TONY Blair’s communications guru Alastair Campbell criticised the government and the banking industry for failing to tackle the economic crisis.
He was speaking at an Employment Day at The Heath Business and Technical Park in Runcorn.
Halton Council organised the event to encourage business leaders to hire apprentices and create jobs.
Mr Campbell, the former Labour leader’s press secretary, highlighted the need to have a clearly defined objective and then develop a strategy to achieve your goal.
He told the audience he was surprised the Conservatives failed to win an overall majority in the election.
He said: “We had been in power a long time which is difficult, the economic crisis had hit and even though I think Gordon Brown and Alastair Darling did a reasonably good job, when the economy is in trouble, Government gets hit.”
He said the controversy over MPs expenses, Iraq and Afghanistan, and with Conservatives under a new leader, he expected a tory victory.
However, he believes the Conservatives lost because their overall strategy was unclear.
He said: “You need absolute clarity not least because politics and government now is so difficult in terms of the 24/7 media space.”
Shadow Employment Minister Stephen Timms, another guest speaker, said: “Sometimes, government ministers give the impression unemployed people are at fault and it strikes me that nothing could be further from the truth.
“The vast majority of people want nothing more than the chance of a job.”
Comments: Our rules
We want our comments to be a lively and valuable part of our community - a place where readers can debate and engage with the most important local issues. The ability to comment on our stories is a privilege, not a right, however, and that privilege may be withdrawn if it is abused or misused.
Please report any comments that break our rules.
Read the rules here