Huhne and Vince Cable were genuinely angry at the No campaign, and belatedly trying to generate a last-minute anti-Tory mood among Labour voters.
A senior Tory describes a mood of "angst and stress".Angst among Tory parliamentarians has two causes.
According to those present, the mood of Tory MPs was now more frustrated with the House of Lords than upset about his handling of the tax credits debate, which some have publicly criticised over the last few weeks.
It was a sign of the times that one of the key pieces of spin aimed at the press involved the fact that Standard & Poor's, the credit rating agency, had reaffirmed Britain's AAA rating while Mr Osborne was speaking.And, though they are in a glum mood, the Tory MPs and activists here in Manchester are prepared to give Mr Osborne the benefit of the doubt on this.
One senior Tory summed up the mood to The Telegraph: "This is bad.
Endearingly, he hopes that during a four-week election campaign, the Tories might "catch a mood", much as the UK Independence Party did during the European Parliament elections.Yet political messages require endless repetition over many months before they stick.
Depleted, divided and in a mutinous mood, the Tories have spent the week feuding about what path will lead them back to power and maneuvering among factions plotting to remove their underperforming leader, Iain Duncan Smith.
The Daily Telegraph, reflecting the mood on the Tory right, launched a campaign today to block the rise.
This is less to do with the mood of unruly Tory MPs, although it is possible that some of them will announce on the all-night BBC election show their intention to remove Cameron on the grounds that he had twice failed to secure a majority.
While the issue under debate is austerity and whether the government has gone too far in cutting benefits for the poor, the febrile mood on the Tory backbenches has been driven by the fight over Britain's place in the EU, which is causing the biggest split in the party for two decades.
