She is one of the few Cabinet members who does not give the impression of having had her personality flattened by the sacrifices demanded by a ministerial career.
Drawing on decades of experience and friendships from all parties, Sir David – inventor of the swingometer – founded the UK’s psephological profession.
The Prime Minister’s manifesto will have its flaws, but she has grasped the implications of Brexit more surely than any other senior politician.
A further graft from the remnants of Labour and the LibDems might be the best way of preserving the Union and providing an alternative government to the SNP.
Most produce results that are more or less what a reader of opinion polls and other electoral data might have anticipated a few months in advance.
He was the last custodian of a lost Tory tradition of professional party organisation which maintained the Conservatives as a national institution.