Is he fated to be a fire-fighter, a leader grappling with crisis? Or can he find the political space to deliver a more personal message – perhaps to do with education?
The principled case for Clarke’s amendment is also the simplest one. Why should central government stand in the way of local communities where there is support for building new turbines?
If we are to grow as a nation and pay for public services we need to encourage entrepreneurs and support businesses – not make life harder for them and kick them in the teeth.
A lower tax burden will be impossible without less supply of government. And for there to be less supply, there must first be less demand.
Investors in science and technology need to be able to rely on the assurance that we will not fall behind nations such as the US, Israel, Germany and South Korea in our investment to science.
When a minister comes under attack from the parliamentary lobby, petty allegations are treated as monstrous crimes.
We now have created a situation where the OBR is effectively setting the immediate stance of fiscal policy. If economic expectations are poor, the finances look poor, so austerity or tax hikes follow – but these in turn make the economy and finances worse.
Hunt faces the conflicting objectives of reassuring the markets at the same time as continuing with as much of her agenda as possible.
It’s hard to know how to reply to voters who say “your mistakes were massive, and we’re paying the price”.
Rather than an ideological approach, these four ideals – pragmatism, stewardship, One Nation and empowerment – should be the foundations of Conservative economic policy.
The tax-cutters have tested their established strategies to destruction. When they got their woman into Downing Street, it took just 45 days for their agenda to crash-and-burn.
Over and above his future hangs a bigger question – namely, whether holding Ministers properly to account is the same thing as pile-ons by the media pack.
On every front, his policy seems defined by retrenchment and retreat. Circumstances are difficult, but he must nonetheless do better.
British politicians are more than capable of committing blunders, but so too are their continental opposite numbers.
The second part of a mini-series on ConservativeHome this week about how the Government can help Britain’s economy to grow faster.