Wow! The mere mention of Margaret Thatcher really is toxic.
My previous blog has provoked howls of protest from Tory modernisers who loathe the idea that their leader was going "Back to the Future".
They insist that their leader was delivering a centrist speech complete with promises to tackle the causes of crime, to make tough green choices (such as cancelling Heathrow's third runway and building a high speed rail link instead) and to deliver family friendly policies.
They point to their leader's insistence that he was not an ideologue, his praise for the role of the state and his positioning as a One Nation Tory in the line of Peel, Shaftesbury and Disraeli.
All fair points. I was not and do not claim that the Tories are going backwards or that Cameron today abandoned the modernisers' agenda.
I do note, however, that the Tory leader explicitly invited the country to compare himself with Margaret Thatcher in 1979 - when she was "the novice" confronting the "experienced" Jim Callaghan during an economic crisis. His remedy, like hers, is "sound money and low taxes".
This should come as no surprise. Cameron and all those close to him were children of Thatcher (no, not literally) and, when it comes to economics, they still are.
What should also come as no surprise to the Tories is that if you mention Margaret Thatcher it will get noticed and probably cause a fuss.
It's back to the future with David Cameron. Today he evoked the memory, the values and the policies of Margaret Thatcher. If the country had listened to the argument about needing an experienced leader, Britain would never have had Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher. He echoed her promise to deliver sound money, low taxes and a responsible society.
He even attempted to turn her infamous phrase that "there's no such thing as society" against the Labour party, arguing that they behave as if only the government mattered.
It was all very different from the Cameron of the past who appeared to delight in taking on his party and its past.
It was his answer to those critics who claim he's the new Tony Blair - all style and no substance.
Suddenly - thanks to the economic crisis - the battle between Conservatives and Labour feels all too familiar to those who remember politics before the Blair years.
"This is no time for Brown's experience. It is time for Cameron's judgement and values." That, in a nutshell, is David Cameron's message today.
He will acknowledge that he cannot prove that he is ready to be prime minister. However, he will point to the way he has run his party as evidence of his leadership skills - for example, creating unity where before there was not, cracking down on MPs' and MEPs' expenses where before they were tolerated, taking on his party to get more women and black MPs...etc.
It is his version of Tony Blair's message that "I can change the country because I have changed my party" - New Conservatives, New Britain?
As for Gordon Brown's experience, he will argue that that is what has got the country into the mess it is in.
