More fuel for the Cameron juggernaut this morning. David Cameron has secured the backing of that august and influential journal, the Economist. The rightwing magazine backed the former chancellor Ken Clarke in 2001 but has now decided to support the young pretender after concluding that Mr Clarke has been "virtually absent from politics for the past eight years, lacks a claim to lead ... and renewal is hardly the word for a politician who has yet to show that his policies and persona have moved beyond the 1990s".
The Economist is no kinder about Mr Cameron's other rivals. "Mr Fox lacks stature", it opines, and "Mr Davis is short of the charm he needs to shed the party's charge of nastiness".
And in words that could have been written by Mr Cameron's own team, it says of him that "he has intelligence, charisma and (it seems) integrity. And he alone has shown that he has come to terms with New Labour ... that he knows which parts of it voters like and which to jettison. That makes him best placed to give the Tories hope and Britain an opposition."
But how long will this good news last?
Mr Cameron dodged questions about drugs at the weekend, and escaped a grilling on the issue at the 92 Group hustings yesterday evening. The David Davis supporter who wanted to trap Mr Cameron was jumped on by others who thought the same question to Ken Clarke was "impertinent". But will the Tory wives be so restrained? Matt Tempest, Guardian Unlimited's political correspondent, is waiting outside committee room 10 in the House of Commons has done a quick straw poll of the 100 conservative wives and daughters.
This revealed six backers for David Cameron, one for Ken Clarke, two "genuinely undecided" and a further 10 who walked into select committee room 10 refusing to comment.
The format of today's meeting is a 15-minute hustings from each of the four candidates, in alphabetical order, with David Cameron therefore up first.
Jennifer Viggers, wife of MP Peter Viggers, said: "I have one man in mind; it's a secret preference for David Cameron." Asked if questions about drugs would be an issue, she replied: "It's ridiculous, it's a total side show. "
All questions directed to the candidates have been submitted in advance to the Contact group, and although the question of attracting women voters and Liberal Democrats has cropped up, drugs is not on the agenda.
Nor did any one of the spouses or adult children arriving at the meeting express any interest in questioning the candidates about drug policy. Virginia Chichester, wife of an MEP, said she and her husband had yet to discuss their preferences, but that she had "an open mind".
"But for me so far it's Cameron nudging ahead. I've talked to my non-political friends and they seem to think he's a good thing. I'm not bothered in the slightest about drugs."
David Cameron appears on Question Time on BBC1 tonight. He will no doubt be asked the question the Tories are so far shying away from, and his line that it was all a long time ago when he was a student will come under sustained pressure. An admission of hard drug use could bring the juggernaut to a shuddering halt.
