Brown can only cry ‘free eye tests’ as Cameron sets his sights on success

Has it really come to this? The most entertaining moment of the debate tonight was Gordon Brown’s fixation with eye tests! Not cutting the deficit quickly, not reducing immigration, not succeeding in Afghanistan or discussing the future of the NHS. No, Gordon Brown seems to think that free eye tests are the most prominent issue of the day! Lest we think this was just an issue for Brown, David Milliband assured us that it was key for the whole party, when he was interviewed by Sky News immediately after the debate, shouting out ‘free eye tests’ again! Of course, this is part of a desperate Labour policy to scare the public about voting for a Conservative government.

Last week, there was no doubt that Cameron underperformed and left the public wondering about a Tory victory. But tonight he was almost back to his best and went some way to truly alleviating the doubts about a Tory government. He spoke with much greater passion and conviction tonight: on Europe he gave an answer which probably struck a cord with many of the public who are naturally euro-sceptic, unlike the other two who appeared blindly supportive of the European Union. There was at last also reference to the Big Society idea; one that he should have hammered home last week. This tied in nicely with the notion he repeated throughout the debate: that people who do the right thing ought to be supported. On the contrary, Brown constantly repeated his mantras about trying to solve society’s problems through state intervention.

It should be said that it was not a faultless performance by Cameron. There were a couple of times where he sounded a little awkward. There were also times where I still think he would have done better to hammer Brown. Every answer Brown gave which started with the words ‘we would do this’ or the like, did not have a shred of credibility. If Labour hasn’t done it by now, then what have they been doing for the last 13 years!?

For Cameron, there were still remnants of last week’s strategy of not attacking Brown or Clegg for fear of appearing like an Eton bully. However, he did attack a little more tonight, so the balance of that strategy was better. Has he done enough to make a Conservative majority a real possibility? The initial polls suggest not. Tonight was a huge step in the right direction. Cameron needs another big performance next week. I fear it may still, however, be a matter of too little, too late.