"We cannot believe our luck that Gordon Brown is getting it so horribly wrong," David Curry, the Skipton and Ripon MP, told me the other day.

A natural realist, the former minister is well versed with the Tory false dawns of recent times.

But, even after a successful conference, I would still sound this warning to David Cameron as he prepares for power. The Tories are not winning the next election. Labour is losing it. And that, in itself, poses a problem for the Tories.

There is the prospect that they will come to power because voters believe they are the "least worst" option rather than as a consequence of the strength of the policies outlined in the Conservative manifesto.

One of the reasons is that Mr Cameron – and his sidekick George Osborne – have yet to convince voters that they have the experience to tackle the credit crunch and downturn in the global economy.

I have lost count of the number of occasions that their position changed during the Northern Rock crisis, the acquisition of HBOS by Lloyds TSB – and the Government's emergency action to halt the practice of short-selling in the money markets.

Cameron and Osborne might sound good, but their economic approach still does not stand up to scrutiny – an omission highlighted in a withering attack by Dr Andrew Hilton, a director of the Centre for the Study of Financial Innovation.

He says the current Tory front bench is one of the most inexperienced in history on financial matters. "The route now is straight out of Oxford and Cambridge, into PR or political research and, before you know it, they've made it on to the front bench," he observes.

"The lack of financial experience is a big lacuna."

I agree. And it is also why Osborne should be shuffled sideways and replaced by the veteran Ken Clarke, the last Tory Chancellor of the Exchequer.

Clarke has the political acumen to issue the last rites to Brown's government, he has a persona that appeals to ordinary voters – and he has the economic experience to put the country back on track.

The sooner he is appointed, the better. Or, failing that, there's always York-born Vince Cable – the Liberal Democrats' economics commentator.



RUTH Kelly was, surely, the worst Transport Secretary that this country has ever had to endure. She will not
be missed.

Yet the only reason that she survived such a lacklustre 15 months at the Department for Transport is because the Conservatives' opposite number is someone even more unimpressive; one Theresa Villiers.

She has patently failed to take forward the commendable work undertaken by her predecessor, the highly-rated Chris Grayling, who possessed the foresight to recognise the scale of the public transport deficiencies in Northern cities like Sheffield and Leeds.

Ms Villiers – just like her now departed Labour counterpart – is yet another politician who has been hopelessly over-promoted. After all, she was only elected to the Commons three years ago. Representing a seat in North London, her interventions on transport have been extremely biased in favour
of the capital at the expense of
other regions.

David Cameron is now likely to conduct his own reshuffle after Mr Brown's yesterday. He should remove the Shadow Transport Secretary and appoint someone who understands the importance of the brief.

For starters, there's Robert Goodwill – the Scarborough MP and number two in the Tory transport team. At least he knows that the Conservatives' policies must extend beyond the northern outskirts of Chipping Barnet, the constituency of the aforementioned
Ms Villiers.



THERE are some within the Government who believe Jacqui Smith – the plain-speaking Home Secretary – could be Labour's equivalent to Sarah Palin, the Republicans' vice-presidential nominee in the United States.

I disagree. Ms Palin is a one-off. Politicians should also rise to the top
on merit and develop their own personality rather than trying to ape someone else.

I also think Ms Smith's candidature for the Labour leadership would quickly unravel if her comments made at a fringe event at Labour's recent conference were more widely
reported; namely her prediction that
at least half of the Cabinet posts in the UK will be occupied by women within four years.

The only way that this could be achieved would be for even more women to be over-promoted into positions where their policy inexperience would then be ruthlessly exposed.

Those supporting the unofficial "Smith for PM" campaign should only have to look Stateside to the difficulties now confronting Governor Palin for definitive proof on why merit should still be the defining quality when making political appointments.



I'VE just received through the post at Richmond towers, no expense spared, an eight-page full colour pamphlet from Bradford and Airedale NHS Primary Care Trust outlining its
GP services.

It's quite an impressive production – apart from the fact that it is being distributed in neighbourhoods in
Leeds that do not come under the Trust's remit.

This is not the first time that it has happened. And, doubtless, it won't be the last – judging by the lack of financial controls within the health service.



IT was nice to see that retired chatshow host, Sir Michael Parkinson, is not allowing his fame to get the better of him as he starts promoting his eagerly anticipated memoirs.

He's gone a long way since growing up in Cudworth, on the outskirts of Barnsley. His father Jack, a miner who died prematurely from lung disease, told the young '"Parky" if ever he tried to get a job at the colliery he would "kick him all the way home".

"You can rely on Yorkshire people to talk straight," admitted Sir Michael the other day with typical candour.

"An old man in Barnsley said to me recently, 'So, you're Jack Parkinson's lad. What you been up to?'."