the populace. Most people rely on wages to get by and, since salaries no longer cover the basic cost of living, people are forced to take on ever-increasing amounts of debt. Now the average household is in hock to the tune of 159 per cent of its gross disposable income. And since many have taken on mortgages, and are now facing a possible 20 per cent devaluation in property values, their problems are only going to get worse.

The poor have been trapped in a new insecure underclass with more than 20 per cent of all workers paid less than £6.67 an hour. The middle classes have joined this new proletariat with working families facing the impossible task of caring for their children while struggling to make ends meet on two insufficient incomes.

Cameron's greatest strengths are his intuitions. His work/life agenda allied with Iain Duncan Smith's 'broken society' analysis is a powerful recognition and critique of modern Britain. It opens up clear blue water with Labour's failing statist bureaucracy and offers the hope of a society worth

living in.

But if the Conservatives are to deliver on this vision they have to think of economic and social alternatives to the prevailing order. They should be true to their claim to 'share the proceeds of growth'. Employee share ownership could and should become a Conservative priority. It would make good economic sense if more were encouraged to follow the John Lewis example whereby all employees are partners.

Likewise, an encouragement of local economies and small businesses could tackle the clone towns and ghost towns that now constitute Britain. To help young families, the Tories could let couples transfer tax allowances to each other - doubling the tax-free allowance to enable one adult to stay at home and care for their children.

The Conservatives have not yet captured the imagination or loyalty of the British electorate. They could, but they have to break with the Thatcher/Blair era legacy and map out a new vision of the good life.