Posts tagged "attacks"

Sean Penn attacks Britain for second time in two days over Falklands

By Gerard Couzens

Last updated at 4:23 PM on 15th February 2012

Controversial: Hollywood actor Sean Penn, pictured in Uruguay yesterday, has criticised Prince William’s deployment to the Falklands in a second attack on Britain in two days

Hollywood actor Sean Penn has criticised Prince William’s deployment to the Falklands in a second attack on Britain in two days.

Madonna’s ex-husband was condemned as ‘moronic’ by Tory MP and former Army officer Patrick Mercer yesterday for claiming Britain’s continuing hold on the Falklands was ‘colonialist, ludicrous and archaic’.

But the left-leaning actor showed he cannot keep his mouth shut over the islands by accusing the UK of ‘insensitivity’ for posting William to the disputed South Atlantic territory and labelling Britain a colonial dinosaur for the second day running.

The double Oscar winner went on the attack again after a meeting with Uruguayan president Jose Mujica in Montevideo – less than 24 hours after he savaged Britain over the Falklands during his visit to Buenos Aires to see the Argentine president Cristina Kirchner.

Penn, who once called for U.S. president George W. Bush to be impeached over the Iraq War, met both state leaders in his role as Ambassador-at-large for Haiti.

He condemned criticism of his attack on ‘colonial’ Britain as ‘hyperbole’ and again insisted on calling the islands by their Spanish name of Las Malvinas.

Grinning smugly as he praised Uruguay as a ‘model of development in the world’ he added: ‘My oh my, aren’t people sensitive to the world colonialism, particularly those who implement colonialism.

Angry: Double Oscar winner Sean Penn (left) went on the attack against Britain for a second day running yesterday after a meeting with Uruguayan president Jose Mujica (right) in Montevideo

Controversial: Actor Sean Penn, pictured here with Argentina’s President Cristina Kirchner on Monday, has branded Britain ‘colonialist’ for its refusal to hand over the Falkland Islands

Annoyed: Sean Penn said that the deployment of Prince William (left) to the Falklands was ‘unthinkable’

‘It’s unthinkable that the United Kingdom can make a conscious decision to deploy a prince within the military to the Malvinas, knowing the great emotional sensitivity both of mothers and fathers in the United Kingdom and in Argentina who lost sons and daughters in a war of islands with a population of so few.

‘There are many places to deploy the prince. It’s not necessary, when the deployment of a prince is generally accompanied by warships, to send them into the seas of such shared blood.’

Penn, who has received praise from crackpot Venezuelan leader Hugo Chavez, insisted he was proud of America’s long-standing alliance with the UK but felt he had the responsibility to criticise when criticism was due.

And he said that while he understood and respected the wish of people living in the Falklands Islands to remain British, they should also understand the need for Argentina and Britain to negotiate the sharing of the islands’ natural resources.

Graffiti: A mural in the Argentine capital of Buenos Aires commemorates its soldiers who fell in the Falklands Conflict

Demonstration: A Buenos Aires street daubed in pro-Argentine graffiti, with a sign that says: ‘The Malvinas were, are and will be Argentine’

In an ugly attack on the press before ending his address to newsmen after his meeting with Uruguay’s president, he added: ‘Good journalism saves the world. Bad journalism destroys it so to all of you good journalists in the room I thank you. And the rest I will leave you to your own reflections.’

Penn, who had no previous knowledge or connection with the Falklands, later left by a side door of the skyscraper where he had met Jose Mucija, disappointing fans who had travelled miles to see him.

His comments have incensed Falkland veterans and islanders ahead of the 30th anniversary of the Falklands conflict.

Patrick Mercer added: ‘What on earth has this got to do with Sean Penn? He’s neither British nor Argentine and seems to know nothing about the situation judging by this moronic comment.

‘A good number of his movies have been turkeys, so I suppose we shouldn’t expect much better coming out of his mouth.’

