Brown gets clunked again
Fraser Nelson 1:28pm
More Labour glum faces today, and much for them to be glum about.
Cameron opened on a good theme: Brown's plans to confiscate budget surpluses accrued by prudent schools. Cameron used this as an allegory for Brown's statism, versus Tory localism. "Why does he think he knows how to use the money better than the teachers?" Brown replied (rather lamely) that "he's not listening to what I'm saying" and proceeded to say nothing.
Okay, that's not quite true. He said the Tories have a £6bn black hole in their plans, and would cut education budgets by this amount. This is a lie, rather than an exaggeration. If Brown repeated it in a court of law,he wouldn’t get away with it.
The Tories would outspend the current government as they’re committed to matching Labour’s planned spending increases. Yes, Tory plans to raise £3.5bn from non doms are optimistic. But from a £580bn budget, it's a rounding error. Brown seems wedded to his "Tory cuts" attack method used in the ‘01 and ‘05 elections even though the facts no longer support it.
"British jobs from British workers", that National Front slogan, was trotted out again. Given such a policy is illegal under EU law, you'd think the phrase would be dropped.
Vince Cable scored another hit, on the climbdown from our renewable targets. After Wickes conceded on Newsnight last night, Brown's prevarication looked pathetic. He's had enough time to get a good line together.
Thought Brown handled the Scottish election question reasonably, dragging Cameron down into the detail. But his idiotic use of the unparliamentary word "mislead" reminded the entire house how unused he is to its customs. Remember, for all his professed love of parliament, Brown is never in it and had the worst voting record of any peacetime chancellor. Hence his schoolboy error.
It is clear that Ian Austin intends to be raucous during Question Time (as if to compensate for the inanimate Labour MPs). Good for him. But given he was told off for it last week, why sit next to the speaker again this week? Inviting trouble, and again showing a certain naivity about parliamentary protocol.
Brown at least had a point on Scottish funding: do the Tories dispute the current arrangements? Until they do, Tory MPs don't have the right to complain about it.
But what a Tory cheer when Cameron said Brown's promise of a "new kind of politics" feels like "100 years ago". Another eardrum-burster. They could see Brown, relying on his notes, unable to think on his feet.
Tory faces are animated, laughing, jeering. Labour MPs still look like they'd prefer to be somewhere else. Brown's not abysmal (which is progress), he's just dire. I wonder if his PMQs performances have already plateaued.
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Michael St George
October 24th, 2007 2:07pm Report this commentSo, Cameron bests Broon in PMQs yet again. Good. But where's the rest of it? Surely, as Simon Heffer points out in the Daily Telegraph today, Cameron and Osborne should have twigged by now that, if there is one thing above all to be learned from the last three weeks, it's that - in contrast to their own timidity about promising to reduce the burden of taxation - the British people are actually pretty receptive to the idea of tax cuts. They need to build on this, and get momentum - quickly. As I have commented before, the "society is not the state, and we are for society, not the state" mantra has the potential to be a winner. Ditto on the referendum on the EU Constitution. (Don't let's even bother calling it a Reform Treaty). Cameron has been absolutely right to call at every opportunity for a referendum, but why oh why is he hedging about whether he would hold a retrospective plebiscite if the Conservatives come to power after the wretched Constitution has been spun through the current Parliament? Make that committment to consult the people about Broon giving away their country, David, and watch the polls rise.
Mike
October 24th, 2007 2:17pm Report this commentIt's a long way down for the Labour party, but the combined effect of the dire Brown inevitable political gravity is going to be an electoral bloodbath
Dick Dolby
October 24th, 2007 2:24pm Report this comment"a certain nativity about parliamentary protocol." Schoolboy error, but a good article nevertheless - the front bench do still look rather embarrassed by Brown. As for his 'performance plateau', well, he can always try boring them into submission.. Being goaded into losing his rag and giving away a 'yellow card' looks pathetic and Cameron would do well to exploit it before Brown fires his 'coach' and gets some decent advisors to help him through this weekly savaging..
Tiberius
October 24th, 2007 2:59pm Report this commentMSG: The British people are ready to listen to the Tories again thanks to Cameron's decision to change the party fundamentally. This may even extend to taking the time (in time) to understand that tax cuts do not mean cuts in services, and are not even part of a zero sum game. For goodness' sake, don't hold out Heffer as an authority on the issue - in today's piece he criticizes Portillo for avoiding the issue of tax cuts in 2001 when the Tories were at the peak of their demon characterization. There is no need to test the theory on tax any further at present because the election is miles away and in the short term at least, the job of dispiriting the government finds much more fertile ground on the Treaty, the NHS, and crime.
John Ionides
October 24th, 2007 4:03pm Report this commentI agree with you Tiberius. Concentrate on presenting the stuff that takes time to argue for. People can pick up the value of tax cuts in nanoseconds (hence their power) so leave these for when you really need a boost. Lets here more about schools and welfare reform, and the really nitty gritty stuff that needs to be fixed, but needs painstaking policy and advocacy over a long period of time.
Michael St George
October 24th, 2007 5:19pm Report this commentTiberius, your points are valid, and eloquently made, as usual. But surely the issue here is not the risk of creating hostages to fortune - it's about capitalising on the moment and taking the opportunity which currently exists to define and determine the political agenda rather than merely reacting to it. That need not necessarily involve specific committments, but it can and should allow repetition and development of the argument that public spending is not inevitably an intrinsic good in itself, regardless of value and outcome obtained. Inculcating acceptance of that will provide the fertile ground into which specific tax-reduction promises can eventually be planted - but the ground does need to be prepared. I agree with you wholeheartedly that the EU referendum issue also constitutes fertile ground: I believe that this has real resonance with the British people. This is why it was so disconcerting to see DC apparently backtracking, and exposing himself thereby to the accusation of embracing the issue only as a vehicle for short term political advantage, rather than a fundamental principle.
Frank Leader
October 24th, 2007 9:38pm Report this commentPerhaps Gordon Brown should offer a reward for the return of his lost bottle.
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