If you want to get ahead …
More than 40 million flat caps will be brought out of Government storage for delivery to almost every man in Britain by the end of the week, David Cameron revealed today.
The emergency headgear will form part of the Government’s multi-billion pound investment programme aimed at getting Britain’s economy moving and lifting the gloom of recession.
It is the first time the standard issue peaked cloth cap has been deployed in the UK in more than 60 years.
“We have not taken this decision lightly,” said Mr Cameron at a press conference outside Number 10 today, “but desperate times call for desperate measures.
“It has been some years since the Government was forced to take this course of action but dependable headwear is essential in times of hardship. The flat cap imbues a man with a sense of responsibility and drive, while keeping his head warm in winter.”
The Government-issue emergency flat cap was first deployed during the Great Depression of the 1930s and once again at the end of World War Two. A resurgence in the economy by the beginning of the Sixties saw a recall of all flat caps for storage until another economic crisis.
The first batch of 20.5million flat caps will be dropped by helicopter in the northern cities of Newcastle, Manchester, Leeds and Glasgow by Thursday of this week.
Chancellor George Osborne told the House of Commons that parts of London and the South East will follow traditional national emergency protocol and be issued with top hats and silver-topped canes.
