Less yellow peril
There was a gathering of the vast majority of Conservative MPs on Friday and Saturday. There were a few peers and on the Saturday a large number of Prospective Parliamentary Candidates appeared.
Morale inevitably, post Henley, was high, but there is no complacency. Each day that passes makes all of us realise just what a daunting take lies ahead, should we win. Labour inherited a very benign economy: that is most unlikely to be our fate.
Yes there was some debate about whether Gordon Brown would survive, and if he did not, would somebody else make any difference.
What perhaps interested us most when mulling over the political tea leaves, was the way the media missed the importance of the Liberal Democrats’ failure in Henley, despite their usual detritus campaigning techniques. Normally they do so well in by-elections, being so ruthlessly well organised.
Not this time. Many Liberal Democrats now realise that if they want to get rid of an incompetent Government, voting for anything but the Tories is an indulgence.
This may well be the more silent sub-text of politics in the months to come.