Does the Tory fightback have legs?

The Tory fightback has 'exploded into life' but can Cameron convince voters that that politics is more than just a shopping list and convey his vision of a Tory future?

The Tory fightback "exploded into life" this week when George Osborne said that only estates worth more than £1m would be liable for inheritance tax under a Conservative government, said Benedict Brogan in the Daily Mail. This would spare 98% of those currently caught by the tax and was aimed directly at Brown's "Achilles heel" the middle earners who have borne the brunt of his 111 stealth taxes. Mr Osborne said the £3.1bn cost would be met via a £25,000 levy on 150,000 non-doms'. Labour claimed the real number of non-doms was 114,000-120,000 and that many were not millionaires but nurses and junior City staff, leaving a black hole of £2.9bn. The Tories said their figures were based on official Government data and were "cast-iron".

This is a "very Tory version of Robin Hood", said Polly Toynbee in The Guardian; robbing the "stratospherically rich" to give to the "very, very rich". But it's high time this "flea bite of a gesture" was made. It is to Labour's shame that at their conference Brown was "silent on greed". Osborne has given him a cue to talk about wealth. This £3bn gift to the super-rich will "haunt the Tories" I was born with a tax-free million in my mouth' doesn't exactly fit the hard-working Tory story.

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