Disputed: Argentina calls the Falkland Islands (pictured) Las Malvinas and claims they were ‘stolen’ by Britain 180 years ago

Penn waded into the row over the disputed territory’s future after he met President Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner in Buenos Aires on Monday, by insisting he was ‘firmly’ on the side of the South Americans.

Tensions between the UK and Argentina have been running higher than usual after Prince William’s deployment to the islands as a search-and-rescue helicopter pilot. Penn’s remarks will further inflame relations as the anniversary of the start of the Falklands War approaches on April 2.

A total of 255 British soldiers were killed retaking the islands after an Argentinian military junta invaded the ‘Malvinas’, as the Falklands are known in Spanish, in 1982, while 649 Argentine troops died.

Tory MP Andrew Rosindell, secretary of the All-Party Parliamentary Group on the Falkland Islands, attacked the actor’s comments as ‘nonsense’.

He said: ‘He shows complete ignorance of the issue if he comes out with nonsensical statements like that. In the 21st century people have a democratic right to their own future.

‘It is Argentina that is trying to impose its wishes on the people of the Falklands. As an American he should remember that freedom is precious, and it is something his countrymen have defended around the globe.

‘He must understand that the UK is equally entitled to defend the freedom of the people of the Falklands, even if they are 8,000 miles away.’

Dick Sawle, a member of the Falklands Legislative Assembly, said: ‘I don’t know Sean Penn’s films or what he looks like so I know as much about him as he does about the islands. His remarks are ridiculous.’

Even comedian Jim Davidson weighed in. Davidson, patron of the Falkland Veterans Foundation, said: ‘The fact of the matter is Argentina broke all the laws of the UN and attacked the Falkland Islands. What’s next? Do we expect the French to land on the Channel Islands and do nothing about it?

‘I think the world today is not going to tolerate any kind of ludicrous and archaic commitment to colonialist ideology.’ Britain has said repeatedly that those living on the Falklands – which have been in British hands since 1833 – have the right to decide under which country they want to be governed.

The 3,000-strong population has declared its wish to remain under British rule. Argentina has made a formal complaint to the UN over the UK’s supposed ‘militarisation’ of the South Atlantic, based on the Type 45 destroyer Dauntless being ordered to the region, as well as Prince William’s deployment in his RAF role.

A HOLLYWOOD REBEL WITH EVERY LEFT-WING CAUSE

As the acknowledged king of Hollywood’s liberals, there is scarcely a single fashionable Left-wing cause Sean Penn has not championed in recent years.

Vehemently anti-Republican and achingly trendy, he counts Fidel Castro and Venezuela’s hardline president Hugo Chávez among his friends.

He has also made anti-American propaganda visits to Iran and post-war Iraq.

Penn has met Chávez at least twice and defended the Left-wing leader, arguing that anyone calling him a ‘dictator’ should face jail. He has also said: ‘Chávez may not be a good man. But he may well be a great one.’

Penn even once took out a £40,000 full-page newspaper advertisement to attack President George W Bush for his ‘simplistic and inflammatory view of good and evil’.

Friends: Sean Penn (right) who has been labelled a ‘communist’ for his friendship with Venezuelan president Hugo Chavez (left) who he met in 2008

Later he would call for Bush and former vice president Dick Cheney to be jailed for ‘deceiving the American people into a war (Iraq) that was murdering young men and women’.

Last October Penn visited ‘inspirational’ post-Gaddafi Libya.

The 51-year-old actor, who was married to Madonna from 1985 to 1989 and has two children from his second marriage to Robin Wright which has also now ended, was reported to have flashed a V for Victory sign as he arrived in Tripoli fresh from visiting Egypt.

Amid even Tinseltown’s numerous famous bleeding hearts then, Penn stands out.

But despite his tough political posturing the Oscar-winning star of Milk and Mystic River is also famously sensitive to criticism.

When he was lampooned as a naive egotist in the 2004 satirical puppet movie Team America: World Police, he complained bitterly.

