Peter Oborne (London, Daily Mail): Is Cameron making a decisive impact as an alternative to Brown? The Sunday Times have just given him a YouGov 16 pt lead in the wake of his family offensive including his ITV package when they let in the cameras to observe the Camerons with their children including their disabled son. Apparently he was not so happy about the picture of him and the pr man Alan Parker swimming together off the golden sands of South Africa, which the Mail on Sunday ran and OK picked up on. Given the lamentable performance of the government, there is still a feeling that Cameron is simply too like New Labour. Basically Cameron is emerging as the heir to Blair with a similar promiscuous affection for the super-rich and their creatures, such as Parker and the Freud pr agent who is married to Elizabeth Murdoch.
One had hoped that Brown would reject all this and set a more decent standard of politics with much greater integrity. Unfortunately he too has decided to go down the same route and the latest set of Downing Street appointments - a pr spiv from Alan Parker's Brunswick, a Goldman Sachs financier and a 'brand manager' called David Muir from the WPP advertising group - is incredibly sad. The two main parties are both led by men who seem to have been hexed out by the shallow glamour of Blair and his pretense of conviction. Nor has Nick Clegg emerged with any distinction. This is why Vince Cable is now the opposition politician everyone wants as Prime Minister.
