Cameron v Osborne over 50p tax

As Peter Hoskin points out over at Coffee house it appears that David Cameron and his sidekick are getting rather confused over the issue of the 50p tax rate.

Whilst Mr Cameron predicted that Alistair Darling's measure would not be staying in place if elected,Mr Osborne told this morning's conference that

The new 50p tax rate and associated changes to the taxation of higher earners should be kept in place for at least as long as the public sector pay freeze, in order to ensure that the richest in our society pay their fair share of the burden of tackling Labour's debt crisis."

A neccessary evil explains Alastair on the 50p tax rate

Alastair Campbell has attempted to put some spin behind the 50p tax rate over on his blog this morning

Politicians, contrary to what some may think of them, do not like to break promises. Also, the maintenance of Labour's promises on income tax has been a very important part of our success, politically and economically.

The measure he says

is a long long way from Denis Healey's threatened squeeze till the pips squeak. This is a global financial crisis, in which all countries, all businesses, all families are having to deal with some of the fall out in different ways. As part of the national response, everyone helping out must be part of a call to arms to help Britain through the crisis.