In some ways what was most revealing were the things that were not said at the Conservative party conference in Manchester this week.
Apart from a row over tax credits at the weekend there was surprisingly little about public spending cuts.
There was no date for the European Union referendum.
And there was precious little mention of the party's tiny Commons majority of just 12.
That will not last. The Chancellor George Osborne is due to outline massive spending cuts in just a few weeks. The results of the Strategic Defence and Security review will also detail the deep savings that must be made in military spending.
The EU vote must be held before the end of 2017. And the issue is already pulling sections of the party in opposite directions.
The issue has already caused headaches for the party in the Commons, in part because of its majority of just 12 MPs.
In Scotland the party faces a serious challenge in May.
Many within the party sense opportunity.
But they also know the difficulties created by an SNP currently polling around 60 per cent.
And so in her speech Ruth Davidson made an appeal for 'list' votes.
Senior Conservatives believe there could be only a tiny number of constituency seats not taken by SNP MSPs.
And so regional votes have become a crucial battlefield between the pro-Union parties.
The recent changes in the Labour Party allowed David Cameron to make an upbeat, optimistic, centrist speech containing a big appeal to former Labour voters to come over to the Conservatives.
But will he have more pressing, and potentially problematic, internal Conservative issues to address in the same speech next year?
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