Cameron: ‘Phoney’ Brown has lost authority
David Cameron today accused Gordon Brown of losing his political and moral authority.
The Conservative leader said the prime minister was treating the public like fools by refusing to hold an election and then denying he had been motivated by Labour’s poor lead in the polls.
To a jeering Commons chamber, Mr Cameron said Mr Brown’s actions over the past week had opened up a “credibility gulf” and posed a “big question” over whether the public can believe anything the prime minister says.
Mr Brown attempted to attack his opponent’s own poor record, pointing to his U-turns on grammar schools, VAT on airfares, parking charges and museum fees.
Conservative MPs lined up to mock Mr Brown, with the session opening with a pointed question about bottle banks and Mr Cameron quoting from Mr Brown’s own book on courage.
Asking the prime minister if he realised how “phoney” he looked, Mr Cameron taunted him as the first PM in history to “flunk an election because he thought we was going to win it.”
Mr Cameron focused his attack on Mr Brown’s credibility, rather than accusations last night Labour have “stolen” the Conservatives’ policies on inheritance tax and non-domicile taxes.
But the prime minister was still forced to defend Alistair Darling’s announcements yesterday.
Mr Brown insisted the chancellor had addressed inheritance tax over the summer, addingLabour had been working to make taxation fairer since 1997.
Mr Cameron challenged him to “find some courage, discover a bit of bottle, get in the car, go down to Buckingham palace and call that election.”
Mr Brown insisted there was no public appetite for an election and instead the people wanted him to get on with the business of government.
He said: “We will govern in the interests of people, what matters for the health people is the health service, housing, education.”
The prime minister was once again forced to defend his decision not to hold a referendum on the EU treaty. He maintained the ‘red lines’ secured by Tony Blair were in Britain’s interests and meant a referendum was not necessary.
He reminded the House the Conservative front bench had denied the public a referendum on the Maastricht treaty during their own time in government.
Mr Brown said: “We have stood up for the British national interest, which is more than Conservatives did.”
An ill-advised question on NHS cuts later allowed Mr Brown to reclaim some of the initiative by attacking the Conservatives for their bungled health dossier this summer.
The prime minister had an easier time against the Liberal Democrat leader, who accused the government of ignoring the less well-off in yesterday’s pre-Budget report.
