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 Thatcherite. Hard-bitten Tories are going through something similar to what Old Labour voters felt when Tony Blair became leader - a thrilling hope of victory tarnished by fear that it will not bring about the sort of policies they really want.
In this transformed landscape, David Cameron is about to experience something no Tory leader has enjoyed for more than a decade. He will be treated not like William Hague, Ian Duncan Smith or Michael Howard as a loser-in-waiting but as the coming man. Cameron will be feted by business because he could be the one making big decisions on future taxes, regulations and contracts.
Gordon Brown seems to find himself in a transformed world, too. His leading-man role as the most respected man in British politics is disappearing fast. His reputation is flagging with the economy. Most recently he has angered many middle-class voters through his graceless and incompetent volte-face over personal pensions: he said for two years that he would allow people to invest their
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| Brown’s role as the most respected man in British politics is disappearing. His reputation is flagging with the economy |
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pensions in residential property and then, last week, changed his mind at the last minute. If that was not bad enough, along comes a Tory leader who might beat him. Yes, Brown will probably still get the fag end of the third Blair administration. But like Jim Callaghan before him, might that now be all he gets?
Before we use up all our tears over Brown, though, let us spare a thought for the Liberal Democrats. The polls suggest that they are the ones who have lost the most votes to the Cameron effect. They had 23 per cent at the last election and are now down to around 19 per cent. To adapt the words of the song, it's Springtime for Cameron and Conservatives, Winter for Brown and Libdems. 
FIRST POSTED DECEMBER 12
Analysis: Cameron’s first PMQs
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