The Tories pick a winner

Less than six weeks ago a threadbare group of Conservative MPs, from what one might call the boarding-school wing of the party, assembled in a small, air-conditioned room in Portcullis House, Westminster. Not everyone was punctual. The Commons was deep in recess.

The fifth Test against Australia was flickering on television sets around London SW1, Mark Nicholas saying, ‘there’s still plenty of time in this game’. But was there? September-heavy houseflies buzzed against window panes as the team supporting David Cameron’s bid for the Tory leadership excavated their ear wax and pondered a different sort of leader — in the Times. Not only had the recent article praised David Davis as ‘an attractive prospect’ but it had also said that Mr Cameron was ‘clearly failing to persuade sufficient numbers that his time has come’. Bloody Times. Tacking to the breeze as ever. ‘I thought Michael [Gove] was going to square them,’ complained one Cameron fancier. Ennui seeped under the doors, almost infecting all.

Forty days and forty nights later the transformation is remarkable. At 5.45 p.m. on Tuesday evening Mr Cameron stepped outside Westminster’s St Stephen’s entrance to the paparazzi flashes normally reserved for Hugh Grant at a Leicester Square opening. ‘Over here, Dave!’ shouted the lensmen. Dave. Good grief. Are we ready for this? But yes we are. A phalanx of young supporters pushed Mr Cameron forward, suddenly respectful, shrinking away from their chief, according him the sway and spotlight of nascent power.

The shadow education secretary had done spectacularly well in the first round of the leadership election, finishing off poor Kenneth Clarke. Moreover, he had landed within six votes of David Davis and wrenched the initiative from the latter’s fumbling grip. This week we will know if Mr Cameron has progressed to the last phase of the contest. It seems unlikely he will not.