these aren’t them. Which is strange because, reading his blog over a period of time, you really would struggle to find this, er, “nuance”.

  5. @Ironman

    And he could be a real economist. If he want back to university and studied for say 4 years, he could become an economist. Because he is a bit thick, he would never be a good economist, but if he studied very hard, he might become a mediocre one.

  6. “Have you considered the even more frightening thought that John McDonnell does not consider Murphy sufficiently extreme?”

    McDonnell has never read his blog then.

  7. “Am I temperamentally suited to being the behind-the-scenes guy who isn’t noticed in public? Probably not.”

    Lol.

  8. Gossip moves in mysterious ways but one ultimate source was one of those who considered him for the 0.2 of a professor role.

  9. Bloke in North Dorset

    Is this right (my emphasis)?

    He was irritated – and remains so – about how his ideas were presented without nuance. He spent a lot of time, for example, explaining that only a proportion of the £120bn “tax gap”, between what companies owe the tax authorities and what they actually pay, would be recoverable in practice, and doing so would necessitate considerable upfront investment in Revenue & Customs. He says: “I have always said there was no way you would be able to get it all: that point didn’t come over clearly.”

    Maybe the regular Murphy watchers will know more detail, but I have in mind a bit of a row and some fist typing when Tim explained why it couldn’t all be obtained, it it wasn’t just about the number of new tax inspectors aka union members, who would be needed.

  10. Asked to recall the heady days of last summer, when he suddenly became the impromptu spokesman for a political movement that was sweeping the country – or at least, the Labour party –

    Like norovirus.

    he sounds wistful. “If you’re a creator of ideas, you’re always delighted if someone wants to pick them up and use them,” he says.

    I’m pretty sure Murphy didn’t invent the idea of free goodies. Toddlers have been demanding the same since Year Dot.

    Since Labour gave him the “cold shoulder”, he has been talking to the Green party and the Scottish National party.

    Hoots man, there’s a loon loose aboot this hoose!

  11. Why the fuck does he think he deserves an honour? Services to tax avoidance in the film industry? A couple of shit books?

    Or, in reality, a grubby pay-off for a month or two of political shenanigans.

    Isn’t this exactly the sort of thing the Left criticise the Honours system for?

  12. It should be noted that Murphy would not be completely out of place on a panel with Stiglitz and Piketty.

    In the final analysis they’re all birds of a feather, with Joe and Tom simply possessing just a bit more plumage than Ritchie.

  13. Since Labour gave him the “cold shoulder”, he has been talking to the Green party and the Scottish National party.

    Oh Lord. Please keep him down south. We have enough loons north of the border already thanks.

  14. Rob

    I do recall some sort of “I’ll never work with that paper again” flounce. There have been so many contradictions from in though that I can’t keep track. Can you or anyone else remind us?

  15. Today’s menu:

    Cold shoulder of beef, in a stew.
    Just dessert.
    Gooseberry fool.
    Sour grapes, with hard cheese
    A little whine
    that’s enough -ed

  16. I have to agree with Lawrence from Guernsey on one point here – I don’t think (and I have a source who is working in the McDonnell team) he was ever being considered for a ministerial role (which would need a peerage) – and I don’t think he would want to be given a peerage by a Cameron led government. However, I agree he is probably delusional enough to think he is worthy of a peerage for his services in ‘tackling tax evasion’ and ‘promoting awareness of tax justice issues’ but that is speculation whereas his spat with the McDonnell team I have on very good authority…

  17. This story has made my day.

    Let’s hope Murphy sinks from public view. He is a blockhead who hasn’t any self awareness of his limitations.

    Happy New Year to you Tim. Keep up the good work in debunking nonsense and adding to the blood pressure of the flat earth left.

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