What short memories people have...

I vividly remember when Stock Broker Belt Eshers town centre was full of charity shops..

Lets bring back the stop go policies of Thatcher and Major.

Lets bring back soaring interest rates, record home repossessions, and 3 million unemployed..

Remember loser Lawson.

Ah yes, The good old days indeed

brian bunting, chorley. lancashire,

Blair the man who gave us "tough on crime,tough on the causes of crime" and "education,education,education." Please don't talk about vision.Blair despite all his talk and spin,left the country in a mess.Immigration and border controls totally out of control.Iraq a complete and utter disaster.House prices so high that our children have nowhere to live.Gun crime and drug related crime out of control.I don't know how he has the audacity to even think in this way.His idea of vision was to sex up dossiers and cause the deaths of innocent people.

Mike, Dunstable, England

"said one confidante of the former prime minister"

"said a former cabinet minister"

"Another Blair ally said"

"It was reported last night that three former ministers – Stephen Byers, Charles Clarke and Alan Milburn – are planning a series of media appearances and speeches to point out where Brown is going wrong."

If these are the three you quoted, why didn't you say so? If they aren't why do you not name them? Unattributed quotes, where the speaker doesn't have the guts to be named or just has the intention to spin a politcal line, are a real turn off. Interesting for you Westminster village lot no doubt, but not to anyone else.

Mark, Horsham,

One wonders whether the Bliar faction of New Lie-bour always planned this...

Don't forget that Bliar hated Prime Minister (Crash Gordon) Brown, Unelect.....

Pete Balchin, Solicitor , Bristol, UK

New Labour has needs vision? Shoulda gone to Specsavers!

Diane Millman, South Brent,

Is there any difference between Labour and the Tories? If there is I can't see it. At least in Scotland and Wales there is a genuine alternative.

Joe Middleton, Edinburgh, Scotland

Blair told Cameron not so long ago that he would be floored by the 'Big Clunking Fist'. What a joke that has proved to be! Brown's response to Cameron re: ending the Punch and Judy show was the desperate plea of a man on the ropes. Cameron tore him to shreds at PMQs, and quite right too. This demonstrated that Brown lacks the strength of character to stand up for Britain's interest, as we'll see next week when he signs the European Constitution.

Carl Jackson, London,

Democracy in our country is dying. Whether you vote Conservative or Labour they're both the same. The politics of this country is in an apathetic and vulnerable state.

George Owens, Addlestone, Surrey

Politics is about survival and lying................. yawn .

If you think its about you,............. i'm sorry, its not.

From the leisure society to the ecotown, thats all ive
witnessed...........

Lies, lies and more lies.

M walker, worcs, worcs

Donna Walker, Effingham, Surrey.
What a lovely post! A mother's unselfish vote for the future.
I believe this is Mr Brown's big problem : with him the future isn't bright .

Sally, York, Yorks.

He should be called "incapability Brown" - totally agree that he's drifting and showing no real vision or leadership. Come back Tony, all is forgiven.

Rob, Birmingham, UK

Cameron is an Old Etonian bully. Which part of his tirade was a question to the Prime Minister?
Gordon Brown reminded him that he (Cameron) had vowed to end the "Punch and Judy Show". He also explained how the Tory proposals for a £2M Iheritance Tax threshold were flawed and unaffordable.

Jack Stevenson, Dumfries, U.K.

The sooner the English have the bottle to get rid of Brown and his Scottish mafia the better... spineless and arrogant he has no bottle, no vision and is a liability to England, and the rest of the UK. What can we do to end the Brown nightmare

Michael, London,

Feeling the pinch, well that 's all because we are paying for the labour goverments spending plan. The reallity is that people who earn between 50k and 80k are worst of than those on the lower tax bracket. Overspending in the public services would be o.k if we see the benefit. Time for change.
Erik Muller Oxforshire.

Erik Muller, Cmbe, Oxfordshire

Bliar had pretty much 100% support from Brown - this is how he repays Gordon? - so much for loyalty.

I'm glad the twister has gone, after throwing away the best political concensus for a century, may he rot in poverty.

Bill Bird, Wallasey, Wirral

Bring on Proportional Representation, then perhaps we will have a Parliament which represents the way the British people have voted, and not a distorted result of a 30 per cent "majority". These clowns, whether Labour or Conservative, are all the same - evidenced by their policy stealing, which has worked both ways.

Neil, Gloucestershire, England

Most Brits are shaking their thick, drink-sodden heads and realising Blair was the best they had for a generation. Only now it may be too late - we are stuck with the usual British alternative of wobbly leaders who waffle and fudge and accomplish little. Also, if they did some basic analysis they would find that much of the incompetence and waste of the Blair years wasn't Blair's fault, but that of Brown and his faction in the Labour Party. The truth always outs in the end.

Bob Macdonald, London,

Petrol --in France it is cheaper by several pence and AND it incudes road tax...........
And PM Brown...............................the man who went to Iracq and made a false statement about troop withdrawals.....on camera just prior to his intended election....
I prefer the petrol -whatever the price!

mike, oxford, england

Blair says that Brown is "empty".

Well, yes. But isn't there a saying about pots and kettles?

Michael Bruce, Selby, Yorkshire

Typical media distortion. Blair's friends 'say he is unhappy'
What did Blair say in fact? Don't put words in his mouth.
Petrol prices are a reflection of world oil prices which the government does not control. The tax to discourage unecessary use of fuel, I have no problem with that.
Has nobody noticed that the Tory front bench is littered with failed leaders. Clarke, Howard, IDS, Hague etc.

billcarr, turku, finland

Can we please know how the opinion polls are constructed, what questions are asked and the sample of people questioned. Nobody in my family nor friends have ever been polled!