In the film, written by South Park creators Matt Stone and Trey Parker, a puppet of Penn made outlandish statements about how happy Iraqis were before the war.

But while Alec Baldwin, George Clooney and Matt Damon all saw the funny side to the film, in which they too were parodied, Penn sent Parker and Stone an angry letter inviting them to tour Iraq with him and signing it off with ‘**** you’.

Parker explained: ‘In the movie we were making fun of him for always saying “I’ve been to Iraq, you don’t know what you’re talking about, I’ve been there”, and then he writes in the letter “I’ve been to Iraq…”.’

More recently, Penn set up a charity in Haiti following the 2010 earthquake in the country. It led to him being named ‘ambassador-at-large’ by President Michel Martelly, which is why the actor was visiting Buenos Aires.

He has also championed causes such as gay-rights and America’s poor, as well as supporting countries most Americans would consider to be enemies.

On screen he won an Oscar for his portrayal of homosexual politician Harvey Milk and appeared in a promotional advert for the Occupy movement.

In 2005 he helped rescue people in New Orleans, Louisiana, who had been injured by Hurricane Katrina. But some thought it was merely a PR stunt.

The Mystic River star has also visited Iran, Iraq, and Cuba – and most recently has been seen in Libya (following the fall of Muammar Gaddafi’s regime) and Egypt (after Hosni Mubarak was ousted).

The MoD says the deployments are ‘routine’. The Royal Navy is also sending a nuclear-powered submarine to patrol the islands. In a fresh development, it was announced yesterday that all  British-flagged ships will be boycotted by Argentina’s transport workers’ union.

‘Should we give Gibraltar back to Spain because Spain is nearer or do you think the Gibraltarians  have a say?’

Penn, who called on Britain to join UN-sponsored talks over the islands, said: ‘I hope that diplomats can establish true dialogue between the UK and Argentina in order to solve the conflict as the world today cannot tolerate ridiculous demonstrations of colonialism.

A copy of the original telex announcing to the British government that Argentina had surrendered in the Falklands War is to go under the hammer.

Sent by the commander of the British land forces, Major-General Jeremy Moore, it states that the junta’s forces have laid down their arms and the Falkland Islands are ‘once more under the government desired by their inhabitants”.

The document is expected to sell for between £2,000 and £3,000 when it is auctioned by Bonhams on April 3, a day after the 30th anniversary of the start of the war.

The telex, sent by Major-General Jeremy Moore, Commander of British land forces in the Falklands, which is to be sold at Bonhams in April

It reads: ‘In Port Stanley at 9 o’clock pm Falkland Islands Time tonight 14th June 1982, Major General Menendes (sic) surrendered to me all the Argentine Forces in East and West Falkland, together with all their impedimenta.

‘Arrangements are in hand to assemble the men for return to Argentina, to gather in their arms and equipment, and to mark and make safe their munitions.

‘The Falkland Islands are once more under the government desired by their inhabitants. God Save the Queen. Signed JJ Moore.”

The message was sent via special forces to the Government Communications Headquarters on June 14 1982 – six days before the hostilities officially ceased.

It came to the auctioneer from what was described as a naval-related source.
Bonhams chairman Robert Brooks said: ‘This remarkable document encapsulates perfectly the very moment of total capitulation by Argentina’s 12,000-strong occupying forces in the Falklands.

‘It is a rare find of great historical importance and will excite considerable interest from around the world.’

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¿The United Kingdom has no industry any more¿: Sneering Sarkozy attacks Britain on French TV

•  Sarkozy was defending a VAT rise on national TV

By Peter Allen

Last updated at 6:52 AM on 30th January 2012

A sneering Nicolas Sarkozy has attacked Britain for being a country with ‘no industry’.

The French President, who is hoping to be re-elected this Spring, used the inflammatory words as he defended a VAT rise during a prime time national TV broadcast.

He had just announced a 1.6 per cent VAT rise which is meant to boost France’s failing economy by getting ordinary people rather than employees to pay for social charges.

