There is a serious case for less government and lower taxes. I am just not sure that we are hearing it from Michael Howard and Oliver Letwin. The Conservatives' latest tax cut proposal, on the pension savings of those on moderate incomes, seems perfectly sensible. But, like council tax refunds for the elderly, it has not been anchored in a broader framework to tighten the boundaries of the state.

Mr Howard has chosen to fight a populist campaign around immigration, asylum, crime and hospital-acquired infections rather than to engage the voters in a serious debate about the role and scope of government. Tax cuts thus appear as just one of many sweeteners on a crowded menu offering everything from a new border police force to the return of hospital matrons. This triumph of tactics over strategy points in turn to hesitation and confusion over where the public realm should end and the private begin.