Cameron has the positioning right – but fiscal questions remain<br />

Here, CoffeeHousers, is my take on this morning’s Cameron interview:

1. General demeanor: excellent, articulate, confident. The complete opposite from Brown. It does make you think that he should wipe the floor with Brown in the TV debates.

2. “Last week we saw William Hague and George Osborne going to Afghanistan together. First shadow Chancellor, the man who is going to be in charge of the money, on the frontline seeing what is going on in Afghanistan”. Indeed, but the NHS pledge and deficit cut pledge imply deep cuts to the military. To govern is to choose, and Cameron has made his choice: NHS spending before the military. If I were Hague, I would not have joked about cutting the defence budget to punish the RAF for losing his bag en route there (as he did, see here). I’d recommend he asks the Treasury team for an illustrated projection about how the defence budget would have to look if NHS/DFIF is protected and the debt is increased at a slower rate than Labour.