‘No industry’: The French President used the inflammatory words as he defended a VAT rise during a prime time national TV broadcast

Mr Sarkozy admitted that he was borrowing the measure from Germany, arguing that it had  ‘helped to boost German competitiveness’ and had not led to a rise in prices.

But when a journalist pointed out that Britain had experienced a rise in prices after increasing its VAT contributions, Mr Sarkozy spat out the words: ‘The United Kingdom has no industry any more’.

He was not picked on the comments by any of the carefully selected journalists assisting with the broadcast from the Elysee Palace.

In 2009 Mr Sarkozy actually attacked a VAT rise in Britain, saying it had ‘absolutely failed’ to stimulate the economy.

Yet last night, he saw it as an essential measure to reverse his country’s  fortunes , as he praised Angela Merkel for applying it.

It came as the German Chancellor offered ‘active support’ at campaign rallies for Mr Sarkozy, who is widely expected to fail in his re-election bid.

A ‘Robin Hood’ tax on financial transactions was also imposed  by Mr Sarkozy last night – despite fierce opposition from EU leaders including Prime Minister David Cameron who described it as ‘utter madness’.

David Cameron at the Toyota factory in Burnaston last year. In 2009 Mr Sarkozy attacked a VAT rise in Britain, saying it had ‘absolutely failed’ to stimulate the economy

‘With tax on financial transactions, we are going to show an example,’ said Mr Sarkozy, as he outlined the tough new measures in the hour long broadcast, which was shown by no less than eight channels.

While officially a presidential address, Mr Sarkozy made it clear that all of his attention is on the two round presidential election to be held in April and May.

The hugely unpopular Mr Sarkozy is currently trailing his Socialist rival, Francois Hollande, in all polls.

Not only are some 3 million people currently unemployed in France, but the country lost its triple-A credit rating from Standard and Poor earlier this month.

Before this happened, Mr Sarkozy had said that such a downgrade would hamper his election chances enormously, saying ‘If we lose the triple-A, I’m dead.’

The hugely unpopular Mr Sarkozy is currently trailing his Socialist rival, Francois Hollande, pictured, in all polls

After the downgrade, Mr Sarkozy told aides: ‘For the first time in my life I am facing the end of my career.’

The decline of Mr Sarkozy, a right-wing conservative, is seen as Mr Hollande’s greatest asset, and last week the Socialist candidate launched an impassioned attack on ‘the world of finance’.

Mr Hollande has promised huge tax rises, some 19 billion pounds in new spending by 2017, and 150,000 state-subsidised new jobs for young workers, as well as 60,000 new teaching jobs.

But Ms Merkel on Saturday pledged to support Mr Sarkozy on the campaign trail, because she apparently doubts Mr Hollande’s ability to solve the Eurozone sovereign debt crisis.

Ms Merkel and Mr Sarkozy have built up such a strong working relationship that they are referred to as ‘Merkozy’.

The latest opinion poll published this weekend suggested Mr Hollande would take 56 percent of votes in the second round of the election, with Mr Sarkozy on 44 percent.

Mr Sarkozy, who turned 57 on Saturday, has been involved in numerous scandals since coming to power in 2007.

Magistrates are currently looking at allegations that Mr Sarkozy and other senior members of the ruling UMP party received envelopes stuffed full of cash from Liliane Bettencourt, the L’oreal heiress and France’s richest woman, in return for future tax breaks.

Mr Sarkozy’s third wife, the former supermodel Carla Bruni, has also been accused of enriching close friends in Paris through her charity work.

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Sex predator Kajus Scuka allowed into UK to carry out knifepoint rape and string of attacks

• Kajus Scuka, 48, jailed for life today with a minimum term of 12 years
• Rapist slipped into Britain undetected and signed on for benefits
• He stabbed wife three times in row over his infidelity and was jailed for life in 1988
• Also convicted of gross indecency, indecent assault and attacking a woman with an axe in his homeland
  

By Rob Cooper

Last updated at 6:40 PM on 27th January 2012

A dangerous sexual predator from the Czech Republic who murdered his wife at home came to the UK and carried out a knifepoint rape and three serious sex attacks on women, a court heard.

