THE Tory chairman, Dr Brian Mawhinney, earned more brownie points yesterday for his presentation of this Conservative conference, writes Frank Millar.
The chairman got off to a flying start on Tuesday. His own speech may have been delivered at pedestrian pace but he packed in a couple of good sound bites, and staged something of a coup completing the Great Reconciliation by placing Baroness Thatcher on the platform between Mr and Mrs Major,
The debate about the union moreover, threw two of the cabinet's youngest and best performers (Mr Michael Forsyth and Mr William Hague) into a double act which immediately cheered up the representatives, buffeted on the journey down by all those waves of "sleaze".
The clever stage management pits Mr Michael Portillo against the Chancellor, Mr Kenneth Clarke, in the battle to dominate today's lunchtime news. But it looks suspiciously as if Mrs Michael Heseltine's predictable barnstormer is timed to upstage them both on the six p.m. bulletins.
The good doctor's handiwork was evident again yesterday with a new formula bringing a shirt sleeved Mr John Major before the conference for an hour long question and answer session.
Some commentators thought it lacked the bite of the House of Commons but that was the whole point. Bit by bit it is becoming clear that the Tory election strategy will be built around Mr Major "the honest, plain speaking Brixton lad who made it to the top on the strength of his own achievements.
They'd never say it, of course, but it's going to be "honest John" against the somewhat "smarmy" Mr Tony Blair.
Those who know him lament the contrast between the public and private personae of the Prime Minister. It is often said that if he could canvass every voter individually he'd win by a landslide.
And yesterday delegates were treated to a personal conversation in which the greatest tests were invitations to express his concerns about striking unions, burglary and life sentences for murder, and Labour's plans to break up the United Kingdom.
It was all too bland for the journalistic taste. But the audience loved it. And they seemed ready to believe his assurance, in reply to Dr Mawhinney, that they'd do it again next year. "Same time. Same job Different place."
We can be sure the chairman will praise the leader to even greater heights before his big speech tomorrow. Before that we'll discover if the doctor has worked his magic on Mr Clarke.
For the Chancellor's big speech, before lunch today, represents the biggest risk that this smooth performance could yet go off the rails.