Who would have believed it? I have just seen Margaret Thatcher walk back through the door of No 10. This - her first visit in seven years - was revealed with great glee by Team Brown.
Team Thatcher say that she is happy to receive praise from where she can get it. When I asked if that applies to praise from David Cameron the arch reply came "Perhaps we missed it".
When I suggest to Team Brown that they are without any shame they reply that "psychological warfare" is critical in any election.
Lest I over analyse the political game playing - perish the thought I hear you say - it's worth pointing out that this is a courtesy visit arranged by a man who - though a bitter political opponent of Thatcherism - remembers her invitation to him as a young backbencher in 1983 to meet her when she was PM.
Consider, if you will, a Glasgow granny. She poses a tricky problem for the idea which David Cameron is about to embrace - charging VAT on domestic flights.
Today's Tory argues that:
• The growth of aviation needs to be curbed.
• Most short haul journeys could be undertaken just as quickly by train.
• Many of them are taken by relatively wealthy businessmen including regular commuters thus, if you could use taxes to give people an incentive to let the train take the strain you would cut greenhouse gas emissions and prevent the need to expand airports without hurting poorer people who need to get around the UK.
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• Glasgow is not well served by trains.
• The journey's much slower than it is by air.
• Granny isn't a businessman and there are lots of grannies in Glasgow [or Aberdeen or Inverness grannies] with relatives down south. And, of course, vice versa. What if granny can't travel but is sick and needs to be visited regularly.
When I put this to the report's author Zac Goldsmith yesterday, he suggested that you could treat Glasgow flights differently from those to, say, Manchester.
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Imagine trying to levy VAT only on certain domestic flights and not others. What if the flight starts not in London but Exeter or Southampton or Newcastle? Would the tax depend on distance travelled or speed of alternative rail travel? And what about Paris which will now be as quick for many Londoners to get to by train as Manchester or York?
The party's answer appears to be - I am still checking this out - to keep it simple ie to charge VAT on all domestic flights. Er, except those to Northern Ireland and the Highlands and Islands.
Now, of course, I realise there are losers to any tax change and that can't stop politicians suggesting them.
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Stand by for granny to protest…
