Clunk!

Rarely has there been such a triumph of expectation management as the arrival in No. 10 of the new Prime Minister. Only eight weeks ago, Labour was agonising over the loss of 900 council seats in England, the victory of the SNP in Scotland and the gloomy prospect of Gordon Brown’s succession.

The then Chancellor’s depressed share price was always hugely to his advantage and, displaying the awesome patience which is one of his most formidable qualities, he bided his time before pouncing. Since the launch of his campaign — really a victory lap — he has been confounding expectations, visibly more relaxed, but also more nimble, unleashing a series of surprises upon his party and his opponents which have changed perceptions of what he might be like as PM. Who, a month ago, would have predicted that, even before kissing hands, Mr Brown would have offered a Cabinet post to Lord Ashdown and welcomed a defecting Tory MP to the fold? None of this, to put it mildly, was in David Cameron’s script.