David Cameron’s decision to deliver his speech from a lectern and using a written text was of a piece with its more traditional content.

The Tory leader chose not to use an Autocue so as to retain, as far as possible, an authentic connection with his audience.

In doing so he sought to emulate the Conservatives’ best speechmaker, William Hague. The former Tory leader uses a technique that minimises the need to look at the text, enabling him to maintain eye-contact with the audience, particularly at the beginning and the end of sentences.

Mr Cameron, who treats the craftsmanship of politics seriously, has clearly been taking lessons from his predecessor.

The Tory aides had been careful to brief in advance that there would be no repeat of last year’s drama, in which he paced the platform delivering the entire speech from memory.

The last-minute rewriting required by the financial crisis would, in any case, have wreaked havoc with any attempt to perform the same trick. Mr Cameron may also have calculated that, were he to repeat his feat of memory, he would be expected always to do so in future.

Faced with the prospect of a snap general election after Gordon Brown’s arrival in No 10, Mr Cameron needed then to capture the nation’s attention. On this occasion he needed most of all to reassure.

George Osborne, the Shadow Chancellor, did use an Autocue for his main speech on Monday. He insisted that the party buy the equipment, pointing out that not all politicians can match the skills of Mr Hague.

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