Kajus Scuka, 48, raped a woman on her 54th birthday as she walked her dog in a park and groped his other victims and offered them cash for sex.

The convicted killer was claiming £67-per-week in benefits after coming to the country in 2009.

A judge today expressed dismay that despite his serious convictions and lengthy sentence, Scuka was ‘free to enjoy the same freedom of movement as any other European citizen.’

Jailed: Kajus Scuka, 48, who had served 11-and-a-half years of a 13 year sentence in his homeland

He was allowed into the country despite serving 11-and-a-half years of a 13 year sentence for murdering his wife.

He had been jailed in 1988 for stabbing her three times in his homeland when they argued over his infidelity.

Scuka also has convictions in the Czech Republic for gross indecency, indecent assault and assaulting a woman with an axe for which he was jailed for three-and-a-half years.

Although he was already a convicted killer, as he was not deemed high profile enough he is likely to have slipped into the country unnoticed because border officials would not have known of his criminal past.

Judge Peter Kelson told the defendant: ‘It seems to me that even with your convictions for murder and assaults you were free to enjoy the same freedom of movement as any other European citizen’

Any EU citizen is entitled to come into the country unless border officials can show that the individual represents a danger under free movement of labour laws.

The system is reliant on criminal records databases being shared – and a conviction alone is not enough to keep someone out.

The Sheffield attacks all happened within a two-mile radius of the city’s giant Meadowhall Shopping Centre between March 2010 and May 2011 and – police did not even know the killer was in the country.

Jailing Scuka for life with a minimum term of 12 years at Sheffield Crown Court, Judge Peter Kelson told him: ‘I regard you as a very, very dangerous man.’

He said he was ‘unwilling to control his sexual urges and was a grave danger to women’ and he would be recommending Scuka for deportation after he has served his sentence.

The judge said: ‘If there is ever such a day you are released in this country you should be deported. I have no doubt that the public will be terribly alarmed.

‘It seems to me that even with your convictions for murder and assaults you were free to enjoy the same freedom of movement as any other European citizen.’

After the hearing, Detective Sergeant Ian Harding said it was worrying that Scuka could slip into Britain under the radar.

‘It is a concern that people of this nature move freely about the EU without any restriction,’ he said.

‘This man has been living in Sheffield since 2009 and we were not even aware of his presence.’

Scuka first struck in March, 2010 as a 51-year-old grandmother walked her two-year-old granddaughter home in a pram at Sheffield Lane Top.

He approached the woman from behind and put his hand between her legs while making ‘sexual grunting noises’, said prosecutor Mike Smith.

His victim turned round and swore at Scuka who fled.

The second attack happened on April 14 when a 23-year-old was approached by Scuka who pretended to be jogging as she walked alongside the River Don.

His victim said he appeared to be wanting directions but he then grabbed her and tried to push her into nearby undergrowth and said: ‘I give you 30 quid.’

The woman, who escaped, told the court: ‘At first I thought he was going to mug me but then I realised he wasn’t after money.’

Two hours later Scuka raped his third victim as she walked her dog on playing fields after work just a mile away at Wincobank.

The victim told the court a man speaking broken English asked her for directions then knocked her into a ditch.

He slapped her hard on her thighs before taking out a penknife and raping her.

She said: ‘He tried to kiss me. He kept slapping me. At one point I was thinking I didn’t want to die in this ditch, I didn’t want to die with my clothes off and be found by children.’

The final attack was on May 17, 2011 when a student in her 20s was walking through a park in Firth Park.

Scuka grabbed her from behind and said ‘let’s have sex’ but she managed to break free and escape as he tried to rip off her coat.

