Chancellor of the Exchequer Alistair Darling yesterday predicted the 'Blitz spirit' of British consumers would allow the country to spend its way out of recession.
'History has shown that in times of crisis the British show their true character. Our proud island race will keep shopping however bleak the circumstances,' he said.
Later, in a rousing speech in the House of Commons, Prime Minister Gordon Brown recalled that in 1940 the British people 'stood alone against Nazi tyranny', and predicted they would now rise again to overcome the 'ultimate challenge' posed by slightly reduced disposable income.
The Prime Minister scoffed at the idea that British consumers might lack the backbone for the coming battle: 'We shall buy in Waitrose, we shall buy in Topshop, we shall buy in Poundstretcher - we shall never put away our credit cards. And if the British high street lasts for a thousand years, men will still say, "This was its finest hour".'
Afternoon shoppers in one of the busiest London stores, Primark on Oxford Street, were typically plucky. 'There's no way a recession will defeat us,' said Derek Mills from Barnet. 'It'll just make us stronger and pull people closer together,' he added, before elbowing an elderly woman out of the way in his pursuit of cheap socks.
In London's East End, meanwhile, morale was boosted by a visit from the Queen. During a walkabout on Bethnal Green Road she inspected the damage done so far by the recession, chatted to shopkeepers, and stopped to buy an Elgar CD and a packet of Mint Imperials. One shopper said, 'She's bloody marvellous. Boosting the local economy like that shows she really cares. It's given us all the strength to carry on.'
This morning, however, a Home Office statement repeated earlier warnings of 'enemy attempts to undermine British spending' - believed to be a veiled reference to the German discount supermarket chain Lidl. When asked to comment, a member of the Lidl board of directors in Berlin merely said, with a sinister half-smile, 'we have ways of making you economise'.
Comments