When some of Mexico’s most influential politicians gathered recently at a lunch in a colonial house-turned-restaurant in the south of the capital, it was only natural that the conversation turned quickly to Felipe Calderón and Andrés Manuel López Obrador, the two protagonists of last year’s disputed presidential contest.

What was surprising, however, was the overwhelming cross-party consensus that Mr Calderón, member of the centre-right National Action Party (PAN) and winner of the election, had consolidated power since he assumed office on December 1 last year.