The commentariat are agreed: Alastair Darling has done a 'smash and grab' raid on David Cameron's policies to win back the affection of middle England.

Virtually all the papers write the same thing and make their own judgements.  Some think it shrewd, some think it dangerous, but are they all wrong?

When you consider the big changes - it is the Lib Dem policy package, not Conservative which the Chancellor has most closely followed.

• Ending taper relief on Capital Gains: Lib Dem policy
  
• Taxing flights not passengers: Lib Dem policy
• Raising Inheritance Tax thresholds to £600: Closer to the Lib Dem policy (based on a threshold of £500k) than the Conservative proposal (based on a threshold of £1million.)
• Non Doms: Government now consulting on Lib Dem suggestions such as limiting the time period allowed for Non Doms.
  

A triumph therefore for the Lib Dem policy process - but no coverage (with the exception of a small piece on the BBC ('Darling 'using Lib Dem air tax'' who are legally obliged to cover all parties)

The Lib Dems do best when they get coverage.  With the party at the lowest ebb in the polls for a long time, it is worrying that such a policy triumph has managed to go completely ignored in the papers.

Also in the news

On the same subject, but with a different take, is Will Hutton in The Guardian ('Spend it like Gordon').  He argues that both Labour and Tories are pitching for right-wing tax plans with left wing spending commitments.

"Apparently, both main parties are united in a consensus that if they are to champion the aspirations of the British, they must cut taxes on the wealthy while maintaining a social-democratic approach to spending. This corresponds to no coherent political philosophy of either left or right. In this respect, Cameron and Osborne have no more fixed ideological compass than Brown and Darling do.