It is important you understand why it is not such a mystery. Brown's Budget was carefully crafted to give some sops to small businesses. They had also defused some opposition from large employers.
Blair is reported to be sending signals that they will be careful about perceptions that they were too hard on business, but there is no doubt they did their preparatory work. The Budget was sophisticated on many levels At 20/04/02 10:05 -0500, you wrote: >I imagine in the US he would be given an award for opposing "socialist" >health care! > >Cheers, Ken Hanly > >'We don't use the NHS' business chief is sacked > >BCC acts fast to distance itself from director general's Budget outburst > >Julia Finch, City editor >Saturday April 20, 2002 >The Guardian > >The director general of one of Britain's top business groups has been sacked >after launching an assault on Gordon Brown's Budget plan to make businesses >pay towards upgrading the health service. >David Lennan, head of the British Chambers of Commerce, was fired after a >BCC board meeting on Thursday afternoon. The board decision to remove him >from the job was unanimous. > >Yesterday the BCC said Mr Lennan had been told to go because he was >overseeing the modernisation of the organisation and there was concern that >changes were not being made fast enough. > >However it was also clear that the organisation was not happy with a >statement issued by Mr Lennan after the chancellor sat down on Wednesday >afternoon. The statement focused on the new, higher national insurance >charges businesses will face to help pay for health service improvements. > >In a press release to represent the views of the membership, Mr Lennan said: >"Employers do not draw on the national health service and should not be >asked to pay for its improvements". > >A second statement, issued a couple of hours later, went on to praise the >chancellor for other aspects of his Budget plans. > >Yesterday the BCC - which represents 135,000 business members ranging from >small start-ups to regional branches of multinational organisations - >refused to support Mr Lennan's Budget reaction. A spokesman said only that >health was not a BCC "priority", but added: "Of course there is a role for >business to play."
