David Cameron, leader of the Conservatives, has achieved something astonishing. After nearly four years under his guidance, his tribe now looks less like a tweedy shooting party and more like a 21st-century political force. His reward is that the Tories are starting their conference in Manchester today with a 12 point poll lead.

But Mr Cameron’s work is incomplete. His mission at this conference, the last such gathering before the next general election, must be to stop sounding like an opposition leader and to start acting like a prime minister.