David Cameron Prepares for Government

At first I thought it a little unfortunate that David Cameron’s peroration today unconsciously – I assume – echoed the Royal Bank of Scotland’s slogan “Make it happen”. But actually, the rise and fall of RBS is something of a template for the rise and fall of governments. Years of promise and fat and profit encourage excessive self-confidence and over-expansion that ends with a devastating, humiliating crash. That has been Labour’s experience and it will eventually be the Tories’ story too, assuming that Cameron and his pals form the next government.

This was a bleak, sombre speech. Perhaps even excessively so. Listening to it you could have been forgiven for thinking that Cameron was an agent of the Australian or Canadian governments, drumming up business and persuading Britons to chuck it all in and start a new life of opportunity on the far side of the world. Everything in Britain is broken – society, economy, politics – so the rational response might well be to cut your losses and leave.