IT was the mid-term party conference David Cameron and his Conservatives really did not want.
The Prime Minister and his team left Birmingham yesterday more relieved than anything that the four-day, somewhat subdued, get-together had passed without any major omnishambles moment.
Borismania had provided a welcome distraction. The coverage of the "blond-haired mop" far from annoying the Prime Minister meant that for two days the media was focusing not on the economic crisis but on the media antics of Bertie Wooster from City Hall.
While Mr Johnson is clearly eyeing up the Tory leader's job – should they lose the 2015 General Election – he must be aware that his popularity is a home counties' phenomenon and fizzles out somewhere around the Watford Gap.
Keeping Chief Whip Andrew Mitchell out of the line of press fire seemed to have worked. Yet, as more Tory MPs call privately for his resignation, the MP for Sutton Coldfield might still have to fall on his sword before Westminster resumes normal service on Monday.
If the point of the Labour conference last week was to try to promote Ed Miliband as a potential prime minister, the point of the Tory one was to reassure anxious foot-soldiers that the tough medicine of austerity was worth it.
Ruth Davidson, the Scottish Conservative leader, provided what some described as a "Mitt Romney moment" by suggesting only 12% of Scots made a net contribution to the economy; meaning the other 88% were in effect scroungers.
Her Dan Quayle moment arrived when she suggested the SNP Government's free prescription charges policy was killing people because it diverted resources from key services.
After Scottish Labour leader Johann Lamont questioned the need for universal benefits, Alex Salmond probably eased back and thought his opponents were doing all his political hard work for him.
The First Minister became Mr Cameron's target after The Herald revealed earlier this week that a deal had been struck by the two governments on the independence referendum. The PM suggested that while everyone was revelling in Team GB, Mr Salmond scowling at the television screen.
The PM made clear that while the NHS and schools, the economy and Afghanistan were important, his top priority was saving the UK. The fact is that if Scotland became independent, Mr Cameron would forever be known – whatever he does or does not achieve in government – as the man who lost the 300-year-old Union.
Arguably the most telling moment of this week came with a poll of Conservative supporters, which showed most thought Labour would win the next election.
Yesterday, the PM, having sought all week to reassure a nervous party that his austerity plan would work, sought to reassure a nervous nation. He said the Olympics showed Britain could succeed, that the can-do nation was on the rise.
He, of course, has just two and a half years to save the economy and even less time to save his beloved United Kingdom.
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