It’s been classic tough-guy stuff from Messrs Osborne and Alexander as they negotiate with different departments concerning the forthcoming round of public spending cuts. Apparently Osborne has been playing the softer “good cop” to Alexander’s “bad cop”. The good cop butters you up, the bad cop roughs you up, and then the good cop moves back in to sweep up the concessions you make in gratitude that one of them is being nice to you. I wonder what would have happened if someone had pulled them up on this tactic. “Look, you two seem a bit confused. Why don’t we have a short break, then you can both agree a common approach, and we can start again.”
That would have stopped it…..