Why Cameron’s speech didn’t really matter

When London mayor Boris Johnson bumped into David Cameron in Birmingham earlier this week he is reported to have complained that he had been given only a two-day pass for the five-day party conference. Cameron apparently replied: "That's because you have a city to run." What he might have said was that the journalist had won the mayoral election because his campaign manager kept him shackled and free of the gaffes for which he is famous – and that this was no time to have a maverick running loose.

Indeed, Tory fears that Johnson might go off message were justified when he mounted a defence of City types: "I say to Labour, you will not make this country or its capital more competitive by driving out talent. You can't regulate your way out of a recession, but you can regulate your way into one."

Johnson’s line was at odds with that of the Shadow Chancellor who warned City bankers they would have to pay for the mess they have made in the "capitalist casino". In the toughest attack on the City since the banking crisis broke, George Osborne said: "If you took risks, then you must bear the cost. If you pay yourself the sums far beyond what anyone else does in any other walk of life, then be prepared to lose it when you make mistakes."

Osborne's attack - and the care taken over Johnson - emphasise Tory fears that their City links and their faith in deregulated markets could cost them support at a time when the market is perceived to have failed and the public doesn't like 'greedy bankers'. Recent polls suggest Brown and Darling are more trusted than Cameron and Osborne to deal with the crisis; one poll saw the Tory lead over Labour halved.

What this illustrates is just how much of modern politics is to do with image. The Tories turned up in Birmingham wrestling with an image problem - a perception that