Why Cameron was smiling as Nicola attacked Ed

If last night’s debate made one thing clear, it’s that the Tories are busy bigging up the SNP in a bid to lose Labour as many seats as possible in Scotland, thus giving the Conservatives a better chance of ending up the biggest party on 8 May.

That would leave the Queen with no option but to call Cameron to form the next government, even though he may not be able to command a majority in the Commons. Cameron could either struggle on, or call for a second general election. Either way, it gives the Tories increased hope of holding on to power.

The signs are everywhere. It was noticeable that Michael Gove, appearing on Radio 4’s Today programme this morning, picked out SNP leader Nicola Sturgeon as “the most impressive debutante” in last night’s debate.

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Twelve hours earlier he had been pumping her up on Question Time. Within minutes of the Salford debate ending, Gove was saying: “Nicola Sturgeon’s performance was widely regarded as impressive.”

That infuriated Lib Dem Treasury minister Danny Alexander who accused the Tories of boosting the SNP vote in Scotland with their posters showing Miliband in Alex Salmond’s pocket, giving the Nationalists the sort of publicity money can’t buy.

“The way the Conservative Party are going out explicitly talking up the SNP in this election is utterly disgraceful,” said Alexander. He told the Tory chief whip: “Michael Gove, you should be ashamed of yourself.”

As for David Cameron, who could fail to see the smile on his face as Nicola Sturgeon tore into Miliband last night over his support for Tory austerity cuts?

Sturgeon said: “Ed talks the language on austerity, but it’s only a few weeks since he trooped through the lobbies to vote for £30 billion of cuts.”

She challenged Miliband directly, saying: “We need to invest and grow our way out of austerity – why did you vote for £30 billion of cuts?”

Miliband responded weakly: “That wasn’t what the vote was for.”

The Tories’ ambition to be the biggest party on 8 May is boosted by the latest YouGov poll. It gives the Tories a narrow two-point lead over Labour, but, crucially, it puts the Tories on 37 per cent for the first time in the campaign - the same level of support they had at the 2010 election.