The Tories now have a monopoly on the language of optimism

So how big a blow was the news that we’re still in recession to Gordon Brown?  Well, compare and contrast his latest podcast on the Downing Street website with David Cameron’s article in the Sunday Times. 

Brown’s effort is necessarily defensive.  Gone is the “we’re leading the world” bombast of a few weeks ago, to be replaced with a crude “pledge” to get the economy growing again by 2010:

“My pledge to you is to make reform of the financial sector a reality, and to see Britain’s economy return to growth by the turn of the year.”

While Cameron’s effort is considerably more agressive, and concentrates on outlining a “pro-growth, pro-enterprise agenda”.  The concluding paragraph rather sums up the tone of the piece:

“I know that a vision of growth may seem a long way off in the light of the latest figures showing that we are still in recession.