The week that was

Verity

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Tiberius

The budget seems to have provided a noticeable piece of punctuation and hindsight to our ongoing themes. It has reinforced the fact that the economy is in a far worse state than it should be after the growth we've had over the last ten years, and that there is some resignation among even the most imaginative about what can be done to bring about improvement. Matt commented recently (“The Tory response”) on the uncertainty about the electorate's propensity to consider reigning in spending (with the presumption of tax cuts); in this week's magazine, Fraser and Charles Moore refer to the task expected by us of the Tories to deal with Brown's ruinous economic policies - the room for manoeuvre is so tight that the old maxim about turning the ship around is no longer just a useful holding tactic; it is patently true given the state of the public finances, unless there is to be such a shock to the system that matters could actually be made worse. There are those who would say that the Tories should stand on Hyde Park corner, bellowing about Labour's woeful record. But the Times poll shown below seems to reinforce the electorate's shocking inability to rationalize the state of affairs. I took part in the ConservativeHome survey also referred to below, and recommended that the Party highlight more about Brown’s record, despite my instinctive siding with the tortoises. I have a feeling that the Tories may not turn off the electorate, a response which would have occurred in 2005 or earlier, but may simply find their message goes over its head. There is a limit to how basic this theme can be articulated without the reinforcement of something like a Black Wednesday. But, having survived the Auschwitz affair without political damage, a revealing outcome for the modernized Tories, it may be safe to test the water with more outspoken or shrill criticism of Brown (which is not the same as moving on to promising tax cuts, by the way). As a concluding thought, what would students of British history say is the worst thing to happen to the country since the Second World War? Membership of the EU? Devaluation? 28% inflation? 7/7? Or the appointment of Gordon Brown to the government?