Brown’s magic is a trick

As he contemplates the surf on his Breton holiday beach this weekend, David Cameron has an opportunity to reflect on how swiftly the tides of politics can change. Just three months ago the Conservative leader enjoyed record gains in the local elections, winning more than 800 seats in a nationwide test of public opinion and recording general-election-winning levels of support. That result was the culmination of an 18-month period during which Mr Cameron had changed his party, modernised its policies and maintained a solid opinion-poll lead over Labour, an achievement which had eluded the Tories for more than 13 years.

Since then, however, voters have cooled towards Mr Cameron, and warmed towards Gordon Brown. As a new Labour leader, Mr Brown has made an impressive start. Those who once worked most closely with him have described him as a ‘Stalinist’ or a ‘control freak’ with ‘psychological issues’, but that is not how the public sees him. What the public sees is a sober, modest and austere public servant dedicated to tireless work for the common weal. He has metamorphosed from Uncle Joe to Padre Pio before our bedazzled eyes. But just as the caricature of Mr Brown which prevailed before he arrived in No. 10 sprang from an inaccurate assessment of his vices, so the lustre he now enjoys depends on an overgenerous magnification of his merits. As the novelty of Mr Brown fades and the nation’s problems become increasingly seen as the responsibility of his government, and not a legacy of someone else’s, then a more balanced view will prevail.

Already the signs are that a more balanced assessment of the Brown government will be more critical. The admirably rigorous free-market think tank Reform has laid out authoritatively the breadth of Mr Brown’s retreat from a genuinely progressive agenda of greater choice, flexibility and pluralism in the public services.