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Labor's L22 billion 'black hole' could have been wiped out with gold Gordon Brown sold on the cheap
By Oliver Trapnell
GB News, London
Friday, January 10, 2025
Labor's mass sale of gold at the turn of the millennium could have covered the entirety of the L22 billion "black hole" in public finances had it been sold today instead, GB News can reveal.
From 1999 to 2002, the Labor Government, with Gordon Brown as chancellor of the Exchequer, sold off just shy of 400 tonnes of Britain's gold in a bid to diversify the UK's assets.
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Brown sold around half of Britain's gold reserves for a total of $3.5 billion (about L2.14 billion based on the exchange rate in 1999) but had it been sold today, it could have paid for the "black hole" in the UK's public finances with around L5 billion in headroom.
Speaking to GB News about what critics dubbed at the time "Brown's Bottom," former Chancellor Kwasi Kwarteng said: "The sale of the gold at rock-bottom prices was a huge blunder. "We should never have sold it and if we hadn't we should still keep it regardless."
Reform UK leader Nigel Farage echoed Kwarteng's comments, also branding the sale "disastrous." ...
... For the remainder of the report:
https://www.gbnews.com/politics/labour-financial-black-hole-filled-gordon-brown-gold-sold-today
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