Politics | 18 October 2008

Few would dispute that, in the last fortnight, Gordon Brown has shown why he has been a fixture for so long at the very apex of British politics. His economic model has imploded and his debt pyramid collapsed. The taxpayer is up to his neck to the tune of half a trillion pounds to clear up the mess left by the abject failure of the bank regulatory system Brown personally designed. He has taken Britain into recession, with property prices collapsing and unemployment soaring. And yet still the Prime Minister stands politically triumphant, comparing himself to Picasso and Churchill (among other giants) while soaking up the applause of Nobel laureates for his handling of the crisis.

Lazarus only did it once. Gordon Brown has set new standards. He is back, on form and delivering a message on the economy with such power and clarity that one might almost believe it to be true. His narrative runs as follows: the British economy was strong, yet found itself under attack by a financial virus incubated in America. In addition, venal bankers led Britain’s system to the edge of an apocalypse. We might all have tumbled in, had it not been for the sure-footed action of an expert Prime Minister.

David Cameron is finding himself unable to do much more than sit back and watch the master at work. The battle lines are being redrawn in front of him. From now on, politics will be about state-owned banks, debt, repossessions and trade balances. Mr Brown’s lack of emotional intelligence suddenly matters little as financial acumen becomes the single most important test of leadership. Mr Cameron must master the art of this new war. He needs a discernibly Tory counter-narrative and must set it out with the same brutal clarity that has characterised Mr Brown’s recent conduct.