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Today is all about credibility
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24 March 2010
Like him or not, spare a sympathetic thought for David Cameron today. If he is anything like Tony Blair when Leader of the Opposition, he will have woken up this morning with the sense of a very big challenge ahead of him for the day.
He does that every Wednesday of course, because Prime Minister's Questions is always an important part of the Parliamentary week. But today the workload is doubled, tripled, quadrupled and more, because as well as doing PMQs, he has to respond to Alistair Darling's Budget. 'If there is a bigger nightmare than responding in these big set piece Parliamentary debates, I've yet to find it,' TB used to complain.
And whereas at PMQs, at least the Leader of the Opposition knows what he is going to ask, with the Budget it is the Chancellor who has the advantage, in knowing what it is to come.
The broad outlines of Cameron's response will already be written, but he does have to think on his feet, and respond to specific announcements.
A word of advice ... Ignore all the last minute speculation doing the rounds this morning, focus on big arguments and try to respond to what Alistair actually says. Also, try very hard not to think too much about the bumbling, stumbling, rambling, incoherent interview you gave with Gay Times, which looks set to become an instant Youtube hit.
All Budgets are important moments, but the proximity to the election makes this even more so.
The House of Commons is often the place where the dividing lines of the campaign are first laid down. Some of the arguments today will be familiar, some less so.
But though Cameron gets the first word, the heavy lifting will thereafter done by shadow chancellor George Osborne.
Spare a thought for him too. He appears to be unpopular with the public, unrated by the City and business leaders, and a bit of a whipping boy for Tory MPs and candidates forever reporting his unpopularity back from the doorsteps and businesses.
Alistair Darling on the other hand has emerged with his authority and credibility enhanced from the post economic crisis phase.
He has always been likeable. But in politics that is sometimes less important than respect. When he stands to deliver the Budget today, his basic economic credibility is not really an issue. The same cannot be said for DC and GO. George Osborne. Game On.
Here's more from Channel 4 on the Gay Times interview by the way.
* Buy The Blair Years online and raise cash for Labour http://www.alastaircampbell.org/bookshop.php.
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The GAy Times interview should be shown to everyone again and again. When he does not have a script he is hopeless. He was floundering! What would he be like when he gets really tough questions from really tough leaders in other governments. I found it a bit scary
Our Dave is not very impressive under pressure is he ?
If this is how he reacts when faced with a few well researched questions from the Gay Times what will he be like in a televised public debate ?
Bring it on Gordon should eat him alive !!!
Alistair Darling has got the right mix of humanity and toughness. He is not the most charismatic but I would have him over Cameron and Osborne any day ofthe week
I think you have misjudged todays Budget – if AD gives away too much,sterling will collapse and the City will crucify him…and the electorate will smell a dirty great rat.
If he does actually do the right thing and thinks of the UK before GB and you lot then it plays into the Tories anyway…I think today will be where the polls start to diverge again,especially after the 3 stoodges trying to follow Blair and you this week.Quite funny how you could only bring yourself to write 2 lines or such a scandal…whimp
AT least we vaguely know who Cameron and Boy George are. My worry is that the tories get in and youhave these nobodies like Grayling Gove and Lansley in charge. I saw an interview with Grayling the other day. Terrifying. These people are just not in the modern world
As a gay man myself I must say that I was delighted to see David Cameron exposed in the Gay Times interview.
The Conservative party’s activities in the European Parliament are absolutely reprehensible for me. David Cameron has a crass duplicity in pretending that his party has changed with respect to LGBT issues but at the same time the Conservatives behave in such a homophobic manner in the European Parliament.
In the interview Cameron reveals that he is not in control of the Conservative party in Europe at all. It would seem that the MEPs simply run things their own way and David Cameron does not even know what they are doing.
When Cameron does not have his aides controlling the situation we can see that he is completely out-to-sea. He cannot formulate answers to the questions, he does not know what his policies are. It is absolutely hopeless.
Darling has previously been the government’s best asset but today he lost his credibility with me. I watched the budget speech and it was an hour of politics and 30 seconds of policy. His figures on the deficit and the debt are not credible. Things are not all ok. Please face reality. ‘Tighten our belts’ is a great euphemism – there is a colossal black hole in our financial circumstances. Why was there no spending review – what are the real figures – no one in labour can now be trusted.
To see so much time given over to Ashcroft in the budget – I couldn’t care less – couldnt care about Byers either – I do care about the future of my country and I wish the Labour party gave a damn. Gordon first, Labour second, Scotland 3rd and Britain last.
The one thing that could have been worse would have been Mandelson reading the budget – watching him after on TV was like a car crash.
Anytime a politician asks for the camera to be turned off you know it’s bad. Especially as everybody knows that the camera always stays on and what follows is the stuff that gets the most exposure. Silly man.
Why is it he wants to do this job again?
Very competent budget -appealing to the middle ground -whilst having enough in the circumstances to please Labour activists -esp if the Tories are flushed out more on the cuts they plan (which may end up being toned down imo).
On the video thing -I fear it might be a “non-gaffe gaffe”. For every (possibly left-leaning anyway) person it amuses or enrages -there will be kudos to Cameron for being a “regular guy under pressure”. Remember – George Bush went on to WIN after his failure to know who the leaders of various countries were “General -?”. I think he may end up fixing this issue anyways.
I couldn’t understand the political imperative for announcing Mr & Mrs Cameron’s forthcoming pregnancy.
Now it’s clear in the light of this embarrassing little film.
Yes, it was all about credibility – and Darling failed comprehensively. There is one issue and one issue alone that matters – this horrendous defecit that New Labour has saddled the country with.
Darling’s Plan? Sell the Dartford River Crossing to pay down the National Debt. I don’t think so.
New labour inherited an annual defecit of £7bn and bequeath a £170bn annual defecit to their successors.