He was arrested minutes later at his home half a mile away.

Scuka’s DNA was found on the rape victim while fibres from a hooded top he wore for the last attack were found on his victim’s coat.

Scuka, who spoke through an interpreter in court, was convicted by a jury of one offence of rape and three offences of sexual assault.

He told the court he lost his footing as he spoke to the rape victim and they both fell to the ground on a public footpath.

Scuka claimed the woman touched him sexually first and he found her attractive but did nothing against her will.

Police believed he returned home for brief periods by bus during his time in Sheffield. Det Sgt Harding said: ‘He claimed he came here looking for work but he hasn’t done any and just signed on.’

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Davos 2012: David Cameron attacks EU for failure to tackle debt crisis

By James Chapman, Political Editor

Last updated at 5:57 AM on 27th January 2012

David Cameron today mounted a scathing attack on the European Union’s inability to tackle the financial crisis at the world economic forum in Switzerland

David Cameron tackled EU leaders head-on last night, warning that the euro is doomed to failure unless they take urgent action and declaring: ‘Tinkering simply isn’t going to cut it any more.’

The Prime Minister said the euro lacked all the features of a successful currency, bluntly telling Angela Merkel that Germany must transfer billions to debt-stricken eurozone nations if she wants it to survive.

Mr Cameron’s tone angered officials from France and Germany, coming just weeks after he vetoed their plans for a new EU-wide treaty to create a fiscal union.

Speaking to international leaders and business chiefs at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, he poured scorn on Franco-German proposals for a new ‘Tobin tax’ on financial transactions as ‘quite simply madness’.

Instead, he said EU leaders should be concentrating on providing real cash for their currently non-existent bailout fund, ensuring creaking banks have enough money to survive and sorting out the debt disaster in Greece.

Mr Cameron also suggested the eurozone should start to borrow as a single entity, so that the interest rates it has to pay are determined by an assessment of all member countries – an idea fiercely resisted by the German chancellor.

Indecision on how to respond to the crisis was ‘weighing down business confidence and investment’ across Europe, Mr Cameron said, and EU leaders had ‘to show the leadership our people are demanding’.

‘Tinkering here and there and hoping we’ll drift to a solution simply won’t cut it any more,’ he said. ‘This is time for boldness not caution.’

Yesterday EU chiefs stepped up their calls for Britain to contribute more to the International Monetary Fund, which acts as the world’s economic emergency service.

But the Prime Minister appears to be losing patience with Mrs Merkel, who is refusing to put cash behind the single currency.

‘Once markets lose confidence and dry up, you are left in an unsustainable position,’ he warned. In a clear reference to Germany, he said it was not enough simply to insist on rapid budget cuts on the edges of the eurozone.

‘The flipside of austerity in deficit countries must be action to put the weight of the surplus countries behind the euro,’ the Prime Minister said.

‘There a number of features common to all successful currency unions. A central bank that can comprehensively stand behind the currency and financial system.

‘The deepest possible economic integration with the flexibility to deal with economic shocks. And a system of fiscal transfers and collective debt issuance that can deal with the tensions and imbalances between different countries and regions within the union.  Currently it’s not that the eurozone doesn’t have all of these – it’s that it doesn’t really have any of these.’

Mr Cameron acknowledged the necessary steps were ‘radical and difficult’, adding: ‘They are why Britain didn’t join the eurozone. But they are what is needed if the single currency, as currently constituted, is to work.’

He added: ‘I understand why the eurozone members want a treaty inside the EU, but if they do, there have to be safeguards for those countries in the EU but who have no intention of joining the single currency.

‘I didn’t get those safeguards, so the treaty isn’t going ahead inside the EU.

‘But…to those who think that not signing the treaty means Britain is somehow walking away from Europe, let me tell you: nothing could be farther from the truth.

‘I stood on this platform only a year ago and said that Europe could recover its dynamism. I still believe we can. But only if we are bold.

