I don't give a sod whether Blair is worse than Howard or the other way round. I care a lot that we will never again have a government like that of Margaret Thatcher in my lifetime.

When this Government does get kicked out, I want it to be replaced by something that is broadly more to the left of it. There's just not enough room to the right, without falling into the kind of sick extremist nonsense that's on display across the Atlantic. There's masses of room. There've been Tory Governments that were to the left of this one. Europe's currently got a few you could describe in those terms.

Maybe, once they've been taken to the cleaners a few more times, the Tory Party will reposition itself so that it is back in that part of the political spectrum.