Gordon just can’t help himself, can he? There can’t be a simple dividing line
– oh no. It has to be one built on exaggerations, half-truths and plain lies. So it has always been with his brand of government, and for much of the time – think cuts vs
investment – it has worked in his favour. But tonight, despite a surprisingly punchy performance from the PM, it seems to have
backfired dreadfully.
The Tories are going big on those misleading Labour leaflets – and rightly so. Brown denied that he authorised them. But the fact that a Labour party political broadcast made similar claims about the Tories and old-age benefits makes it impossible for the PM to distance himself from this. And it won’t help that the spiciest moment of the TV debate – the bit that’s guaranteed to be repeated over the next few days – was David Cameron’s denial of Brown’s crude attacks.
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