The Conservatives are preparing a Budget week billboard campaign lambasting Gordon Brown for his handling of the economy

The Times this morning carries news that the Conservatives will "within days" launch a new nationwide billboard blitz attacking Gordon Brown and his handling of the economy. The paper suggests that it shows Conservative strategists "adopting a more negative message".

It follows on from the major billboard campaign at the beginning of the year featuring a fresh-faced (not airbrushed, he insisted) David Cameron committing to cut the deficit and not the NHS.

Firing a broadside at Brown for his economic record would certainly seem an obvious course of action next week, with the Budget taking place on Wednesday. 

The Times reports:

"The second wave of posters will concentrate on Mr Brown and seek to convince voters that he is personally responsible for the state of Britain’s public finances. The change in direction is being supported by two US advisers recently hired by the Tories, both veterans of Barack Obama’s presidential campaign.

“The purpose of the campaign is to close the door on Gordon Brown, to block off any chance that voters might be tempted to return to him,” one Conservative strategist said.

"Senior aides said that George Osborne, the Tories’ election co-ordinator, remained committed to fighting a largely positive election focused on the benefits of an incoming Conservative administration. Mr Osborne had, however, accepted the need for more negative adverts, his allies said."

Jonathan Isaby