The characterisation of David Cameron as a flimsier version of Tony Blair is becoming less convincing by the day. His supporters will tell you this is because his party is working out a distinctive philosophy of “progressive Conservatism”, in which policy mechanisms traditionally associated with the right are put to work in the service of social cohesion.

More sceptical observers treat this as a reheated version of New Labour’s “Third Way”. But even they must now admit that both politics and economics have moved on since 1997. The economic circumstances and fiscal choices that are available to Mr Cameron are quite simply different from those that were available to Mr Blair.