What exactly are the tories plans for inheritance tax?

Cutting inheritance tax would not be a high priority for an incoming Tory government, Ken Clarke has said. The shadow business secretary told the BBC its main economic goals would be to cut public debt and restore growth. The Tories' pledge to take millions of families out of inheritance tax in September 2007 was seen as a key moment in reviving their political fortunes.  Later, a Conservative spokesman said the party was still committed to its manifesto pledge to cut the tax. 

Recent indications that the Tories will not reverse Labour's planned tax rises for the rich have already caused internal ructions. Increasing income tax for top-earners to 45% from 2011 would be "difficult to avoid", shadow chancellor George Osborne has said - a stance backed up by Mr Clarke and foreign secretary William Hague. 

The Conservatives insist cutting the overall burden of tax for families remains a long-term objective and have pledged to freeze council tax bills for two years among other proposals. 

Mr Clarke told the BBC's Politics Show the priority was to stabilise the public finances and to do so in a way which hopefully did not necessitate tax rises for the majority of people. Tough choices would be required because of the "tremendous mess" the Tories would inherit if elected, he stressed, with debt levels "of a kind never previously seen". On inheritance tax, he said raising current thresholds was an "aspiration" which the party retained and hoped to get around to "sooner or later". 

At the 2007 tory party conference - at a time when a general election was considered imminent - Mr Osborne said the Tories would raise the threshold for inheritance tax from £300,000 to £1m - potentially taking nine million families out of the tax. But Mr Clarke stressed: "I don't think we are going around any longer saying this is something we are going to do the moment we take power. 

Surely it is correct to say that David Cameron must now state whether he agreed with Mr Clarke's assessment or not, and whether he is in fact effectively kicking this inheritance tax into the long grass.