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Ignorance, wrote Darwin, "more frequently begets confidence than does knowledge". No one with a profound understanding of economics and the world financial system would argue that David Cameron and George Osborne know more than Gordon Brown about how to run the economy in the best interests of Britain. At the height of the financial crisis last autumn, when Mr Brown moved boldly to recapitalise our failing banks and successfully put the case for more active, interventionist government during deep recession, the Conservatives displayed dismal judgement. They opposed fiscal stimulus and, true to their Thatcherite inheritance, announced that the management of the economy should be through interest rates alone. They have also since opposed the policy of quantitative easing. And we still do...