A quick one this: It’s pretty obvious that this next Government needs to do some pretty brutal things in order to get the public books back into some semblance of sanity. The Tories, of course, needed to ‘decontaminate’ their brand because of the hatred they inspired in so many the last time they engaged in a similar exercise with the public finances. Do they really want to come back into power after 13 years away to deliver the sort of ‘savage’ cuts necessary?

I suspect they don’t. A Coalition Government gives the impression that they’re acting in the national interest, not party interest. “If it’s okay by the Lib Dems, it can’t be that bad, can it? It must be necessary, right?”

We’ll see if the Lib Dems make a big enough crowd for the Tories to hide safely in.