Tackling Britain’s gargantuan fiscal deficit is not a job for the faint-hearted. So it is as well that the approach mapped out last week by the Conservatives is widely seen as courageous. But the political strategy that underlies it is actually rather cautious. That gives it a chance of succeeding.

Conservative strategists are worried. They are worried by the scale of the fiscal deficit they will inherit, should next year’s general election bring victory. They are worried that the public does not yet understand the pain that the necessary deleveraging will entail. And they are haunted by the spectre of past catastrophes in economic policy-making.