Mr. Consistency

"I tell you we have learnt from past mistakes. Just as you cannot spend your way out of recession, you cannot, in a global economy, simply spend your way through a recovery either."

Sober, realistic and honest words - but who said them? They were spoken by Gordon Brown, at the Labour Party Conference in September 1996, and to emphasise his point he turned on his critics on the left of the party and said, "..losing control of public spending deosn't help the poor."

These words were unearthed by the Tories, and quoted by George Osborne yesterday.

In 1996 G.Brown was beginning his relationship with Miss Prudence. He ditched her, after 2000 and formed his alliance with Miss Gofa Broke, an altogether racier prospect. Now he does nothing but quote Miss Broke. Ah how things change. He is under her emtional spell.