Nothing exceptional, but a job well done by Osborne

They stopped letting people into the conference hall for George Osborne’s speech long before the Shadow Chancellor took to the platform – it was packed, not even standing room.  There was certainly an anticipatory buzz among Tory supporters, particularly after some of the policy announcements trailed in the papers this morning.  One delegate assured me that “this is the speech when George will convince the nation that he’s the man to deal with Brown’s mess.”  Everyone seemed pretty breathless.

So did he pull it off?  Well, my immediate response is “yes and no”.  Probably more “yes” than “no”.  There was much that was impressive in the speech.  Osborne touched on all the right themes: debt, reform, compassionate conservatism, etc.  And he did so with a clarity that we haven’t really seen since his response to the Pre-Budget Report last year.