His elevation is the ultimate destruction of the machine mentality. And yet the reaction of the humiliated machines is to exalt their own roles. Heaven knows what Hague's old bosses at McKinsey's would make of that. If Mr Blair has an enemy there, it's the assumption that he's won already, that William Hague is a no-hoper. But this is a self-solving problem.
Governments do best when they get on with governing.
Prime ministers look best when they're not in a flap about their own illusions. If Mr Blair really wants to fire the grassroots, he should concentrate on losing a lot of seats and making parliament a more exciting place to be. But that, I guess, is not the object of this exercise - and meanwhile the sole dish of the week, knocking on my door, is Hawaiian Deep Dish pizza with a free bottle of Coke.