As the BBC has noted, we now know as a result of the Mandelson disclosures that:
The man who is now work and pensions secretary described conversations he had with other Labour politicians about the welfare system and public spending in a pretty blunt way.
"Every meeting I have is 'who can we tax in order to pay benefits to others'," Pat McFadden wrote to Lord Mandelson in May 2025.
"They're asking the wrong questions," McFadden adds.
Allies of McFadden point out that message was sent before he was in charge of the UK's benefits regime. He was running the cabinet office at the time.
That's a lame excuse. The reality is, as I know from several meetings with him over an extended period, Pat McFadden is a man of very little intelligence, and even less curiosity. He is also a true heir to Blair, and his fundamentally neoliberal to his core. The consequences are threefold.
First, he does not believe in redistribution. So very typical of Labour, these days, then.
Second, he does not understand that taxes do not pay for anything.
Third, he does not understand that money is created by the government when it spends.
What does all this mean?
First, his lack of curiosity should bar him from public office.
Secondly, he should never have had a role in Labour, or in the current government, or responsibility for work and pensions.
Third, he should learn to ask the right questions, because at present, he clearly cannot because he lacks the education to do so.
If you want an explanation for the mess that Labour is in, Pat McFadden can provide it, single-handedly.
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I saw the headline last night In the express and thought YET another slur on social security. And this time, even more twisted.
As you say Richard, McFadden is just another neo-liberal ghoul, up there with the cons Stride.
The Conservative party had a Facebook post about this quote last night, put up by my MP.
My MP’s comment was “spending on benefits is too high and the Conservatives will reduce it. We are taxing the people who do the right thing too much. And spending too much on those who don’t.’
Such a lack of vision
Agreed
Technically, though, he is correct. That Is the wrong question, just not in the way he certainly meant.
We can reframe this. The question the Labour MPs are asking is a good one for the near and future system if broadened out a bit … How can we fund all the universal benefits we will need when AI has ensured that nearly everyone is unemployed ?
Of course McFadden’s remark has been highlighted<p>
It reinforces and continues to embed the only thought we are allowed – that there is no money. <p>
last week it was Blair. This week its McFadden.<p>
‘Taxes too high, spending too high, pensions too high, NHS too expensive etc etc <p>
The message is the only one the BBC will allow