His ruthlessly targeted budget was a reminder that ideas are always secondary to Osborne’s main purpose: winning.
After the next election, it may be the fourth largest party in the Commons that holds the keys to Number 10.
If the Conservatives doesn’t win a majority in 2015, one of the reasons will be their 2011 decision to stick with First Past The Post.
And the percentage opposing a deal with the LibDems? 92 per cent.
The Party as a whole should have a say in whether what is on offer is acceptable, if that happens.
Cameron’s options for a second term of government with Clegg are narrowing.
Tory voters are even willing to keep Clegg on if it means preventing Labour’s return to government.
The Financial Times’s entire thesis would have been demolished by the facts – had the paper checked them.
Would it be better to have a second Tory-LibDem coalition stretching to 2020, or a stand-alone policy that could put Miliband in Downing Street before then?
The Liberal Democrat leader is striving to boost his appeal to persuadable Conservative supporters as well as Labour ones.
Tieless, irreverent and scruffy, the Mayor does just fine where he is. Now can we stop talking about him – and get on with winning the next election.