Daily Mail Comment: A winning start, now for the hard work

The scale of Labour's rout - sufficient to deliver a 300-seat Conservative majority - was devastating. And there seems little doubt Thursday's by-election result was of seismic significance.

For the first time in years, the Tories are not only a credible party, but actually look as if they could decisively win the next General Election. For this, David Cameron deserves huge praise.

He has repackaged and united a disliked and deeply divided party. More pertinently, he is now showing exciting signs of developing a new Tory philosophy - one that combines hardheaded pragmatism with compassion.

What other messages can be drawn from Crewe? The first is that, while the result was terrible for Labour, it was devastating for the Liberal Democrats.

A party that has been so formidable in harnessing anti-Government opinion in the past was beaten out of sight.

Nick Clegg has failed to provide any clear vision of what his party stands for. How ill-considered ditching Sir Menzies Campbell must now seem.

The party's implosion, however, is more good news for Mr Cameron, who has the very real chance of grabbing back dozens of former Tory seats purloined by the Liberals.

And what of Labour? Firstly, they conducted a crassly stupid and nasty by-election with their hugely misjudged 'anti-toff' and racist campaign. If Gordon Brown had anything to do with it, he should hang his head in shame.

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In yesterday's hysterical and febrile Westminster village, many were already writing his obituary. But the fact remains that there are no obvious contenders to replace him.

Inevitably, socialist MPs were claiming 'New Labour is dead', and demanding a lurch to the Left. That would be as suicidal today as it was for Michael Foot 25 years ago.

The Blairites, responsible for many of Mr Brown's problems and so sickening in their Schadenfreude, offer sniping but no fresh thinking.

The new guard, led by David Miliband, is unproven (and would be insane to want to inherit the current mess).

More to the point, igniting a bitter civil war at a time when the Cabinet should be entirely focused on the dire state of the economy would not just be unwise, it would be a betrayal of the British people.

And without scaremongering, no one should underestimate just how dangerous the present rocketing price of oil is to our economy.

Given his considerable achievements as Chancellor, Mr Brown will argue that he is best placed to find a way through the present financial turmoil.

He can also plead with some justice that he has been dealt a terrible hand by events, but he has played these cards badly, not least over the 10p tax debacle.

And why on earth did he, in this crucial week, decide so overtly to defy public opinion by backing all the most liberal measures in the embryology and abortion debates?

His task now is to prove he can help the increasing number of voters understandably alarmed by the spiralling costs of food and energy and the ever-diminishing pounds in their pockets.

If he can succeed in this, he could still put the dark days behind him.

For Mr Cameron, there can be no arrogance or complacency. His challenge is different, but no less sizeable. It is to work out calmly how to use the solid mandate which the public now appears ready to bestow. A bloated state sector that is crippling the economy will require brave and radical surgery.

Today is not for choosing the wallpaper at Number Ten. It is for the really hard work to begin.