The Tories must show they are up to the task ahead

Cameron’s astute and measured speech has sealed one deal: it has awoken the Conservative Party to the fact that they really will, in all likelihood, and barring an unforeseen catastrophe (plenty of them about these days), be forming the next Government.

And this is actually rather daunting. After their 20th Century addiction to power, the Tories went loco for almost a decade and a half, tearing themselves to pieces in the Major years and then for all but a year-and-a-half of the Blair era. Now, detoxified, united and redefined, they have positioned themselves adeptly for their first general election victory since 1992.

Which is all well and good: but the context, as Cameron made very clear, is going to be one of great difficulty, in which glibness, rigid ideology and woolliness alike will have no place. The ‘time for a change’ argument is no longer enough. The Government in waiting must show it is up to a formidable task.