In it together

It has been a remarkable week for the bright young Tories who worked for John Major in the 1992 election campaign. At the time, David Cameron, Steve Hilton and their friends were young praetorians who, after the Conservatives were returned to office, credited themselves with snatching victory from the jaws of defeat. They nearly did the opposite in May, but there was no sense of disappointment at the Tory party conference in Birmingham. It looked and felt more like a victory parade for the New Establishment.

The word Conservative could hardly be seen inside the conference hall, and the chosen motto, ‘Together in the national interest’‚ suggests coalition rather than party. But Mr Cameron and his lieutenants proudly eschew tribal politics. The proposal to withdraw child benefit from top-rate taxpayers is typical of their style and strategy: it inflicts pain on their core supporters as a means of decontaminating their brand.