In September 2000, Gordon Brown – then Chancellor of the Exchequer – told the Labour Party conference: "We will not put hard won economic stability at risk. No return to short-termism. No return to Tory boom and bust". Nine years on, David Buick of BCG Partners has sent an email with a graph charting the performance of the FTSE 100 under the Labour government, which suggests otherwise.

In the email, under the title of Boom and Bust?, Buick has charted the performance of the FTSE 100 over the past 30 years, which shows the rise and fall of the index under the past four prime ministers - Margaret Thatcher, John Major, Tony Blair and Gordon Brown. The graph is attached.