Does Osborne plan a year of change, or a year of tweak?

At a George Osborne speech at British Museum announcing eight benchmarks on which electors could judge his chancellorship.

Five shadow Cabinet members are on the stage staring with that devoted concentration Nancy Reagan once made her own.

Mr Osborne has unveiled seven FTSE-100 chief executives including Stelios the EasyJet boss.

Mr Osborne is emphasising the worry of a credit rating downgrade which has been quite a theme of Tory pronouncements lately and which some feel may contribute to the outcome Tories warn against.

I asked if “year for change” – the slogan emblazoned across the stage – was in danger of turning into “year of tweak” after the shadow Chief Secretary Philip Hammond said 2010 cuts might amount to around £1bn.

The £1bn or so were “examples” Mr Osborne said. I asked: “Are you saying you’ll go a lot further than the £1bn in year one?”

“No,” came the answer.

He’s just been asked who is right: David Cameron who says the UK is in danger of falling into a Greece-like situation or Mr Hammond who says it isn’t.

Mr Osborne says: “Greece stands there as an example of what happens if you ignore these problems (of the deficit)… and we will face a Greek-style crisis if we don’t deal with these problems.”