Today was meant to be the start of a fiercely contested general election campaign. Last night, the mood in centre-right circles was grim—the feeling was that Brown was about to pull off another Houdini act. But instead today has ended with Labour routed. Tories are striding around Westminster tonight with renewed confidence while Labour MPs look downcast.
So comprehensive has been the rout that the news that the 45p rate will raise less than a billion pound just seems like a small detail. The genuine concern in Conservative circles that this tax rise would seem like a plausible way to pay for the borrowing binge has been forgotten.
The political plates have shifted yet again: the Tories are now back on the front foot and it is George Osborne, the politician who has possibly received the most flak in the past month, who is leading the charge. If there is not growth by the third quarter next year, the Tories will be able to label the biggest ever gamble with the public finances a failure. Darling’s downbeat demeanour today suggests that he knows that the real reckoning is to come for Labour.
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