Our party leaders are racing to jump on board the Obama bandwagon.

David Cameron taunted Gordon Brown in the Commons by asking whether he still believed it was "no time for a novice" - a reference to Brown's speech to Labour's annual conference.

The Tory leader sees the election of Barack Obama as proof that change can be a good thing.

From his point of view, it shows that what people want is a fresh face, like the US President-elect or, indeed, Mr Cameron.

The Prime Minister draws a different lesson. Writing in the Observer, he argues that Obama's victory reflects "the collapse of a failed laissez-faire dogma" and what he calls "the old free market fundamentalism".

In other words, it's a victory for the left.

We also read in the Sunday Mirror that Labour is planning massive tax cuts, apparently costing the Treasury £15 billion.

This is in keeping with Mr Brown's admiration for Obama, who also promised tax cuts during his election campaign.

At the same time, Labour is boasting about its plans to continue massive levels of public spending.

There's been a lot of speculation about what Barack Obama's victory will mean Britain.

But it looks like the immediate effect will be to give the Government an excuse to borrow even more.

This will mean the national debt continues to soar - and any tax cuts we receive now will have to be paid back in future decades with interest, either by us or by our children.

When Mr Brown criticised laissez-faire dogma, he was, of course, attacking the Tories.

But if we look back to the days of Margaret Thatcher, she didn't just stand for the free market. She also stood for good housekeeping - not spending more than you can afford.

In fact, the economic crisis has not discredited this view. It's proved she was right (and that recent Governments in Britain and America, perhaps including hers too, have failed to put her philosophy into practice).

Surely, with the economy as it is, the idea of good housekeeping should be making a comeback.

David Cameron faces a huge test.

Will he go along with Gordon Brown's tax plans - or will he have the courage to say the country simply can't afford it?

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