‘Take bold decisions on deregulation, on opening up the single market, on innovation and trade, and address the fundamental issues at the heart of the eurozone crisis.  

‘All these decisions lie in our own hands. They are the test of Europe’s leaders in the months ahead.’

Labour leader Ed Miliband, also in Davos, said Mr Cameron should be ‘taking action at home to get our economy moving and working with other world leaders to get the global economy going’.

‘But he is not doing that. He is standing by his policy of collective austerity all round the world,’ he added.

Olli Rehn, the European Commissioner for economic and monetary affairs, said: ‘I trust that the United Kingdom will endorse an increase of IMF resources because that is also one essential element of overcoming this crisis.

‘That is something that the UK itself is calling for.’

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David Cameron defends capitalism and attacks fat-cat pay

By Tim Shipman

Last updated at 8:48 AM on 20th January 2012

Mr Cameron said the market and free enterprise are ‘the best imaginable force improving human wealth and happiness’

David Cameron made an unabashed defence of capitalism yesterday, calling free markets the ‘best imaginable force for improving human wealth and happiness’.

The Prime Minister announced plans for a crackdown on fat-cat executive pay next week and revealed he wants to pass a Bill to boost employee share ownership in co-operative businesses.

He admitted reforms were needed to ensure more people saw the benefit of the market, but in a riposte to Ed Miliband and Nick Clegg, who have sought to blame capitalism for the current economic malaise, Mr Cameron said: ‘We won’t build a better economy by turning our back on the free market. We’ll do it by making sure the market is fair as well as free.

‘Where others see problems with markets as a chance to weaken them, I see problems with markets as an opportunity to improve them.’
He argued that ‘open markets and free enterprise can actually promote morality’ because ‘they create a direct link between contribution and reward; between effort and outcome’.

Mr Cameron said the Government’s plans to rein in executive pay, to be announced next Tuesday by Business Secretary Vince Cable, were designed to re-establish the link between effort and reward, which had broken down in recent years with excessive rewards for the bosses of failing businesses.

Threats would be backed up with legislation, said Mr Cameron.

He added: ‘We should support business leaders who earn great rewards for building great businesses. That will inevitably mean some people will earn great rewards.

‘But that is a world away from what we’ve seen in recent years, where the bonus culture – particularly in the City – has got out of control, where  the link between risk, hard work, success and reward has been broken.’

In his speech, the Prime Minister conceded the recession had dented public confidence in the capitalist economy

The Prime Minister also vowed to help entrepreneurs who take great risks to build companies that can boost jobs.

The Government is set to launch a ‘Start Up Britain’ campaign next week to make it easier for people to launch new businesses.

The final plank of Mr Cameron’s plans to change the market will see the Government introduce a new Co-operatives Bill to simplify a rag bag of 17 different Bills dealing with mutual companies.

The Prime Minister echoed Mr Clegg’s calls for more employee share ownership, pointing out that it was part of a rich Tory tradition.

Ed Miliband said he did not believe Mr Cameron is ‘serious about the agenda’ of a capitalist economy

‘We need to open up markets and get more people engaged in a genuinely popular capitalism,’ he said. ‘A consistent Conservative theme has been the ambition of building a nation of shareholders, savers and home-owners.’

While calling for greater regulation of big banks, Mr Cameron said the Government would lift the burden of red tape from smaller businesses.

‘The last government got regulation completely the wrong way round. Small companies were strangled in red tape while the banks were allowed to let rip. We’re turning the tables on this.’

The Prime Minister accused Labour of creating the current crisis by failing to regulate the City. ‘The last government made a Faustian pact with the City,’ he said. ‘It encouraged a debt-crazed economy because it needed to pay for spiralling welfare costs and a top-down, interventionist state.’

Labour leader Ed Miliband told Mr Cameron: ‘Let’s judge you on your deeds and not your words.’ He challenged the Prime Minister to act on rip-off bank charges, exorbitant train fare increases and the ‘rigged’ energy market.

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