Can Cameron convince voters on the economy?

A Labour MP heckled David Cameron at the last PMQs of this session that the businessman he quoted was a Tory.

“He’s probably a Tory now – so are half the country,” David Cameron said.

Half the country? He’s often below 40 per cent in the polls I look at. It sounded a little presumptuous.

We have a look at David Cameron in tonight’s programme. He’s still neck and neck with Gordon Brown in polls asking who you trust to run the economy. His aides talk about the country being wary of falling in love again with a political leader after being let down by Tony Blair but the problem seems to go a little bit beyond that.

Voters aren’t sure about the self-proclaimed salesman. He’s now the longest serving of the three main party leaders and that probably doesn’t help. Familiarity doesn’t breed freshness. And he had to deal with an economic crisis bang in the middle of a party re-branding exercise.

He was trying to grab the mantle of optimism as an economic firestorm blew around. As a result, the message for many in his party got a bit muddled.

The national insurance announcement last week was in part about addressing that – a ray of sunshine in the gloom.

But if paying off the deficit is paramount then some would say it’s muddied the message again. You can see the profile on the programme tonight at 7pm.