"When a new Conservative administration comes to office it is usually at a time of economic trouble."

Shouldn't that read "a new Conservative government"? No separation of powers in Blighty, you know.

CT Barbarian, Fairfield CT, United States

It is their very appearance that may work against them as the result of this catastrophic financial fiasco -not of their making-- but sadly they resemble just the sort of pseudo spiv investment bankers with Bentley's and bonuses that people revile.
An elder statesman is needed to gain voter trust.

james allen, manchester, england

I think I've got it now: William Rees- Mogg is being comic-mock-ironic, or something like that. Right? But Steven, from Hobart Australia? Heaven only knows what he's banging on about. Decadent? Not much fun in Tazmania then.

Cirep G Nol, London,

If they are that good, why do they want Hazel Blears?

Giles, Nottingham,

How can you possibly claim that they are the best in 50 years? On the basis of frequently glib and opportunistic statements form their leadership? Their apparent popularity is more due to the current government's incompetence than any recent Tory achievements.

Gervas Douglas, Andorra la Vella, Andorra

You must have a short memories.
Bring back Tories that actually have experiance of both business and life.

Bernard Parke, GUILDFORD, Surrey

Best Tory team!
Best economic sense spoken recently comes from Vince Cable -LibDem, a pity.
When Nulabour came in my view was that they were the 'other tories'. Maybe Mr Cameron is peeved that Mr Brown fleeced ordinary workers better than the Tories ever could.
No proper voting choices for me!

Jo, Newton Abbot, England

"These people simply don't live in the same world as us"

Does John, Aberdeen, think the Labour leadership are 'men of the people'? Dream on! They've spent more time hanging out with and accommodating the super rich than all previous administrations put together!

anne, bournemouth,

Quote: "Cameron could field a shadow cabinet of sheep dyed blue and still expect a commanding victory."

Excellent judgement !

Just the same as Tony Blair won the 3 term over Howard, completely not competition, nor people's intention.

How many options do people have?

Gary, Derby,

same old chinless etonians.

watson, taunton, somerset

Best team in 50 years?! Better than Heath and Lord Hailsham or Thatcher and Whitelaw or even Major and Lamont? All of the foregoing having substantially more life experience than the privileged Messrs Osborne and Cameron.

Romans to Italians in three quick generations.

Edward Merritt, London,

If this is the best then heaven help us!

peter, worthing,

It makes no difference who forms the next government. We are part of, and at the mercy of, the global economy. Countries with widely different idealogies and economic polices are suffering the same problems. It is naive to think we can somehow exempt ourselves from the inevitable fall-out.

Andrew Lee, Storrington, UK

The Tories will win the next election just because they are not Labour, whose governance over the last decade has worked so badly that three-quarters of the electorate want to throw them out. Cameron could field a shadow cabinet of sheep dyed blue and still expect a commanding victory.

Diogenes, Sinope,

Rees-Mogg states that conservative govts always come back into power on the back of economic difficulties. My dear old friend, all govts come into power on the back of economic difficulties.

J.Galloway, leatherhead,

As a decadent people the British have the government they deserve. Changing the jockey won't change the horse. On the other hand who but a fool would vote for a man (Brown) who sold off the nations gold because he thought paper money was worth so much more.

Stephen , Hobart , Australia

labour are incompetent, greedy and unloved, but let's not get carried away. the tories are a bunch of vacuous buffoons in suits. their best bet is to shut up. they should have won the last election. to be honest, it's not really much a choice for the thoughtful voter. less government would be nice.

jem, london, uk

...and don't forget what happened to Britain between 1951 and 1964: the 'orderly management of decline.' Decline became a rout under Wilson and Heath, but the seeds were sown earlier

In the end you need the right policies however unpopular, and the character to push them through.

Ben, London, England

Brown has wasted, and is wasting, enormous sums of money on PFI projects. Even as the economy tanks, we will still have to pay these huge bills for decades to come.

Ian, sheffield, uk

Yes - one for one they appear more competent than the front bench opposite. That would not be difficult.
But you don't need an another unelected quango to regulate and control public spending - just good strong determined and accountable government

Simon Berry, York, England

I wouldn't vote for that braying rabble in a million years. The idea they're better than Mrs Thatcher's 1983 front bench is just laughable. The media can waffle on as much they want trying to convince us the Tories are 'electable' - but they told us that about Labour at the last election.

Tony Smith, Rochester, UK

Cameron's team better than Thatcher & Company? She was a phenomenon! She was the first to see the possibilities in Gorbachev. Predating Reagan, she began the Conservative wave that swept the globe. She put the spine in Bush 41 when Saddam invaded Kuwait. We'll not see her like again any time soon.

peter, miami, usa

It's not hard, right now I'd happily vote for the Chuckle Brothers as a viable alternative to Brown and Darling. The Tories are well aware of the national mood and are hedging their bets that no-one will bother to scrutinize policy that closely.

