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It finally looks as though David Cameron and the Tory Party have decided to forget about the bi-partisan approach to the British economy and go on the attack. Twice in these past few days, George Osborne has attacked Gordon Brown’s handling of the economy.

The task of the Tory Party is not an easy one, speak loudly and they will be accused of “Talking the Pound/Economy down.” Speak not at all and they will be accused of being “weak and lacking in ideas” but this period is now passing and their patience to date should reap a reward.

An Early General Election ?

One of the DT journalists Iain Martin wrote an excellent article on just why, in his opinion, there will not be an early General Election. Cutting it down to the bare essentials, his main argument is that no one has a clue as to what is going on yet with the Global economy and therefore, even less of an idea how to resolve it because as they don’t know “the question”, how can they provide an “answer ?” From this his view is that it suits both Brown and Cameron to let it all drift for another 18 months when there has to be an Election – the fog might have cleared somewhat.

What Is the Difference ?

The “tipping point” was undoubtedly the fall in the value of Sterling against both the Dollar and the Euro plus the Drowning Street rumour mill talking about “stimulus packages” built on increased British Government borrowing. In fact that same rumour mill seems to be indicating that Alastair Darling is opposing Brown over this. Whilst in one sense these rumours may have contributed to subsequent events, the “markets” seem to have made up their minds, the British Government is not ‘Blue Chip’ creditworthy at this time.

The truth is that no one can say hand on heart that they know “the answers” to the current situation but for the UK, the arguments have narrowed around the value of Sterling. Gordon Brown is either a downright liar or he is going slowly mad – “Those the Gods wish to destroy…” For him to say that the UK economy is best placed of all the Western economies to survive the ‘downturn’ is plain nuts when the IMF and every other similar body is saying the exact opposite.

If Brown hadn’t been so profligate in the past with his madcap schemes and vast expansion of the public sector, a stimulus package involving an increase in public spending today would be possible. However he wasn’t so a reduction in the size of the State which means substantial job losses is likely the only remedy to put us on a par with other more sensible economies.

Who Pulls the Trigger ?

Although Brown seems to be enjoying this crisis no doubt comforting himself with thoughts of “Cometh the hour, cometh the man…”, he is clearly running out of road and options. It is now 14 months since the Northern Rock fiasco and he has learned nothing from it and didn’t foresee the impacts it might have. If he had any ability in managing the economy, he would have quietly cut back spending on the more contentious and expensive projects such as ID Cards plus, a full and detailed spending review that detailed “impacts” should have been undertaken – then.

The likely reality is that by putting clear water between Brown’s Government and the Tory Party, the game is set for all the truth to come out on all costs including public sector pensions and the PFI projections. There are going to have to be heavy cuts in public spending and that means job losses, Labour should face these and not leave it all to an incoming Tory Government.