The media are hyping up the contest between Labour and the Conservatives, they are overjoyed that they have at last got something to get their teeth into, even if it is exaggerated truth. For example, an allowance of £600,000 was already available to married couples via Wills set up as Trusts and at the last budget Gordon Brown raised this to £700000 by 2010 (not that far away from the Tory proposal). The only thing the latest arrangement has done is to save these estates from legal fees of setting up a Will! At PMQa David Cameron and the back benchers behind him came across as playground bullies in their language and jeering. Not the sort of people we want running the country.

sk, Eastbourne, East Sussex

Stephen Byers is going to point out where Brown is going wrong, God help us all.

Michael Francis, Hillingdon, UK

TIM
You forgot global warming -we ARE living in Cuba!

Bob , Essex,

TB has got a lot of cheek for this. He left Brown holding the financial fort for a decade while he played King of the World. Now look at the mess coming out into the open.

Paul, London, Canada

More Labour means more taxes and more spending.
£1 per litre of petrol? legalised theft!

Phill Barlow, The Wirral, England

To Norman Rigby I say :

Vote labour see your council tax more than double!!!!

See Income tax increase by 30%

See national insurance rise by 7%

See fuel duty rise year on year...!!!

and many many more tax increase under Robber Baron Brown !!! and now followed by his glove puppet chancellor !!

So you are talking rubbish about VAT...just how many stealth taxes and more have we had to endure since 1997 I say !!!

Lets get back to giving peole the chance to keep more of what they earn instaed of giving it to Brown and Co to be spent unwisely...

90 plus deaths on the NHS from CD and lots more from MRSA...

we are living in a banana republic - high taxes - no benefits - might as well be living in Cuba !!!

Tim, Royston, herts

Tony Blair will have enjoyed Brown's last Wednesday fiasco almost as much as I did. Can't wait for the next PM's Question Time. Bring it on.

Ron, Bedford, U.K.

Brown doesn't run the country.. The City of London does. Unfortunately though you can't vote it out!

Scamp, Aberdeenshire,

What scares me is the fickle way in which the british electorate swicth loyalties, it appears just on a single speech.
At least Brown has some charisma, Cameron just makes my skin crawl, especially when he claims that his Toff Tory education puts him in touch with ordinary people.
Brown's bigest mistake was to entertain Thatcher instead of just ignoring her.

Note to Donna: don't kid yourself that Mr. C and co really care about you.

David, QUettreville Sur Sienne, France

I certainly hope that Brown does not start giving handouts to married couples. All families need support, not only ones that have gone through a marriage.

There is a reason that millions of us are scrambling to move to Europe. It certainly is not because the absurd and damaging policies of the Thatcher/Major right wing me, me, me agenda was right.

Twenty years of their Socialism against our deregulated, perfection of the markets destroyer of family life is the reason.

Who are the most unhappy people in Europe? The Socialists or us?

Robin Behan, LONDON,

Some people make good leaders and some are just awful.
Mrs Thatcher was a superb leader who went on too long and
had to be brought down, her replacement - John Major was
a joke. Tony Blair also was a superb leader who went on too
long and had to be encouraged to leave. His replacement
Gordon Brown is starting to look and act like John Major.

Philip, Dorset, England

A vote for the Tories is a vote for an increase on VAT.
Remember the past. 1979 --- 8% --- 1997 --- 17.5%
Don't let it happen.

Norman Rigby, Wigan, England

"But when he talks of change, it sounds like he means a break with the past and new Labour" - doh! Go figure! That's exactly what it is - a return to traditional Labour values, and not a continuation of Thatcher-lite Conservative policies.

Brown will soon re-establish himself and the Labour Party, and the Cameron will be forced to lurch back to the right.

Not having a November election was the right thing to do, and Brown will use the next 18 months to begin to build the kind of Britain so many of us hoped for on 2nd May 2007.

Timothy I Mullen, Stoke-on-Trent, UK

When it comes to emptiness Blair qualifies as an expert witness. Brown must be really empty.

John Vincent, Christchurch, New Zealand

Labour has become a one man party under Gordon Brown. That might be fine for the Soviet Union or a Putin style government but not for Britain.

His almost total lack of acknowledgement of Tony Blair at the last Party Conference signifies a certain kind of unattractive small mindedness and insecurity.

This has been most evident from the last few weeks where he seemed to put the governing the country on hold, in favour of playing political games involving election timing, stealing policies, making incredulous statements to journalists on National TV and allowing himself to be baited at PMQs.

Brown needs to stop playing silly political games and start being serious about reacquiring a vision and more importantly delivering it.

John Goh, Welwyn Garden City, UK

Gordon Brown will be Tony Blair's John Major. Tea with Lady Thatcher won't change anything.

Ronnie, PARIS, FRANCE

Oh my Gosh!! Poor Brown!! But I'm a Labour

Joaquim Gaye, Paris, France

Now Labour (Brown) seem to be moving stance to promote the Tory policy to support marriage through the tax system. Why don't they just resign and hand over government to the party that is in touch with the electorate and understands what is needed to support the hard-working families who underpin this country.

(Input from a divorced, single mother, by the way. I have nothing to gain financially from this, except the knowledge that family life for my sons, when and if they become parents, will be supported by the Government of the day).

Donna Walker, Effingham, Surrey