There's a real whiff of excitement in the Westminster air as MPS file back after the Christmas break. The thing that British politics has been missing for a decade or more is back: suspense. Part of it comes from the growing possibility that the Conservative Party under David Cameron really is back in business. Mr Cameron and the people around him have grasped how the party must change if it is to be a contender for office and are going about it with impressive, if sometimes opportunistic, zeal. The growing dismay among some Tory commentators about the centrist direction in which Mr Cameron is taking the party should be music to his ears. So too should the criticism that he is substituting public relations gimmickry (the recruitment of Bob Geldof as an adviser on global poverty especially riled Tory traditionalists) for serious policy. Mr Cameron knows that there is plenty of time to think up detailed policies, but very little time for him to grab the attention of uncommitted voters and per-suade them to take a fresh look at a party many had given up on.
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