The view from Threadneedle Street

Despite appearances, the G20 meltdown protest around the Bank of England is fertile ground for the Conservatives. There is an enormous middle class presence here that is nothing short of livid with the government’s economic policy. I spoke to a group of young women from south east London who would have looked more at home Sloane Ranging than in the midst of an allegedly anti-capitalist demonstration. They were aged 18-24, the age group the recession is now hitting hardest, and they made it clear they were opposed to nothing other than “excessive bailouts and stimulus at the expense of hard pressed taxpayers” and the government’s “headless chicken approach”. They expressed “broad support” for the Tories’ caution.

This supports recent poll findings that the Conservatives are now more trusted to run the economy than the government. If the Tories are finding widespread support here, then surely this government must be lurching to its deathbed.