Who'd have thought it. That was the wry, the apt, observation of a senior Cabinet figure at the end of this week.
Who'd have thought that Labour could airbrush Tony Blair out of the picture without someone - anyone - so much as raising an eyebrow?
Who'd have thought that, instead, Margaret Thatcher would be hailed for her conviction and Tory converts welcomed with open arms?
Who'd have thought that the unions would agree to abandon their right to debate topical motions and to bury their demands for an EU referendum without a squeak?
Who'd have thought that Gordon Brown would lift a series of Tory policies - from protecting have-a-go heroes to bringing back matron - and hail them as new?
Who, finally, would have thought that the polls would put Labour so far ahead that delegates have gone home with a mounting sense that they'll soon be campaigning in a general election?
In short, every idea, every plan, every manouevre that Team Brown has tried has worked this week. Everything is in place for the prime minister to take a decision to go the polls as confident as he could hope to be of winning.
Does that mean he'll do it? Of course not. He's been around long enough to know how quickly the weather can change. Nevertheless, he'll remember this week in Bournemouth when the sun always shone.
The 91热爆 has learnt that over the past 24 hours the Labour Party has begun recruiting key staff to work on an election campaign. The 91热爆 has spoken to a number of individuals who have been asked if they can begin work on Monday. The people approached are currently self-employed or work for lobbyists, organisations sympathetic to Labour or in other political posts from which they can be released immediately. Their jobs range from campaign logistics to voter liaison and press relations with the media for a general election campaign which could be launched in the next fortnight.
The recruitment of campaign staff is not proof that a decision to call an election has been taken and these staff could just as quickly be told to return to their normal jobs. Gordon Brown's advisers continue to insist that he has taken no decision on whether to hold an early election. It is clear, however, that Labour have moved beyond contingency planning to active preparation for an election campaign which a growing number at this Conference believe the prime minister is about to launch.
PS: Was I only the one to feel like a wimp when hearing Jack Straw - or "The Justice" as he's known on the streets - outline his have-a-go hero antics? Jack's more than a tad older than me and much much fitter. It is he who is to blame for stirring me out of my darkened hotel room and onto Bournemouth beach for a jog this morning.
