With the potential scandal evidently out of the way, perhaps the candidates will now focus on other differences between them: what effect, if any, the comptroller can have in navigating the state through this fiscal
crisis and how to manage the
huge state employee
pension fund.
The
crisis was the subject of heated parliamentary debate last week, with Teresa May's government struggling on multiple fronts to defend the idea of public services contracting, launch a convincing investigation of what happened, take credible steps to deal with what is widely seen as compensation - gouging by the company's directors, the perception of sweetheart contracts extended to a struggling company, continuing doubtsabout official and company conflicts of interest, and about the impact of still - undetermined
huge taxpayer losses — not least over underfunded
pensions that have now come onto its books.