Conservative conference diary

• In abolishing child benefit for the Daily Mail's well-heeled militant tendency today George Osborne was being what Whitehall's Sir Humphreys call "brave" (ie rash). At earlier stages in the recession the future chancellor was often less brave, sheltering behind Bank of England governor, Mervyn (I'm Never Wrong) King's skirts. Contrary to today's "brink of bankruptcy" jibes about Labour spending plans, Osborne was still endorsing the very same plans as late as November 2008. Almost as slow to catch up as Gordon Brown. • Making his above-party party conference debut Sir Stuart (surely that should be Lord?) Rose, outgoing chairman of M&S, sounded just a touch smug when reminding representatives (never delegates !) of his own record in making cuts and restoring profitability. Sure, Rose, who acted as Osborne's warm-up man today, turned around the ailing high street icon after taking over in 2004. But M&S profits are still not what they were then. And, despite £3.4 bn of investment, the share price is back where it started. • Osborne himself has entrepreneurship in the genes. His father co-founded high-end painter and decorating firm, Osborne & Little (it also works as a Danny Alexander joke), and young Gideon (as George then was) saw an opening when a pupil at St Paul's school, London. School friends recall that he used to sell them essays at a fiver a go. • Conference stewards keen to win the Walter Wolfgang prize for officiousness can't help being bossier than ever while striving hard to be polite. Opening a door for an elderly hack one smiling woman explained: "Everyone's important, sir." Not so everything. When a steward invoked "health and safety" to reduce Osborne-mania in the upper circle the phrase triggered mass hysteria. "We are in government now, health and safety is a thing of the past," thundered one outraged representative. The chief steward was summoned but wisely backed off. • A woman lobbyist attending all this year's conferences delivers her fashion report: " Lib Dems wear novelty ties and bright comedy waistcoats. Labour delegates are still anoraks in anoraks. But at the Tory conference many women appear to be wearing floral curtains." Some things don't change. • Ken Clarke will not be addressing the conference through a hangover this morning. A cabinet minister again at 70, he's finally too old for that. He even goes to bed earlier. "I've not been to Ronnie Scott's for 20 years either, it's a myth," he confides. • Don't turn your back on Boris, Dave. In a speech ostensibly about the capital, London's mayor mentioned dozens of constituencies in which he is creating jobs, including Worthing, where congestion charge complaints are handled. He also mocked "light-fingered Parisians" who have nicked 3,000 Boris bikes compared with only three so far you-know-where. He does not sound like a man resigned to never becoming PM. Some think he could be Britain's Berlusconi: scrupulous, a policy wonk, media-shy, domesticated. Etc etc.