The Tories haven't guaranteed my vote just yet.

Paul, London,

I wouldn't trust the Tories to fly a kite never mind a complex economy. The Tory "we're just like you" mask has well and truly slipped recently. These people simply don't live in the same world as us and I have a deepeningly sick feeling I've heard it all before. Osborne turns my stomach.

John, Aberdeen, UK

How to curb the bonus culture and absurd salaries? Why, bring back the Healy super tax. Over, say, £100.000 you pay 90% income tax.
Over £200.000 income tax is 99%. Under £15.000 no tax. And more money and less tax to the retired because I am one. I would love to pay 90% tax or even 99%.

Peter Kaldor, Woking, U.K.

The Tory team may or may not be the best in 50 years. Any Tory team would be better than this lot. The cycle of tax, spend and waste is endemic to Labour, and this latest shower have merely confirmed most peoples expectations. Some things in life are inevitable, like dogs barking and babies crying.

Alan Gooch, Honiton, UK

One thing that has definitely improved under Labour is education. Having moved our children from state schooling to private in the mid-90s, then moved one back to state schooling for A-levels, we find the state schools offering far far more than private: resources, quality of teachers, etc.

Charan Muzaya, London, UK

The Tory party has historicaly supported the wealthy, so what we can expect of a Tory administration is business as usual for the bankers i.e. the very people that have got us into the credit crisis.

J Jones, london,

Good Lord! Are Labour Party employees simply inventing the ranting comments on this article?

GS, London, UK

If this is the best the tories can provide then God help us. What we need is a national government that is in nobody's pocket with the best from all parties involved. eg Vince Cable, for chancellor with Ken clarke for PM, Between them they could sort out this mess.

Johnty, wgc, uk

This recession was predicted in 2004 as its a cyclical downturn. The worst is yet to come, but hopefully we will be out of it by 2012. But the recovery after 2012 will take a good 10 years. Just in time for Labour to get back in and mess it up again.

Callum, Liverpool, UK

Talented? This bunch of Tories? Ha ha Mr Rees-Mogg. We had 18 years of Tory free market mantras, so regretably copied by a Labour government too cowardly to change anything.

And Cameron wants more of the same. With George Osborbe as Chancellor! At least you show that irony isn't dead...

Rob, London, UK

After listening to David Cameron and how labour should have fixed to roof while the sun was shining, a reference to the economy then my great fear is that after a Tory spell in government we would be left with no house, never mind roof.
Dave boy has said he will raise taxes, fantastic idea.

william thomson, lincoln, uk

I disagree in one respect. He says that the 1950's team "had one disadvantage ... they were ... older". I take the opposite view. The current team have insufficient experience of life to be as good. It should also be mandatory to have worked outside politics for at least 10 years before being an MP.

Jeremy, Scunthorpe, UK

Aren't two or three of this man's offspring standing as Tory candidates? Very objective commentary, i'm sure

Henry, london, UK

It's not about age: we need a conservative British government, not a communist scottish one that has looted the economy and constructed a regulatory system that has encouraged stupid decisions and smashed families.

Jamal Akhbar, Edinburgh,

An industrial machine not securely anchored to the floor will progresively shake itself to destruction and any one standing near it.This parliament is no longer bolted to the constitution of this country..The Cp is ;ino diferent as it is.Seeing that it serves not the crown nor represents the people.

G Blezard, London, uk

"When a new Conservative administration comes to office it is usually at a time of economic trouble" - that is usually because the other parties ruin it when they are in power, and people are more likely to vote for recklessness when times are good then when times are bad.

James E. Petts, Burnham, England

Rees Mogg says the opposite to the truth hoping it will come true. His 2 offspring conservative candidates are symptomatic of the talentless non entities with no experience who are in the current political class. Unlike him the public see low age and experience as a disadvantage. We need more Cables

David Cartright, Birmingham,

As a tax payer I want to be satisfied that the right people are at the helm of this country. Hmmm!! 5 are lawyers, 1 a teacher, 1 a Marxist Union Official and the rest have done nothing except Poltics. This motley crew of academics doesnt inspire much confidence!

Callum, Liverpool, UK

This Tory opposition is the most certain in 50 years to win an upcoming election. However, this is entirely unrelated to the ability of the party to govern. They have yet to prove themselves, even by proposing convincing policy arguments. We're in a multi party democracy, but with no choices....

