George Osborne is 100pc focused on winning

Andrew Rawnsley rightly pours a bucket of water on the ‘Tories are recreating the West Wing” motif that has distracted Westminster for the past few days. An American telly programme, however much we enjoyed it, is not a model for government, not least because – remember? – the Democrats kept winning. It’s reassuring to note that behind the scenes David Cameron has been tartly dismissive of the “who sits where game”. He, more than many in his party, won’t be measuring the curtains until the last red glimmer fades from the eye of the Brown Terminator.

The same goes for George Osborne, who is getting stick today for an anecdote in the same column that had him telling City folk “40pc of my time is spent on economics”. Put aside the second or third-hand aspect of this tale, it will be used against the Shadow Chancellor by those who either resent his influence or doubt his economics, or both. Yet it should be remembered that Mr Osborne is influential precisely because he is, and has been for a long time, 100pc focused on winning. Such a truism would not be startling if it wasn’t for the fact that even now in the Shadow Cabinet there are people planning paid-for speaking engagements, winding down consultancies and popping over to the City to help their mates make more cash. Less than a year to go yet you would be forgiven for thinking that big chunks of the parliamentary party are coasting.

This is not to overlook the resentments caused by Dave’s reliance on a tight-knit bunch in Norman Shaw S. The fact that we are hearing about them tells us more about the party’s struggle to convey a bigger message about what it will do in office, than who runs the show. With just 10 months to go, Mr Osborne can spend as much or as little time as he wants on economics, as long as he remains focused on the only effort that matters, which is persuading voters not just to ditch Labour but to vote Conservative.