[andrewb]

It annoys me when people blame the Tories for ERM and high inflation/interest rates.. they were the ones who tried to fix it.

Look at the economy today, or 5 years ago, whenever Labour have been in power, they have built on the foundations that the Conservatives laid. It was governments previous to Thatcher that got us in the mess.

ERM would have happened under any leader, it was unfortunate that it happened under Major and the Conservatives but was certainly not a direct result of a crappy chancellor.