Dave’s newly announced policy is another welcome help for small businesses, it is not a business subsidy so much as a tax credit, a temporary (only for the duration of the recession) £2,500 tax credit for new created jobs. It will however be restricted to companies that are thinking of expanding, not those thinking of making redundancies. Therein is an example of the trouble with this type of Brown-style micro-tinkering, it is complicated, has loads of qualifications and caveats, requiring small businesses to call their accountant to understand.

This policy idea is, Cameron admitted, more of a think-tank style Pre-Budget Report submission. The Tories like to boast that their policy ideas get nicked by Brown and they get to implement policy by proxy. Gordon has already rejected this one.

So no income tax cut for breakfast, but the Tories were dishing out bacon sarnies as a consolation prize.