Michael Howard at the Conservative party conference. Photograph: Scott Barbour/Getty
Despite receiving a three-minute standing ovation – a given at the Tory party conference – Michael Howard didn't seem to fill delegates with a sense of belief with his conference speech.
Those at the Guardian lunchtime fringe meeting seemed distinctly underwhelmed by the Tory leader's oration - more thrilled, in fact, to be in the presence of the paper's veteran political editor, Mike White - and still concerned that the party wasn't getting its message across.
Policy chief and rising star David Cameron backed Mr Howard's modest "timetable for action", telling delegates that people want them to be "unremittingly positive" about their plans in the run-up to the general election. "The most difficult thing is to convince people that we will make a difference," he admitted.
Meanwhile, the Tories' international development spokesman, Alan Duncan, called for a little more poetry and a little less prose in the party's campaigning. "We need to touch people in the heart as the head," he said.
While a good-natured debate, with no hint of division over policy, the repeated questions and concern expressed about how to communicate their "positive" messages doesn't suggest a party certain of power. Perhaps the lack of urgency imparted by Mr Howard's speech was to blame.