Martin, Bristol, UK

Having presided over and encouraged the housing and debt boom Brown's claim to be the most experienced man to pull us out of the credit crunch is tantamount to saying that the fox in the hen house is best placed to save the remaining chickens. What a pathetic argument.

rob, Ipswich,

The best team,eh? Of the shadow cabinet, two were in PR, 2 in the media, 4 in law, 5 consultants(?) and 5 have never done anything except politics. Just the sort of c.v's I would want from candidates to to run my £535 billion business.

john problem, Hackney Wick, UK

William Rees -Mogg praises the Tories,what a surprise, after all, he is a died in the wool Labour supporter!
After thinking the Tories had joined the real world ,we are back to a bunch of Old Etonians ,who are the epitome of arrogant the old Tory 'we are the only ones who should govern' attitude

chris dee, london,

The debt numbers look big but a modest tax increase will sort out the problems over a few years. My guess is that 10p on income tax and a rise to 20 per cent for VAT will sort out the excess debt over a decade... No problem with that is there? Only the salaried lower middle class pays taxes anyway.

Colin, Malaga, Spain

It's not the team but the arrogant , smug leader that is the Tories biggest problem. I don't think Cameron has the gravitas to be PM

Keith Price, Luton, UK

Better: the best Tory team that hedge fund money can buy

Carlos Kleiber, London,

William Rees-Mogg's son and daughter are both Parliamentary candidates for the Tories in the next election. I do not necessarily disagree with a lot of what he says, and I enjoy reading his well written prose. However, I think that his articles about british politics should come with a caveat.

Christopher Kerr, London,

Being young and largely unproven doesn't mean that Cameron's team is the best for fifty years. Hague is a good bet, but became leader far too early. The rest are young, but strangely a throwback to a different age, when a row of Old Etonians was acceptable for a front bench. Boris Johnson? Oh no.

David Gardiner, Wolverhampton,

You never know how good a team is until they've played their first match. Most EU govts are running up horrendous debts at present which means a genuine recovery is at least 3 years away - and some govts will be replaced in the interim. June 9/09 will be the nemesis of at least 2: Greece's & UK's.

Dr David Green, Athens, Greece

We are the BIGGEST and the BRIGHTEST and the BEST.
Intellectually indomitable and illustrious and implacable and indefatigable and formidable and victorious.Oh no, Sir, not triumphalism. Aircraft Carriers!
Our views on deck hockey against that other lot.

Gut Liam, Hertford, England

I ALSO recall Mr Rees Mogg asserting, some 7 1/2 years ago, that George Bush would restore dignity to the Office of the President, and to the White House.....

David, Ljubljana,

More like the most over-rated team in 50 years. Can anyone name a single achivement of any of them? Have they ever run anything or done anything?

Tim, Aldershot, uk

ln 10 years Brown destroyed the British pension system

I Mack, Perth,

Surely it Brown only 1 year to ruin the Clarke inheritance - he started from day one with his cack-handed regulatory system, the vindictive raid on the denationalised companies, squandering the money, and cooking the books generally.

Michael Corby, London, Uk

Most of the Conservatives of 1951 had lived through 2 World Wars, all had lived through the Depression.

The 40 somethings of today have lived the whole of their lives in a world of plenty & far removed from war.

No comparison!

Now, if Boris was leader .................

Patricia Thornton, Veliko Tarnovo,

If Labour is indeed "home and dry" then we are not merely stuffed, we are well and truly stuffed.

Voting in another Labout government would be national economic suicide.

Martin, Newmarket, Suffolk

In the last three elections William Ress Mogg predicted a Tory victory. Now he has just assigned the kiss of death again. Cambell, Haig and Osborne what experience? We all remember Haig telling us what a wonderful man Jeffrey Archer was.

Alan Lewis, Bangkok, Thailand

If this is the best Tory team for fifty years, Labour should be home and dry!

sk, East Sussex, England

Comparing Michael Gove to Churchill, Butler, Eden or MacMillan is laughable. The most talanted people in the tories at the moment are Willetts and Duncan. George Osborne may well amount to something great one day but he has a lot to learn still.

Paul, Sheffield, UK

Yes but who is benefiting from undermining the banking system, some people who support the conservative party and have bankrolled some of it. A week ago DC said we must not restrict the markets. Now he's blaming GB for the fallout. My advice dont throw stones if you live in a glass house.

James , Brighton, England

Brown's irresponsible government will leave the UK paying for his debt for years to come .As well as the annual debt, he has hidden another £100 billion under PFI to keep it off the balance sheet. He then says his experience is what is required. It isn't ,he is totally responsible for this mess.

john, Bristol,