Earlier this evening I was in esteemed company on an IPPR platform, sitting alongside - among others - Francis Maude and David Willetts.
The topic of the meeting was "What should the first 100 days of a Conservative Government look like?" and more than 300 people packed into the fringe meeting in the hope, it would seem, of Francis Maude lifting the lid on precisely how his Implementation Unit intended translating policies into action if a Conservative Govenrment is elected next year.
Needless to say, they were disappointed and there was, of course, no complacency from the shadow cabinet members, who both spoke in terms of what would happen rather than what will happen.
I took the opportunity during my contribution to make several suggestions of what I believe should be early priorities of a Conservative Government, and highlighted some of the top priorities of the grassroots as found by our survey last week.
My desire to see a Tory Government elected with a mandate to renegotiate our relationship with the EU was warmly welcomed by activists in the audience, and I was given even louder applause when I reported my support for the grassroots' most favoured policy of a Civil Liberties Bill to repeal many of the draconian and illiberal measures implemented by the Labour Government.
But, interestingly, I won the loudest cheer for my suggestion that we should end the situation where millions of the least well-off have to pay income tax on the one hand and claim benefits on the other - meaning that Peter is robbed in order to pay Paul, who then gives some of it back to Peter.
I'm not suggesting for a moment that I have done (or even could do) all the maths on it all, but I hope that the Treasury team will look at it (even if raising the threshold at which people pay income tax is Lib Dem policy...)
