They worked well enough for the Conservatives. So Gordon Brown stole the opposition’s ideas , leaving George Osborne, the shadow chancellor credited with the Tories’ remarkable poll revival, spluttering with rage and indignation.

As Alistair Darling, in his first big set piece as chancellor, reeled off one Tory policy after another – cutting death duties, penalising non-domicile residents and introducing a new tax on flights – the jeers from the opposition benches became deafening.