Evening Standard comment: Jeremy Corbyn manifesto will bite harder than it seems; Prince Andrew’s exit

What have Margaret Thatcher, Tony Blair, John Major and Jeremy Corbyn got in common? Answer: they’ve all been keen on windfall taxes.

The Iron Lady levied one on the banks in 1981; New Labour raided the privatised utilities in 1997; Sir John demanded one on energy companies in 2013; and in the manifesto launched today, the Labour leader is proposing a windfall levy on oil companies.

Here’s another question: who first contemplated seizing control of BT’s broadband assets? Answer: David Cameron.

So frustrated was his coalition government with the slow pace of broadband roll-out that it drew up plans forcibly to break the private company in two, and turn Openreach into a heavily-regulated semi-public utility.

The reason it didn’t go ahead was the fear that the disruption to the business would be so great that in practice less broadband would be delivered, rather than more. That would almost certainly be the case if the current Labour plan to part-nationalise BT went ahead.

Other quickfire questions: who jacked up capital gains tax to 40 per cent? Nigel Lawson. When was the last time the top rate of income tax was 50 per cent? Just six years ago.

The reason for these history lessons? It’s a reminder that the actual proposals unveiled by Labour today are not as outlandish as the Tories claim, nor as radical as the Corbynistas would have us believe.

That’s not to say that the economy would be safe in Labour’s hands. Far from it. For manifestos are a clue to what a party would do in office, not a detailed blueprint.

They indicate the direction of travel not the end point, and even the toned-down policies launched today point to a huge increase in borrowing, higher taxes on enterprise, and a much bigger role for the state.

But dig a little deeper into the worldview of these neo-Marxists and it’s clear that by the end of a Labour government we could see the Bank of England stripped of its independence, capital controls introduced, a wealth tax and a swathe of the economy renationalised.

That would be ruinous for Britain’s prosperity.

The hard-Left leadership of Labour is trying to reassure voters that its bite is not as bad as its bark.

Read our exclusive interview with Mr Corbyn in today’s ES Magazine, and he wants you to know he sits at home, making coddled eggs and listening to Classic FM.

Don’t be fooled. He’s cooking up a far more dangerous meal for Britain.

Prince Andrew’s exit

At last, Prince Andrew now says his friendship with the convicted child sex offender Jeffrey Epstein was “ill-judged”.

In a statement last night he admitted that it has “become a major disruption to my family’s work” and has ended his royal duties, a step it’s hard to imagine he took willingly.

It’s a move towards undoing the harm caused by his Newsnight interview but even this may not prevent prosecutors in the US from requiring him to give evidence.

For the women abused by Epstein, this is at least a step forward.

For the prince, it is a humiliation.

For the institution of which he is part, it is a severe test. It is one it can survive.

The monarchy is bigger than one of its now relatively unimportant members. It has a rooted place in our constitution.

Whatever happens next in the story of Prince Andrew, it will not be the whole story of the monarchy. Prince Charles’s effective and traditional tour of New Zealand, which is now under way, is another part of it, too.

But this is a moment for the royal family to adjust.

While people such as Prince Andrew, now not in close line to the throne, are paid well to carry out official duties, the way they behave will be judged against the institution as a whole.

The official family has grown very large, while the monarchy’s constitutional role has been obscured. There are lessons to learn from what has just happened.

One of them is to ask not only why Prince Andrew has been relieved of his duties but also why he had them at all.

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