Before the Conservatives came to power in 2010, David Cameron set out his vision of a prosperous, secure country that would care for all. By every yardstick, his party has failed The long and wasted years of Tory Britain

There have been times in the past few weeks, watching Rishi Sunak, with his hands flailing for the steering wheel, when just for a second or two the ghosts of the Conservative party's last 14 years have seemed to play across his features, and we all have been forced to endure the unspooling catastrophe once again: the Truss budget and Partygate and proroguing parliament and Theresa May croaking her way to her P45 and No Deal is Better than a Bad Deal and Eat out to Help Out and, God help us, Get Brexit Done.

- Tim Adams

It all began with David Cameron on a conference stage in 2009 smoothly articulating his ideas for "compassionate Conservatism", making the case for a Big Society.

Rewatching that speech now is a lesson in political befores and afters. Cameron was perhaps at the high point of his personal branding, the unlined Etonian insouciance intact. How the pundits thrilled to his capacity to wander a stage and speak without notes! Much like Sunak, Cameron could never convince you of the personal struggle of that quest; still he did his best to argue that "none of this will be easy. I will be tested. I'm ready for that - and so I believe, are the British people. So yes, there is a steep climb ahead. But I tell you this. The view from the summit will be worth it." And here we are, 15 years on, worn out after that advertised long march, on top of a dispiriting mountain of broken promises and indebtedness.

Hindsight allows you to fact check Cameron's pledges. "I can look you in the eye and tell you that in a Conservative Britain," he began, "if you put in the effort to bring in a wage, you will be better off!" (In fact, wage growth in Britain was lower in the ensuing decade than in any decade since the battle of Waterloo). "If you save money your whole life," he went on, "you'll be rewarded!" (Britons, by independ ent analysis, are on average £10,200 [$13,000] worse off than in 2010).

"If you're frightened," he claimed, "we'll protect you!" (nearly 2 million people are on waiting lists for mental health services). "And if you risk your life to fight for your country, we will honour you!" (The chaotic airlift from Kabul was overseen by a Tory foreign secretary who refused to cancel his summer holiday and a prime minister who allegedly prioritised headlines about repatriating dogs.)

One of the telling features of rewatching those pledges is the contrast with the tone of this campaign. No one promised much in the way of visionary hope this time around.