Cameron must not throw caution to wind

Britons must go to the polls before June next year. With Prime Minister Gordon Brown riding low in public opinion polls, all signs are pointing to the end of Labour's 12-year reign. Under the leader ship of David Cameron, the Conservative party is enjoying a nine-point lead over Labour. Last week, in the Tory's last party conference before the poll, Cameron was handed a national platform to deliver the speech of his life, an opportunity to convince that he and his party have the right stuff to lead the nation forward.

Former prime minister Harold Wilson cautioned that "a week is a long time in politics", and any election call is months away. Cameron delivered a clear vision and direction for his party. If anything, that alone differs the Tories from that of Labour, seemingly directionless under the flaccid leadership of Brown.

While it might have been easy to attack Brown, Cameron instead chose to focus on his party's priorities in running Britain, offering the electorate a clear vision: Local government will be overhauled to allow for the direct election of more mayors; education will be altered to allow private enterprises to run schools on a charitable status; welfare will be harder to come by; the National Health Service will be streamlined to get rid of red tape; and transport policies focus more on drivers — a third runway for Heathrow Airport will be shelved.

Cameron also envisages a slimmed down public service, promising to eliminate 20,000 jobs from Whitehall. He also pledged to reduce Britain's £175 billion (Dh1.02 trillion) deficit.

All of these politics appeal to the small ‘c' Conservatives across Britain. The question is whether they will be enough to bring the party to power.

And how much of the nine-point lead comes from Brown's unpopularity? Cameron must tread lightly.