By Andrew Grice

As if Alistair Darling does not have enough on his plate a he finalises his Pre-Budget Report on Monday, another problem is the talk of Westminster. There are growing concerns among ministers and MPs that Gordon Brown's much-praised rescue of the banks has done nothing to unblock the system and persuade them to start lending to businesses and home-buyers.

This is serious - for the economy, not just Brown's reputation as the man who saved the (financial) world. As Vince Cable, the Liberal Democrats' impressive Treasury spokesman, pointed out today, the money at the banks' disposal dwarfs even the most ambitious "fiscal stimulus" (tax cuts and higher government spending on building projects) that could be announced on Monday. If the banks don't start to lend it, then the recession could be long and deep, not short and sharp as the Government hopes.

By Andrew Grice

Fascinating piece of body language in Prime Minister's Questions just now. Gordon Brown was repeatedly prompted by the man sitting next to him - Ed Balls, the Children's Secretary. I suspect he was there because Brown was under-briefed about the tragic death of 17-month old Baby P a week ago. Brown aides expected David Cameron to go big on the case again today, although he wisely gave it only a brief mention and focused mainly on the economy. What was interesting is that Balls advised the PM what to say several times on the economy too. The real Chancellor Alistair Darling, who normally sits next to Brown, was next to Balls but barely got a word in. Balls knows his onions of course, as Brown's former chief economic adviser at the Treasury. But Brown's willingness to consult him was a reminder of just how close the two men are.

By Andrew Grice

With one bound, David Cameron is free... to promise tax cuts. Even before he had actually won the Tory leadership election three years ago, Cameron looked people like me in the eye and vowed that he would never fight a general election promising upfront tax cuts because that had not worked in 2001 and 2005 - when Labour translated the pledge into "Tory cuts" in public services. Today the Tory leader turned that strategy on its head after being outflanked by promises of tax cuts to keep the economy moving by Labour and the Liberal Democrats. He abandoned the Tories' pledge to match Labour's public spending totals, from 2010-11 onwards. That allowed him to promise to make "permanent" the "temporary" tax reductions to be announced in the Pre-Budget Report on Monday.

By Andrew Grice

Normally, it is opposition frontbenchers who claim the scalp of a government minister by forcing them to resign. Today the politician who appears to be fighting to keep his current job is George Osborne, the shadow Chancellor. And ministers are doing their best to push him out. His foe Lord Mandelson, who knows a bit about being forced to resign (twice), has accused him of being "reckless and irresponsible" and to "undermine the confidence of markets" by predicting a run on the pound at the weekend.

Osborne has fought back by issuing a graph showing the value of sterling. It shows it sliding after the Chancellor Alistair Darling announced that Gordon Brown's fiscal rules were under review on 18 July; a further slump after Darling warned that Britain faced arguably its worst economic crisis for 60 years on 29 August and another blip after the Chancellor hinted he would spend his way out of recession in 19 October. No doubt the markets were taking account of other factors too. So far, sterling is up today. So Osborne can't be blamed by Labour for another slide. No doubt ministers will accuse him of getting it wrong, though. A win-win situation for them.

By Andrew Grice

Gulliver Gordon is gallivanting around the world again, according to the Tories. OK, I paraphrase. But the Tories have been sniping at Gordon Brown, now in America on the latest of a long line of trips in the wake of the financial crisis. In recent days, David Cameron has said people "want to know politicians are on their side - not the other side of the world." George Osborne, who knows a bit about overseas travel, complained about "yet another foreign visit" by Brown.

By Andrew Grice

Why do politicians obsess about the potential downfall of their own party's leading figures? Until recently, you could hardly bump into a Labour MP without being told that Gordon Brown's days as Prime Minister were numbered. Now he is safe, the boot is on the other foot. Tory MPs speak of little else than whether George Osborne will keep his post as shadow Chancellor. He is judged to have had a bad economic war and to have lost the mad battle of Corfu he waged against Lord Mandelson by revealing what he said about Brown at their private dinner there in August.

By Andrew Grice

An unusual session of Prime Minister's Questions today. We all expected it to be dominated by the economy, after another set of gloomy unemployment figures this morning and the Bank of England's warning that the economy could contract by 2 per cent next year. David Cameron began with a question about the tragic death of Baby P in Haringey, north London, and said he would turn to the economy in due course. But he never got there as he became embroiled in a spat with Gordon Brown about the death of the 17-month-old boy.

By Andrew Grice

A general election atmosphere at Westminster today. Gordon Brown called a 9.30 press conference so David Cameron pre-empted it by holding one at 8.30, complete with bacon butties for early risers like me. I almost expected the Liberal Democrats to call a 7am presser, which is what they have to do to get a hearing at election time.

The issue which dominates most elections - tax - was top of the agenda too. Brown gave another hint that unfunded tax cuts will be announced soon to try to keep the economy moving. He wouldn't go into detail but stressed the need for an international "fiscal stimulus" with countries co-ordinating their action. Naturally, the PM was dismissive of Cameron's £2.6bn plan, which aims to safeguard 350,000 jobs by handing firms a £2,500 national insurance cut if they take on someone who has been out of work for three months.

By Andrew Grice

In characteristic style, Trevor Phillips has stirred up a debate about the prospects of Britain having its own Barack Obama. The outspoken chairman of Britain's Equalities and Human Rights Commission accused his own party, Labour, of "institutional racism" in a weekend interview in The Times but then appeared to backtrack after an angry backlash from Labour politicians.