At last, Mr Cameron defends aspiration

AFTER a week of hysteria driven by the politics of envy, David Cameron yesterday undertook the vital task of defending aspiration and wealth- creation. He declared in the Commons that these are ‘not somehow dirty words’, and pointed out that many millions of people strive to better their lot in order to do something for the next generation.

It was high time he took this soundly conservative stand. For as this newspaper has warned, the leak of his family’s tax affairs, and his own at first woefully inadequate response to the story, unleashed a deeply troubling lynch mob mentality.

Jeremy Corbyn and his followers have done their utmost to demonstrate there must be something ‘dodgy’ in Mr Cameron’s behaviour.

Yes, it’s entirely right that the Opposition and the Press should subject the Prime Minister and other members of the Government to searching scrutiny. But since Mr Corbyn has been unable to offer a scintilla of evidence that Mr Cameron has done anything illegal, these attacks must not be allowed to do lasting damage.

In fact, what they have served to underline is that Labour finds something inherently distasteful in making money and handing it on to one’s children. Labour swept back to power with a landslide majority in 1997 because it had persuaded voters it was no longer hostile to people’s natural desire to get on in life. That reputation endured through the party’s two subsequent election victories, but is now in the process of being trashed by Mr Corbyn. That is Labour’s problem. For Mr Cameron, the lesson he must learn is that he has to demonstrate, on every possible occasion, that the Government is on the side of the many millions of people who for the sake of their own families are determined to work hard and create wealth.