Who wants to be a … Prime Minister?

Calm down, everyone, I'm not Prime Minister - yet

THE quiz show puns have been coming thick and fast on the news channels today in the wake of Gordon Brown’s remark that Britain needs a Prime Minister, “not a game-show host” – a not even thinly veiled personal attack on the style of Lib Dem Leader Nick Clegg. In many ways, I actually think Mr Brown was spot on with this comment. The problem is that he made it at the end of a week when he was anything but spot on.

No election campaign nowadays is complete without the gaffe. The media was waiting for it, in many ways it was just a question of who and when. And so it finally came on the penultimate Wednesday of the campaign. Gillian Duffy, a pensioner from Rochdale, could never have dreamed what fate had in store for her when she left her home to buy a loaf of bread, running into Labour’s entourage and finding herself thrust into the media spotlight in the now infamous Bigot-gate episode.

Mrs Duffy, a lifelong Labour supporter has since said that she was more upset by being described as “that woman” by the Prime Minister rather than the bigot comment which the press has focussed on. Either way, Mrs Duffy was genuinely saddened by the Prime Minister’s comments and his apparent lack of understanding, even disinterest, for the issues of concern to her. Mr Brown ended up symbolising the public perception of that difference between what politicians say to the electorate in public and what they are secretly (or in some cases not so secretly) thinking. He’s also succeeded in converting another voter to the won’t-be-voting camp.

The gaffe has greater resonance this time round since this looks like being, according to the polls at any rate, the most tightly-fought contest in years. The political anoraks are certainly having a field day discussing the myriad of possible outcomes with talk of hung parliaments, minority administrations or indeed a Conservative Government with a working majority.

Of course this election has been marked out from previous elections by the TV leaders’ debates. The full effect of these debates on the UK’s General Election landscape is probably yet to be realized and will no doubt be analysed and the subject of university theses for years to come.

If Nick Clegg was the first leader to employ some of the tricks of the new TV politics in his performance in the first debate – getting top marks for the normally frowned upon habit of camera-gazing – David Cameron came into his own in the final debate, ultimately achieving the most successful balance between style and substance. Gordon Brown was clearly the most uncomfortable with the debate format, as illustrated by his closing remarks in which he even seemed to admit to being “desperate”. I’m pretty sure that’s not what Gordon did actually say, but that’s the way it came across and, as we know, that’s what counts in the new leaders debate world order.

As David Cameron reminded us in an assured performance on Sunday’s Andrew Marr show, the challenges the next government faces are daunting. The election is taking place against an unprecedented gloomy set of economic indicators and the incoming government of whatever hue will have its work cut out to deal with the economic mess we are in.

And let’s be under no illusion about what needs to be done. There will be difficult choices, there will be cuts in waste and bureaucracy because there have to be. Public sector net borrowing – the gap between what the government raises in taxes and its spending – excluding the cost of interventions to support the financial sector, stood at £163.4 billion for the financial year just ended, up from £96.5bn in 2008/9. That’s 11.6% of gross domestic product, not a million miles behind the deficit ratcheted up by Greece, now being bailed out by its Eurozone partners and the International Monetary Fund.

These are the worst borrowing figures since records began in 1946/7. At the same time, the number of people out of work is at a 15-year high with inflation remaining way above target at 3.4%. This is the stark reality facing us after 13 years of economic mismanagement.

Britain needs change but more importantly it needs it fast. Without it our country’s Triple A credit rating is at risk. Indeed any potential review of the credit rating is currently on hold to see if Britain takes advantage of the window of opportunity the election offers us. The eyes of the world will be watching the outcome of this election. It is undoubtedly the most important election for our economy since 1979.

The last few weeks may have had some of the hallmarks of a reality TV show but sadly there is more at stake than just a TV phone-in result – and unlike Big Brother there is no off button if we don’t get the result we want.

Sometimes an image speaks a thousand words: “Goodbye. Thank you for shopping with us,” blared the supermarket slogan so painfully visible behind the Prime Minister as he toured a shopping mall last week. He’s been on a legendary spending spree that has left the UK’s credit cards maxed out.

So we are entering the final round of Who wants to be a Prime Minister. Only two days to go now until the poll that really matters but, as this campaign has shown so graphically, a lot can still happen.

Forget a week – we are after all now in a world where even a TV leader’s debate is a long time in politics.