Two Covers, Two Leaders

Two posts this evening on well-known blogs feature contrasting Time magazine covers. Iain Dale's blog reviews the current issue of Time (also linked opposite) and its profile of "British Prime Minister-in-Waiting David Cameron", a largely admiring article although one which does show up the paucity of Cameron's policy depth. The other post, by David Herdson guesting on Political Betting, uses the Timecover from 1990 showing Margaret Thatcher bowing out of office, as a hook to consider the impact of her forced removal and the likelihood of its being repeated for Gordon Brown today. Eighteen years apart, the two covers illustrate well the strange journey the Tories have made in that time.

Herdson, incidentally, concludes that Brown is safe in office at least until next summer - at which point, I'd say, he's safe until the election.