Despite the rhetoric, it looks as if ministers have given up on bringing numbers down in favour of anything to give the economy a nudge.
To avoid a 1997-style wipe-out, the aim is to imitate the strategy of John Major’s remarkable victory from five years earlier.
When a minister comes under attack from the parliamentary lobby, petty allegations are treated as monstrous crimes.
Sunak responded in a tone of impregnable reasonableness to accusations about Williamson.
The pair were discussing the Prime Minister’s Cabinet, and the resignation of Gavin Williamson.
He shamelessly amplified the slanders of a dangerous fantasist and deserves no political afterlife. Starmer should know better.
Starmer kept his questions short, relaxing into the role of a prosecutor who is confident of obtaining a guilty verdict.
The new Prime Minister baffled the Opposition by mixing high-minded friendliness with low blows.
“The damage has been done,” and it’s “of the Tories’ making”, he says. “We need an OBR report so we know the extent of the damage.”
Conservative MPs, peers, donors, hacks and activists caper their way towards an open grave, with Johnson himself leading the procession. The dance possesses them; it has a momentum of its own; they are powerless to stop.
The thought of watching Truss perform like this week after week is for Tory MPs unbearable.
The Prime Minister and the Leader of the Opposition clash at Prime Minister’s Questions.
“We will do that not by cutting public spending but by making sure that we spend public money well.”
There is a curious, cloth-eared quality to the way in which the Prime Minister refuses to take a point.
Whilst we can still hope for a great tournament on the pitch, it’s perhaps worth reflecting on our relationship with the Gulf state – and the wider ramifications of the tournament.