Today in Politics: Be straight, Prime Minister
A good, if predictable, line of attack from David Cameron in Prime Minister's Questions just now. He accused Gordon Brown of not "being straight" with the British people over the election that never was (nothing to do with the opinion polls); yesterday's climbdown on 10p tax (nothing to do with next week's Crewe and Nantwich by-election) and the Union between Scotland and the rest of the UK (no split with Wendy Alexander, Labour's leader in Scotland). The Tory leader accused Brown of putting short-term decisions of the national interest to try to save his disastrous premiership.
Yet Brown didn't make a bad fist of hitting back and the mood on the Labour backbenchers seemed more cheery than in recent weeks, thanks to the spectacular £2.7 bn U-turn on 10p tax. The PM launched his weekly attack on Cameron, saying it was about time the "salesman" started to show some substance on policy. He chided the Tory leader for "playing politics" rather than defending the Union or not saying whether they support the 10p tax compensation scheme.
On 10p, Brown had a point, since the Tories have been demanding such a package for weeks (without saying what they would do). A 2-2 draw but it was only the first leg, since Brown is also making a Commons statement on the Government's legislative plans. Match report later.
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