Keeping shtum

Mark Heenan

"effective opposition should never be about just sitting back and watching things happen" That depends how you define effective... If they're there to make government better, you're right, but if you think making Government better is best served by a change of Government at the next election, that's different.

Austin Barry

"the public are ever-so-slowly turning against Brown and Darling on the economy". Not so, speed-of-light, mate.

salieri

Implosion is best observed from a safe distance: this one is a Brown hole.

Faceless Bureaucrat, Whitehall

"But – surely – effective opposition should never be about just sitting back and watching things happen?" It is if you know that any decent idea you have will be stolen by an ever more desperate Government.

PJ

As Cameron said on the weekend, this is not an election year so its important not to have too many hostages to fortune. How can you devise detailed policy on the economy anyway given that it's in such a maelstrom? These are unprecedented events within living memory. They're not something anyone has experience in. Brown and Co clearly didn't see it coming because they never to any measures to safeguard our economy. It was all jam today, nothing in the larder for tomorrow.

Chuck Unsworth

And the function of the Opposition is to 'oppose', it is not to 'assist'. Time and again Brown et al raise the question 'So what would you do, then?'. Cameron has enough sense to point out that it's the Government's job to run things and if it cannot then it should step aside. He's also recently reiterated that Brown's job is to answer to Parliament. No bad thing in the light of Mr Speaker Martin's apparent 'inability' to control the debate.

Patrick, London

Surely the oppostition should be 'drawing back the curtains' and accelerating the public's realisation that the last 11 years have been a rape of the taxpayer for no discernable benefit whatsoever.

Talia

WHAT'S WRONG WITH YOUR SITE? I can't navigate between the pages (same happened yesterday)

Trumpeter Lanfried

Fortune favours the bold. The Tories should be bolder.

Sir Buffy de Vere

PJ: if it's too difficult to decide on your policy for dealing with a maelstrom when you enjoy the leisure of opposition, how would you manage to decide one when in office?

mike

"It is if you know that any decent idea you have will be stolen by an ever more desperate Government" So you would put Party before country Faceless Bureaucrat Whitehall ? Not surprised though, that's what The Tories are known for, self, self, self.

Faceless Bureaucrat, Whitehall

Mike [11.09] As Chuck Unsworth [10.24] rightly states, it is for Oppositions to oppose, not throw the Government a lifeline every time it it finds itself caught in the headlights of events. If the current Administration under an unelected (and clearly incapable) PM are simply not up to the job, then they should step aside. That is how Parliamentary democracy works in this country - at least for now...

Tiberius

But, Mike, sound Tory policy will be stolen and then badly enacted by this bunch of brainless juveniles. It is in the country's interests to have men doing a man's job.

Ian C

Whatever the Tories do/say they must be positive that their different approach would not have lead to going in to a downturn with huge deficits. That means taking the opportunity to disconnect from Labour spending plans and to highlight the positive philosphical differences e.g. by going harder at education vouchers and disbandonment of non-jobs, and such obvious and easy targets.

madasafish

If Brown and Darling were effective , efficient and could communicate well the difficult state of the economy and how well they were doing... But they are none of the above and making a mess. So why damn them when they are doing it themselves? The startegy works.

TrevorH

Why should the Tories explain how they would get out of the mess created by labour. And why should they commit to anything now when they do not know just how big the mess actually is or how big it will get? When the election comes the electorate will look at the maniphestoes and decide. Of course in the case of labour they will not be looknig at promises, just 'aspirations'.

Noelle McGrath

Dull old Gordon, with no ideas of his own, is desperate for the Tories to tell him about their economic plans so that he can copy them.

Nicholas

I can't decide whether our old chum mike is pro Old Labour, pro New Labour or just anti Tory.

As for party before Country, New Labour seem to be setting the pace on that one and judging by Guido's revelations on expense claims (74% of the most expensive MPs are Old/New Labour) they seem to be setting the pace for self, self, self too!

Perhaps mike you might abandon your prejudice, take a good long hard look at the party you espouse and put Country before party too?