Kitchener's call
After incipient disquiet and hints of wobbling on child benefit cuts, David Cameron plainly wanted to sound a note of certainty in his speech today.
Indeed, it was notable how frequently he turned to military metaphor.
On the subject of the economy and public spending, he was not, he said, delivering a cry for help but "a call to arms."
You could see the audience visibly stiffening their shoulders and sinews for coming strife as he declared: "We're all in this together."
They looked positively ready to enlist, at least for political conflict, as he echoed Kitchener's call: "Your country needs you."
And there was thunderous applause as he said: "I will take no risks with Britain's security."
For the avoidance of doubt, he immediately spelled out what that meant in practice: the renewal of the Trident nuclear missile system.
Dog-whistle politics
Partly, of course, that's firm Conservative policy. However, in the context of this speech - and the coalition with the LibDems - it was an attempted assertion of political certainty in the face of contention.
And there was also a note of dog-whistle politics about his attack on the release of Megrahi.
Neatly side-stepping the small point that this was not a decision taken by the UK government, he declared: "Never again."
All in all, an attempt by the prime minister to offer a series of fixed points for the faithful to cling to as they enter the miasma of uncertainty and disquiet which the spending cuts are likely to engender.
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