New Labour's hostility to working people and its willing role as bag carrier for the City causes many people to wonder if the Tories could be worse.
Put aside the image of the smooth-talking, grinning, well-fed faces and look at the evidence where the Tories have power, especially where a contrast with Labour is readily available.
Boris Johnson's defeat of Ken Livingstone in the London mayoral election was a disaster for working-class Londoners, but the Johnson administration also provides a clear warning of what lies in store this year if David Cameron gets the key to 10 Downing Street.
Johnson has pushed up bus and Tube fares, including for passes, by the biggest amount since Transport for London was established.
More than a third of Londoners - mainly the poorest - have no access to private transport, so they are wholly dependent on buses and Tube trains.
But, in the gospel according to Johnson, they have to pay up to compensate for the mayor's politically motivated refusal to extend the congestion zone westwards or to impose a £25 carbon tax on so-called Chelsea tractors, as Livingstone planned to do.
This is not only a graphic illustration of where the Tories stand on social justice but it also knocks into a top hat all their protestations about being concerned about the environment.
Both social justice and the environment are best served by an expanding, publicly provided, cheap, reliable and safe transport network.
The Tories have no interest in providing either. We have all been warned.
