Politics | 1 October 2008

The champagne ban was non-negotiable: David Cameron did not want any of his aides drinking bubbly at the Conservative party conference. Not that they needed much telling. The mood was already so sombre that some Tory staffers were decanting cans of beer under the tables of the Hyatt Hotel in Birmingham to avoid bar prices; they were later caught by the manager. What was first intended as a celebration had become a wake, mourning the prosper-ity era which the Conservatives had originally planned for. They must now prepare for an economic war.

The Pol Roger was flowing defiantly at The Spectator’s reception on Monday night, but was used mainly to treat shock. The Dow Jones Industrial Average had just suffered the sharpest fall in its history, and it became grimly apparent that nothing the Tories said really mattered any more. George Osborne, the shadow chancellor, had just seen his plan to freeze council tax for two years relegated to the inside pages.