Gordon Brown must be looking back at the last few weeks with all the whist of someone on the receiving end of a beating from Ricky Hatton. Left reeling by a hail of blows over Smeargate, a barrage of hefty punches over Budget on Wednesday, and the right hand of Jacqui Smith's husband, Brown is left on the ropes.
The old policies, pursued by Labour (Old or New: drop the charade), have failed the British people. Their social policies are repressive and divisive. Their foreign and defence policy has been a series of betrayals. And whilst older voters may feel particularly betrayed, younger people must be even more aghast at their economic policies, as they burden us with yet more debt. This week, in which Chancellor Darling has maxed out the country's credit cards, announcing a £170bn budget deficit – as much as is spent on hospitals and schools put together – the tide is turning.
And, surprise, surprise, the country is sick of it. Never has a Prime Minister's opinion poll ratings sunk as low as Gordon Brown's, and to steal a turn of phrase from Dan Hannan: our economy's hull is sinking just as deep as Brown's popularity. But it is not enough for them to be wrong. If we want to right the boat when we get our chance: have to be right, and be seen to be right.
We have made great strides in that direction. David Cameron leads a newly-revitalised party, Boris Johnson won the youth vote for the Conservatives for the first time in modern history, and Hannan's has become a household name on the back of the Internet. Finally, young people are seen to matter again, and their voices are sculpting the political landscape.
But if those voters have flooded to our side over the past year, they can just as easily ebb away again over the next and leave us high and dry. Those people know that Brown and Darling are wrong, but that isn't enough, and everyone working for a Conservative government has to keep right - for the fate of our economy, our country, and our future.
