So, the tide is turning…  Or at least that is what the polls are saying, with yesterday’s Guardian front page dominated by the Conservative lead over Labour.  Who knows – there are still two years to go before an election is necessary.  But for those of us old enough to remember the dog days of the Major administration, there is an aching familiarity about some of what is going on.
 
Take last Thursday.  It was one of those political days: meetings with four Labour Ministers and two Conservative front-benchers, Grant Shapps (the Tory Housing spokesperson) and David Cameron (who presumably needs no descriptor).  The meetings with Ministers were of the sort that we have got used to over the past decade.  While the current difficulties surrounding the Prime Minister’s leadership are certainly being felt at No 10, Ministers are still giving out the same air of effortless security.
 
But things are now very different with the Tories.  It is only three years ago that I travelled up to Blackpool for Ian Duncan-Smith’s last conference as leader to find a conference almost entirely denuded of optimism and influence.  But ever since George Osborne’s speech at the same venue in September, there has been a palpable surge of confidence among the ranks of the Tories we have been meeting.   Three years ago, they knew they were beaten.  Now, they truly believe they are the Government in waiting.
 
And, more compellingly, others now seem to share that belief.  The meeting with Cameron involved us sharing a platform at the launch of the Conservative Homelessness Foundation, one of those politically-linked initiatives which all parties are wont to ask us to get involved in.  In the past, such events would be sparsely attended.  In this case, we walked into the room to be faced with batteries of cameras and a sea of familiar faces from the sector.  Everyone is now interested in what Cameron has to say on homelessness, it appears.
 
In the event, his speech had no surprises, limiting itself carefully to well-worn sympathy for the plight of rough sleepers.  Which is only to be predicted: the Tories are being very cautious about making broader pledges on wider issues such as housing supply.  But with the Conservatives now the primary party of local Government, and with Boris’s victory in London still fresh in people’s minds, they are now key to ensuring that the homes we all need are delivered.  It is all very well for Cameron to keep his policy powder dry until the next national election.  But locally, the Conservatives will have to show what they are really made of long before that.