About ten days ago, Justine Greening got round to going on the defence, saying in a carefully arranged interview with the BBC, that George Osborne was fully behind HS2. It might have taken a week from the Spectator article which said Government ministers were against HS2, and even longer from the Conservative Home article, which predicted HS2 would never happen, for her to get round to saying anything, but her words were quite clear.
However, that presupposes George Osborne is as clear with Greening, as her statement to the BBC.
The thing is, it appears that even on transport matters matters, Osborne is not always keeping Justine as well informed as he could.
Last Monday’s Daily Telegraph, reports Pay up, motorists: Transport Secretary Justine Greening says she will not stop rise in fuel tax
“In an interview with The Daily Telegraph, Miss Greening indicated that she was not prepared to lobby the Treasury to delay or abandon the 3p increase in fuel duty this August.”
On Tuesday afternoon to the Commons however, Osborne announced that the fuel tax rise – the one Greening had defended the day before – was scrapped.
See the Evening Standard’s view
“Eyebrows were raised around Westminster because Mr Osborne made the announcement just a day after Transport Secretary Justine Greening defended the tax rise.
There you have it – George Osborne and Justine Greening in perfect harmony.
PS Greening was on last Thursday’s Question Time program on BBC1. There was no mention of railways whatsoever. I wonder why?