Is Cameron ready to face down Brown's "health cuts" claim?

Short the UK

It will be depflation if GBP goes to parity against the USD and to 80 cents against the Euro. Have a look at the charts it looks very dangerous.

Deflation is a walk in the park.

I hope the Tories are busy studying depflation, with Brown's prime pumping destroying the GBP it looks more likely to me.

They should also start attacking the banking bail-out. The banks shares are sinking and our liabilities are increasing. The Rock & Bingley are basket cases. All brought about by King Gordon's property bust.

chris

The Conservatives need to attack every pathetic move by this self interested Government in every way. The lying and deceit being deployed by Brown and his cohorts needs to be exposed at every point.
Yes, lets have some clear blue water. Who would want to take over from this mess, anyway. The recession is only starting to feed into the real economy; as Brown said this week - deflation can be expected. The spending spree will not work. Cameron needs to be able to say 'I told you so'.

Drew

Cameron should point out that Darling is funding the 2009 general election bribes next Monday from unspent NHS "surpluses".

Clearly the indigestion has set in already.

David

His interview with Nick Robinson currently fluttering around the BBC is pretty good. Firm stuff about white elephants and how it was only a Labour government which actually decreased NHS spending in any given year.

wight tory

It should be noted that budget rises by DC can't be ruled out either. There's nothing wrong for example, GO being able to say that military units in hospitals being made available, OUR troops deserve to be treated by people who understand their needs, ones that the current NHS structure doesn't nor shouldn't have their budget affected.

Re-allocation of funds isn't always cutting them. This announcement is the one that will allow DC to set his agenda, one that best for Britian.

He should, if elected to PM make it clear that an audit of the finances will be made public in 90 days, stating that everybody who has spent that money is named and shamed...

Nice move DC, you are now free from the Labour "following our plans" twisted assertion that the Conservatives back them.

David

Just a question; who does the response to the PBR on Monday? Is it Osborne or Cameron? I ask because I remember that this and the Budget itself are shared between Leader of the Opp and the SC, but I can't remember which way around.

albert son of a gypsy

Mr Cameron. At PMQ's NOW is the Time to raise the question about Brown's mental state!

It is a valid question considering his Leader of the World act. Delusional.

Tiberius

Phillip Hammond was very relaxed facing Paxo this evening, and and I have to say Paul Mason's report lacked any sneer towards the Tories' proposals.

Hammond pushed home the point that is sometimes mentioned on here, that in a budget of £600 billion plus, there should be some savings available.

Now for PMQs.

Simon

Put cuts in health spending on top of our terrible weak provider-captured health policy (we are actually pledged to scrapping GP evening and weekend opening and giving them the money back!!) and I think we will lose big on the NHS at the next election

Fergus Pickering

The Tories must... The Tories must... Dave and george appear to be doing all the things that the Tories must...And now you lot really ought to get behind them. Because OF COURSE it is possible Brown will win. Posible if the electorate choose to believe him that we can borrow and borrow and never have to pay it back because J.M. Keynes says so. It's all economics hocus-pocus and you won't understand it, but don't worry, Gordon does and he will see you right. All changed, chaged utterly etc etc, My wige keeps on saying that George must sound AUTHORATITIVE. It's true. He doesn't. But do you think he is right? Being right ought to be enough. If it isn't. Well, that's how democracy works. Meanwhile they deserve our support if we agree with them. I'm no economist but I think I agree witrh them. Keynes is a long time ago. If things are erally different now why listen to some old fart from a long time ago?

Hereford

To make the message work the Tories have to segment the Public Sector. On the today programme this morning it was mentioned that talking about cuts in public sector spending will immediately give every nurse, soldier and policeman an incentive to vote labour.

The Tories should split the sector into elements and treat them differently. Talk about holding the line, or allowing inflationary increases in the wages of nurses, police etc, but at the same time talk about cutting cost and pay in non operational delivery areas such as 5 a day community outreach workers.

seb

@ albert son of a gypsy

The following is a description of people with something called a 'malignant personality'.

"They are habitual liars. They seem incapable of either knowing or telling the truth about anything.

They are egotistical to the point of narcissism. They really believe they are set apart from the rest of humanity by some special grace. They scapegoat; they are incapable of either having the insight or
willingness to accept responsibility for anything they do. Whatever the problem,
it is always someone else's fault.
They are remorselessly vindictive when thwarted or exposed.
Genuine religious, moral, or other values play no part in their lives."

This is from a site recommended by Guido and is very reminiscent of not only G. 'Winston' Brown but, more worryingly, of Robert A. Mugabe.

Many, I'm sure, have questioned Brown's 'mental state' since the day he rose to prominence in public life back in the mid-90s.

Hereford

Brown's mental state was certainly questioned on the Radio either this morning or yesterday, I can't remember precisely. There were several comments about him appearing to be 'high' and slightly maniacal since returning from saving the world.

Susan Hill

What none of you seem to realise is that the general average voter is not any sort of economics expert...to say the least. And that`s in normal times. The point is that they BELIEVE Brown. They believe he is doing something to sort it all out, not just here but worldwide, and now that oil prices are coming down and driving food and energy prices down with them, it feels good in the pocket and all thanks to Gordon. I hear it every day. The other thing you don`t realise is that those Clapham omnibus ordinary voters don`t trust Cameron and Osborne for one reason.. THEY WENT TO ETON, ARE RICH AND SOUND POSH. Those two things mean Gordon stands a very good chance of winning and bringing back Mandelson and Campbell was his cleverest move yet. If I were him, and I`m quite glad I`m not, I`d call an election now.

seb

@ Susan Hill

Absolutely right. If Eammon Holmes, for example, does so much as give his viewers people the impression that Brown's 'the man for the job', they believe it.

If I were Brown, I'd call an election. If I were Cameron, I'd rejoice at this. The only way to defeat Brown, Mr. Holmes and Paul Dacre and Rupert Murdoch and the numpties is to haul Brown in front of the camera in real election campaign so that people can see that he is a liar and that he has less personality and charm than one of Richard Nixon's cufflinks.

If the worst happens, we'll have a leader whose lack of popularity in, say, 2011 will plumb previously unexplored subterranean depths.

Louise

Seb - somehow that doesn't exactly work out. If he calls an election now, the Tories are dead in the water. No spending plans, no policies, no coherent campaign, no control of the agenda. No visible Shadow Cabinet. Just Cameron and Osborne alone on TV. Facing down awkward questions about their spending cut plans while Brown and friends trot out the usual 14billionforschoolsandhospitalscanttrustthetories... lines.

Somehow I think they need to buck up their ideas now and get back some sort of control. They've lost both my parents by doing nothing all year, and they'll soon have lost me.