Payback time

I said last week that the Tories, and Cameron in particular, have been ominously quiet over the economic gloom descending on this nation, but with the Conservatives having their conference this week Call Me Dave couldn't avoid the problem any longer.

And as I noted last week, Cameron's decision to go along with this current government's economic ideas means that he is in no position to offer alternatives. An opposition leader that can't oppose the government - just what we need!

"We can't allow what happened in America to happen here," the Conservative leader said, as he pledged to work with the government to bring stability to the financial crisis.

The point is - if Dave had done his job before rather than "working with the government" then much of this current problem could have been avoided. But he didn't. Instead, he just went along with it all and even claimed that, should he become Prime Minister, he'd do the same.

In an emergency statement to the Conservative party conference in Birmingham, Cameron vowed put party politics aside as he unveiled a three-point plan to protect Britain from the worst of the economic fallout.

Are you ready for the sheer brilliance of this three point plan?

Cameron called on the government to:
• pass legislation to pass legislation to protect failing banks

Pass legislation to protect failing banks? But that's what the government are doing anyway, Dave - and to be honest, most of us don't see why our money should be used to bail out banks when other businesses (MG Rover, anybody?) are left to go to the wall. Why are banks so special?

• accelerate legislation to protect people's savings,

Savings are already protected up to around £35,000 (maybe more now?). So it's not going to really bother that many people is it. Besides which, most people - if they have any sense - will be taking steps of their own to protect their savings. Like withdrawing all their cash from the bank and sticking it into a building society.

• and break the self-fulfilling cycling that is reducing banks' ability to lend.

Sorry, but that last point is garbage. The banks do not have a "reduced ability to lend" - they have a reduced WILL to lend. This was the inevitable consequence of an economy fed on credit and the government - both this and the previous Tory one - are responsible for encouraging that. Tighter credit control will not be a bad thing in my opinion. It is simple housekeeping - don't spend what you haven't got and don't borrow what you can't afford.

Cameron thought he was onto a winner when he hitched the Tory party to the liberal progressive bandwagon. It was based on the belief that the Labour party were doing well because they had proven policies. But the policies were never proven - just supported by a huge amount of borrowed cash. And when you borrow policies, just like borrowing cash there comes a payback time.