UNDERCURRENT James Cusick

If Barack Obama wins the US presidency in November, it will be hard to hire a removal van in Washington for months. A change of president is bad enough for the American capital, where politics is the dominant industry, but a change of party, from Republican to Democrat, will see vast swaths of Georgetown and other smart neighbourhoods empty and refill overnight. It's the US political equivalent of a wealthy refugee crisis - suddenly groups of people are no longer wanted or needed, their only option a flight to a safer haven.

The Bush administration is on its way out. But what will replace it? No-one is quite sure yet, so the exodus of the Republican faithful is on hold.

London is still two years away from a change-over, but there's nothing like the hesitancy on view in Washington. London's political industry is already planning for the return of the Conservatives. Lobby companies are ensuring their links to the Tories are re-engaged. Finance companies, banks, hedge funds, City institutions, consultancies, arts organisations and companies whose businesses rely on the government, all have machines that are geared and ready to pay homage to the government-in-waiting. The extent of the preparations are on show in the latest register of interests in Westminster. The motto for the change-over? You can never be too prepared.

The Tory front bench under Hague, Duncan Smith and Howard barely knew what political courtship was. No longer. Cash, courtesy private jets, chauffeured limousines, fact-finding trips and unashamed entertainment are listed by senior Tories almost as though they expect this is the way they should be treated. In the words of one senior Tory: "It is what we have been waiting for, and it feels rather good."

I remember in 1997 one Labour minister using the same words, adding: "I've been in opposition. This is better."

The hedge fund CQS, Huntleigh Technology, PricewaterhouseCoopers, Grant Thornton, the European School of Management, JCB Research, Boston Consulting, Merebis Capital Management and private funding from Lords Harris and Ashcroft are supporting David Cameron, the shadow chancellor George Osborne and shadow foreign secretary William Hague, giving them a taste of what to expect when Cameron gets his hands on the keys to Number 10. The perks of government, they believe, are being returned to their natural order.

There's such a good trade in the personal phone numbers of leading Tories that there's only one certainty come their first day back in power - all the numbers will change. Washington-style wait-and-see? You can't find it.