Ignore Johann. Vote Tory.

Johann Hari calls Cameron a Bush clone. Please. All of my friend Johann's minor points seem reasonable on their face (but I'm not an expert), but the British Tory leader is fundamentally different from Bush.

He has no instinctual disdain for the liberal establishment, he is intellectually curious and highly articulate, he does not have a ravenous Christianist base to appease, is aggressively green, is inclusive of gays, wants a tax on banks, hopes to leave Afghanistan, and is a passionate defender of socialized medicine.

Yes, he does actually believe in the limits of government. He actually seems to understand that the state is not as important in a free country as society. He is skeptical of Europe but not fanatically opposed - and the Tories' Euro-skepticism seems, to my mind, thoroughly vindicated by recent history.

I mean: Can you imagine how Britain would be coping if it had joined the euro right now?

Clegg's great weaknesses were revealed in yesterday's debate. He is passionately pro-euro at a moment when the euro is on the brink of collapse; and he wants a amnesty for illegal immigrants as the British public very clearly wants a pause. The Economist sums up his drawbacks succinctly here. Johann's scare tactics would be better directed at the Lib-Dems than the Tories.