Sussex MP causes controversy over Thatcher cuts comment
He told delegates at the Darla Moore School of Business in South Carolina that the government was "making cuts that Margaret Thatcher could only have dreamt of".
He's been accused of "letting the cat out of the bag" by the Shadow Treasury Secretary Angela Eagle who says those comments reveal the coalition's true agenda.
But Mr Barker has defended his comments saying that ministers have been forced to take tough decisions because of the size of the deficit left by the previous government.
A Conservative Party source suggested Mr Barker had used a "slightly unfortunate choice of words" in the context, because "dreamt of" made the scale of the cuts sound "aspirational" rather than regrettable.
In fact while Labour are jumping up and down over the language - are they just simply trying to make political gain from semantics?
The first person to mention cuts on the scale of those introduced by Margaret Thatcher was the then Chancellor Alistair Darling.
He conceded in March last year - before the election - that if Labour was re-elected the public spending cuts will be "tougher and deeper" than those implemented by Margaret Thatcher.
The Chief secretary to the Treasury Liam Byrne has confirmed a re-elected Labour government would make bigger public spending cuts than Margaret Thatcher.
But there's no doubt it's a sensitive issue for Conservatives - as references to Margaret Thatcher and phrases like "dreamt of" play into the hands of critics of the cuts, who claim the Tories are using the deficit as a cover for their desire to cut back the size of the state.
Mr Barker's remarks are bound to have upset the Prime Minister - David Cameron's repeatedly stressed the government is making the cuts out of necessity and not ideology.
When I called the Conservative Party today to ask for their reaction to the comments and they said Mr Barker is still away but they're sure he would want to speak to me himself to explain his comments.
Mr Barker did call me when he flew in from the States and told me his words had been taken out of context and said that Alistair Darling had made similar comments.
He stressed they are having to make cuts on the scale that they are because of the legacy left by the previous government.
Hello. I'm Louise Stewart - the BBC's political editor in the South East. I'll be blogging on all things political from Westminster to Whitstable and letting you know how they affect you.
Comment number 1.
At 19:01 5th Apr 2011, nimini wrote:I am utterly fed up listening to these MPs spinning the same old yarn. For goodness sake STOP blaming the last government for leaving a legacy. Of course they are partially to blame - we get it - but certainly not to the degree the ConLibs suggest and every time they utter this tired old rhetoric I am that much closer to doing something about it. Me - a lifelong member of the "can't be bothered with politics brigade"!
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Comment number 2.
At 19:21 5th Apr 2011, Doreen McCormack wrote:Does Greg Barker think the electorate are totally ignorant and have no memory.
I well remember the years under Mrs Thatcher and her successors and what their ideologies did to my country. I knew so many people out of work and the time when interest rates rose to 14% creating hardship for those with mortgages. I remember the delipidated state our country was in and the main growth industry being bailiffs and home repossessions. It was no wonder there was such great jubilation when the government of Mr Blair came along and turned things around.
Does Mr Barker think we are ignorant about the global financial crisis which began in the USA caused by the greed of the banks. I dread to think how we would have fared if a tory government had been in power at this time of crisis. Over the last ten months I have not been impressed at how they are doing. Why are they still trying to brainwash the public by blaming the financial crisis on the last government?
It just does not wash.
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Comment number 3.
At 14:22 6th Apr 2011, Keeshond wrote:This comment was removed because the moderators found it broke the house rules. Explain.
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