Sketch: Grown-up George takes on a man's work

In the audience his mother looked on, with maternal amazement at the sight of her offspring preparing to run Britain's finances. "The British public wanna know ..." he began. The sacrifice of the double "t" caused some delegates to flinch. This is the "age of irresponsibility" conference, a phrase thoughtfully coined by Mr Brown - and equally thoughtfully flagged on his tombstone by Mr Osborne. Tough on debt, tough on the causes of debt, was the new mantra.

He stepped nimbly around the fact that there was zero appetite among Conservatives for the ancient art of credit controls in our collective spending years. But times are different. The same audience which only last year whooped atavistic glee at his handout of inheritance tax cuts, this year applauded the same shadow chancellor for telling them that there was no money left in the kitty. The new factory manager was cancelling the annual trip to the seaside.

He also took a hefty swipe at bank bonuses. This got a mixed reception in my bit of the delegate huddle. A man in a pre-Cameron pinstripe suit rose and stalked off but Mr Osborne has his eyes on a higher prize than the cheers of Tory delegates. He wants national authority and is aiming to get it by telling us how bad things really are.

This being gorgeous George, there was just a little preening too as he turned his tanks on the Prime Minister. Mr Osborne has waited a long time for his enemy's comeuppance and isn't going to let the moment pass. "He's spending money as if there was no tomorrow. Maybe for him there is no tomorrow." By the by, he trashed Mr Brown's precious, tarnished golden rule. Under the enlightened Osborne regime, it will be replaced by an independent council of the economic gods, who will rule on the state of the public finances.

That was a quiet masterstroke. Now sit back and enjoy the fighting about who is going to be on it.

We were promised a council tax freeze - tax cuts are so out of date these days - and a high speed rail link to all those provincial cities that used to have famous building societies.

He likes his new role as sober judge, confining the reckless Brown years to yesterday. The boy wonder has grown up.