Brown disappoints his own supporters while Cameron cheers his
James Forsyth 9:01am
Columns by two of Britain’s most astute political commentators will not improve Gordon Brown’s mood this morning. In The Guardian, Jonathan Freedland bemoans how Brown doesn’t get the vision thing. He starts by saying, “For those who held high hopes for the premiership of Gordon Brown, who endured the long wait through the Blair years nurturing the belief that something better beckoned, these are testing times”.
Freedland goes onto berate Brown’s team for being more interested in politicking than governing and for a conference speech that was long on populist measures but short on argument. He also makes the crucial point that Brown’s stumble has reinvigorated his internal critics: all those who said that Brown would not be a patch on Blair as PM can, following the events of the past fortnight, now say I told you so.
In The Daily Telegraph, Irwin Stelzer celebrates the fact that British voters now have a choice once more. The piece demonstrates just how effectively the new Tory policies on education and welfare have helped to restore the intellectual right’s faith in Cameron. (Interestingly enough Stelzer is actually opposed to their inheritance tax proposal on meritocratic grounds.)
It is hard to imagine a paragraph like this being written earlier in the summer,
"Cameron's inclination is different: he would like to see parents choose the schools best suited to their children's needs, and healthcare that responds to the demands and desires of individual patients. Unlike Brown, who offers certainty and a state that is prepared to take responsibility for the care and feeding of its citizens, Cameron offers a future in which individuals will have to take more responsibility for their own affairs and the nature of their communities. For people accustomed to the paternalistic policies of the past decade, that is the road less travelled. But it is the only one that represents real change, if that is what you are after."As Brown prepares to face Cameron at PMQs for the first time since the election climb down he finds himself distinctly on the back foot. To borrow a phrase from John Prescott, the tectonic plates appear to be moving in British politics.
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Disraeli's Ghost
October 10th, 2007 9:55am Report this commentI know this doesn't fit the narrative but doesn't the most recent poll actually show Labour ahead?
Tiberius
October 10th, 2007 10:16am Report this commentIn the Commons yesterday, the grin on Brown's face appeared to suggest that he thought Darling's speech was reeling the Tories in. It didn't look forced to me. Our PM's mindset becomes all the more ... is curious a fair term? Oh and thanks, Darling, for enshrining the doubling-up of the IHT allowances into tax legislation. Can I and my wife have a refund of the £200 we paid our solicitors to include the DT in our wills?
Oscar Miller
October 10th, 2007 10:38am Report this commentDisraeli's Ghost - if you're referring to the Populus poll in yesterday's Times, four-fifths of the respondents, from a sample of just over 1000, were interviewed BEFORE news of Saturday's climbdown had been announced. The poll showed a two point Labour lead: 40% Labour - 38% Conservative. Gains for both parties were at the expense of the LibDems who were down three points. More indicative polls will be those taken after the events of this week have sunk in.
Alex, London
October 10th, 2007 11:44am Report this commentDisraeli's Ghost - the 3 recent polls have the Tories at 1 and 3 points ahead, with 1 poll where Labour are 2 points ahead: http://www.ukpollingreport.co.uk/blog/?page_id=18
Priyen
October 10th, 2007 1:01pm Report this commentThe education policy is the supply side reform of education policy, right, James? This is what I didn't get about the grammar schools fandango. Why didn't people spot the great Tory reform policy - the supply side reform of education - which was at the heart of it?
Cogito Ergosum
October 10th, 2007 3:36pm Report this commentCameron's policy for parental choice in education ignores the fact that a child's ability is largely due to what it inherits, and this ability is probably assessed more fairly by the state than by parents. (P) Cameron seems to listen to fashionable advice rather than scientific advice. This will one day be his undoing.
Guy
October 10th, 2007 5:33pm Report this commentI worry deeply about being ruled in these worrisome times by a Prime Minister who giggles at cheap party political points while his Chancellor rolls out the nation'.s financial future. (see today's Times and Anatole Kaletsky for a critique of the overall dishonesty of the statement). No, it reveals an irreducible shallowness and lack of dignity. Lord Salisbury would never have giggled. I worry for our future.
Fraser Nelson
October 11th, 2007 1:16pm Report this commentPrescott actually just referred to "plates... moving". As he was giving an interview on the train at the time over dinner, it's possible he was referring to his dinner.
Tiberius
October 11th, 2007 3:38pm Report this comment... as in a, "if you take that ******* plate away, you'll get what that bloke I sorted in Rhyl got" kind of way, Fraser?
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