Packed doesn't begin to describe it. I thought I might pop into the main hall to hear George Osborne's panel discussion with voters who are feeling the pinch. Great format; instead of reciting a speech with dreary Brown-its statistics George discussed the economic crisis with actual voters; a guy who needed to drive from London to Bury to visit his parents and couldn't afford the petrol; an estate agent who watched his sellers despair as Labour ditherer on stamp duty.
But I'd be lucky. The queue to get in was thirty deep, security guards were exasperated. "how many does the main hall hold?" one woman asked plaintively. "1500," came the reply. We were directed in to an overspill hall. That was full too. People were clapping the giant monitor screens. A secondary overspill hall was rumoured to have seats. I gave up and went to find a fringe meeting. Have the Tories ever been this popular?
