The leadership helicopters have flown for the last time. The politicians have stopped kissing babies. The party rallies and morning press conferences and broadcasts and TV interviews are done. The heated arguments about immigration, Iraq and health are over. It's the lull before the storm. So has the effort been worthwhile? Has the election campaign made a difference?

Trends in party fortunes recorded in all the published national opinion polls suggest there was some net impact on voting support but the campaign was far from decisive. The Conservative vote appears to have slid a few points during April, from about 35 to 32 per cent, with some fluctuations in different polls. Despite many predictions of a strong late surge in Liberal Democrat support, so far they appear to have made only small gains, from 20 to 22 per cent. Labour started at about 36 per cent, went up during the first stage, then fell back again to about 37 per cent.