Two years ago David Cameron and Nick Clegg stood in the rose garden of 10 Downing Street announcing their plans for the first coalition government since World War II.  The birds sang and there was a great sense of optimism.  It reminded me of Margaret Thatcher’s speech outside 10 Downing Street in May 1979 when she quoted the famous prayer attributed to St Francis of Assisi, ‘… where there is despair, may we bring hope’, and the sense of almost euphoria that accompanied the early days of Tony Blair’s premiership in 1997.