Anyone else despair at the uselessness of Cameron.

[Gromit]

Dave the Cameleon was caught well off his guard by Brown. Apparently not having anticapted any Brown Budgetry trickery, he looked like a startled rabbit in the headlights. Having no plan B, the best he could offer was 'We told you tax cuts could be done'. Very unconvincing, and highlighted his naivety.

Can he get his act (and the Tories) before the next election?

[Gromit]

This link might be helpful:

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/opinion/main.jhtml? xml=/opinion/2007/03/22/do2201.xml

[badboy4life]

yes he can im not political but im going to vote tory just so gordon brown doesnt get to keep the prime ministers job.

[rja211077]

surely he (Cameron), in calling them tax cuts missed the point somewhat that the 2p cut in basic rate of income tax is, for most people, essentially balanced out by the abolition of the 10p lower rate.

i've not done any calcs, but this is what BBC said (that most people would not see much change in their take home pay)

[jno]

true; but I'm not sure being able to think quickly on your feet is necessarily a great qualification for leading the country, however impressive it may look on the telly. Blair does it very well, for instance, but it didn't stop him dragging the country into Iraq.

[Gromit]

jno,

I hinted in the question. He was not prepared (for every eventuality). He did not have a plan B. On a set piece like a budget, every angle should have been covered, and it wasn't. Made him look green (not in the environmental sense).

[jno]

agreed, Gromit, though I think it would be pretty nearly impossible for any opposition leader to plan for everything that could possibly be in a budget - he'd need plans B to Z1378. Chancellors always have the advantage with budgets. But I thought his 'one tax down, 99 up' was a fair off-the-cuff response. And I still don't think, really, that being quick-witted is actually a necessary qualification - except for barristers like Blair, who do need to think on their feet.

As for getting his act together before the election - Brown also has that problem; he's been waiting for months for Blair to get out of the way, watching the polls slide without being able to do a thing about it, as Blair blithely pretends Iraq isn't happening and tries to build up a legacy of environmental awareness. I look forward to seeing how Brown and Cameron actually match up when the time comes. I suspect the 'green' cyclist who has his chauffeur driving behind him with his briefcase may prove to have credibility problems.

[Loosehead]

It's worse than it seems because I think I'm right in saying that a copy of the budget is given to the opposition 1 hour before the speech, by tradition. Although It did seem in this case that perhaps Gordon broke with tradition!

[kwicky]

As first lord of the treasury, Brown, when he becomes PM will keep the tories tied up in knots for years to come. If the Tories kept quiet about their future policies they would give him less ammunition to aim at. The purpose of any opposition is to oppose and their own plans could wait for a new manifesto.

[StudentGal]

To be perfectly honest, I despair at the uselesness of most politicians. They're all a bunch of chocolate fireguards, ok till there's a bit of a smoulder then they melt into a nasty puddle on the floor that forms into a difficult stain that can't be removed for years.

I know Margret Thather wrecked the health service and the trains but at least the woman had a backbone. Then who did we get, the ever ill looking John Major. Goodness are we ever in a pickle with these wimpy blinking politicians. We should start the AB party and take over the world! Mua ha ha ha, I mean, the country, just the country...............................

[jno]

to be fair, I don't think any party wrecked the NHS, it just got overloaded. It was set up to try to stop people dying because they couldn't afford a doctor's fees, but now people demand expensive treatments for infertility (for instance) or want antibiotics whenever they've got a cold. It all costs money and it's the voters rather than the politicians who don't want to pay - look at the grumbles because Gordon Brown hasn't slashed everyone's taxes. It's taxes that pay for these things, and people want it all for nothing. People get the politicans they deserve.

Also, wasn't it Major who sold off the trains?