Will Duncan Smith make work — not welfare — the logical choice?

James Forsyth reviews the week in politics

For one night only, the band was back together. On Monday night, Tony Blair — looking toned and tanned — addressed the Institute for Government, the think-tank set up by his ally Lord Sainsbury. Cherie was in the front row, resplendent in a white salwar kameez. Blair’s two loyalist Cabinet allies, Tessa Jowell and Andrew Adonis, were also in attendance. There was even a question to the former prime minister from a fellow member of Ugly Rumours, Blair’s university band, to add to the reunion feel. This former rocker is now a civil servant at the Department for Work and Pensions.

Most of what Blair said was technocratic not political; he talked about the ‘process lessons’ he had learned in government. But there was one moment when we saw a flash of the old Blair, the man prepared to pull his party out of its comfort zone.