Now the war on poverty can begin

Iain Duncan Smith comes striding into his office with the look of a man who still can’t quite believe his luck. Even the very un-Conservative artwork on the walls of his office can’t dampen his spirits. He explains that it was the choice of his predecessor (‘what was her name? Ed Balls’s wife…’). Yvette Cooper’s choice of paintings, it seems, is not long for this world. ‘I’ll have to get some pictures of battle scenes,’ he says — looking at his aides with a mischievous grin. They, too, seem unable to believe that they have finally made it to the Department for Work and Pensions.

It is an unlikely nirvana. Most ministers inwardly groan when they hear they are being sent to the Department of Work and Pensions — a vast bureaucracy which has more ‘clients’ (as it calls those on out-of-work benefits) than Ireland or Norway have people. But for years, Mr Duncan Smith has been preparing for this moment.