But what would the Tories do?

Nicholas

Belt up, Andrew. You've been on this tack too much recently. The purpose of opposition is to hold the government to account and to expose the weakness in their policies, planned or perpetrated. No point ignoring the "what is" of the worst government in British history to concentrate on the "what if" of an opposition not even engaged in pre-election campaigning. I think you will find the mood of the country is to see the back of Brown and his cronies at any price, even if the opposition front bench were a row of garden gnomes.

Tiberius

I would not wish to accuse you of complacency, Nicholas, but Labour's core vote at around 27%, buys a lot more seats than a 27% vote for the Tories. We are fighting a natural bias that gives Labour around a 12 seat head start.

Thomas

With Tiberius' point in mind, why are the tories not making more of the issue of electoral reform? As with the leftist bias of the BBC, the bias in our constitutional arrangements is deeply undemocratic. One hopes that after an election this would be a priority of a Tory government.

Nicholas

No, not complacency TIberius. I understand only too well that the mood of the country is one thing and the contrived mechanics of election quite another. That natural bias you describe is further augmented by Brown's BBC and those who would rather pick nits in the Tories (TGF et al), the only viable alternative, than help to defeat monstrous New Labour.

Geoff

Cameron is having real trouble getting beyond 'holding the government to account' which he does well and into the electorally fruitfull territory of 'government in waiting' which he seems further away from every day. His accounts of how things are going wrong get traction with the public - dithering, broken society, economic difficulties. But his alternatives get very little traction and almost never break through. People remember him for saying things like 'hug a hoodie' or 'party of the NHS' none of which tells people what he is about.