These names, and more, are linked by a generosity of spirit. But together they stand for something which matters and which roots debate in the aspirations of ordinary people. No wonder John Major's memoirs have sold so spectacularly. No wonder Norman Lamont's have been such a flop. We have tended to see the past five disastrous years of Toryism only in terms of the split over Europe, the fault line reducing the party to rubble.
Parties can, for a time, lose touch with reality.
They can render themselves unelectable. But sticking in and fighting back, battling for what you believe, is a commitment which involves some measure of pragmatism, too. He's a spin doctor spun into another hospital waiting room. It matters because, with all his experience and presentational skills, he saw no Conservative future for himself. The clause is only a symbol of the sort of issue where honest doubt demands to be countenanced and honest disagreement freely acknowledged.