Baker, at least, was one senior Tory who had read more than the occasional Archer.

He has support from senior Tories, including many Cabinet Ministers.

But he has quietly changed the rules of leadership elections to make his ouster more difficult, and there is still no viable alternative among senior Tories.

The deputy chairman may, as one senior Tory put it, be "teasing" us all but that is no excuse.

Cuts, senior Tories widely acknowledge, will have to be much more severe than Darling's proposed pruning.

Before the election, we heard senior Tories saying that they were planning to 're-Christianise the country (England)'.

One senior Tory said: "If we had not had the television debates we would now be in government with an overall majority.

Only the five senior Tories around Major thought it was a good idea.

'Our task is to push up our share to the mid-40s, as in the 1950s, and even to 50 per cent,' a senior Tory said.

But he is not the only senior Tory who has hitched rides on rich men's jets.