Osborne on the front foot against “do nothing” Brown

I’ve only just got around to reading George Osborne’s speech at Policy Exchange earlier today, and I’d recommend you check it out if you haven’t already (there’s a full text here).  Quite simply, it’s one of more confident and coherent statments that the shadow chancellor’s made during the downturn; full of effective attacks on Brown’s economic management, as well as – crucially – a few sensible suggestions to help the financial system recover.  The Tories aren’t yet ticking every box – I still think too few politicians, beyond Nick Clegg, are sticking up for the least well-off in society – but this is certainly an improvement.

So far as rhetoric’s concerned, one of the more striking aspects of the Tories’ New Year attack is how frequently it fires the “do nothing” charge right back at Gordon Brown.  Osborne was at it today – urging that “we need action and action now” – as was Cameron, who told