If Sam is Cameron’s secret weapon, God help him

Come back Cherie Blair, all is forgiven. She may have been a liability but at least there was something going on between her ears. Samantha Cameron told us that she and Dave got on "rilly rilly well from day one" and explained that she worked in retail and her hubby worked in politics which meant he came home with "rilly interesting" stories, though not always that interesting, it would seem.

"Dave" recounted how, after meeting the new American president for the first time, he got home and said, "It's amazing, I've met Barack Obama, great man." And "Sam" replied, "I'm not really interested, that one needs his nappy changed, that one needs to get dressed, now will you get on with it?"

This was presumably intended to prove that Mrs Cameron is grounded. Instead, it merely reinforced the growing feeling as Trevor McDonald's anodyne programme ground on that the Camerons would be the dullest couple ever to inhabit 10 Downing Street.

Thankfully, the chances of that occurring appear to be slipping away by the day. Yet another poll - this time by YouGov for the Sunday Times - suggests a hung parliament with Labour as the largest party.

Conducted on March 11-12, the survey shows the Conservatives' lead narrowing from five points to four over the past week, with the Tories on 37 per cent, Labour on 33 per cent and the Lib Dems on 17 per cent.

Translated into Commons seats, that would give Labour 302 to the Tories' 277, with the Lib Dems and others holding the balance of power.

As Nick Clegg suggested last week, and again at his party's spring conference on Saturday, the Lib Dems look more comfortable doing a deal with Labour than the Tories in the event of a hung parliament, mainly because they disagree so strongly with the Cameron-Osborne line on slashing public spending to correct the national deficit.

Cutting spending too early risked "pulling the carpet from under the feet" of the economy, said Clegg. "We think that merrily slashing now is an act of economic masochism."

And he appears to have the majority of the British public on side. YouGov's questions about public perception showed 37 per cent of respondents believing the Tories were the party most likely to raise taxes after the election against 26 per cent believing the same of Labour. Fifty per cent believed the Tories were the party that would make the biggest cuts in public services, against 14 per cent believing the same of Labour.

But before we get to the election, we need a law introducing an outright ban on any further pre-polling-day interviews. Piers Morgan questioning Gordon Brown was bad enough. Trevor McDonald rubbing his nose up against the Camerons was shameful.

Not only does the public needs protection from this sort of party political freebie, but the politicians need protecting from themselves. If Samantha is David Cameron's secret weapon, as we were told endlessly before and during last night's programme, then God help the Tories.

Footnote: The TV ratings are in and only 1.7m viewers tuned in for Trevor McDonald's interview with David Cameron last night. This is less than half the 4.2m people who watched Piers Morgan's chat with Gordon Brown in the same time slot last month. ·