One vote is enough, as the old saying has it. And certainly, if Nick Clegg impresses his party and the country, that will be proved right again.
There is, though, another if - if Chris Huhne (whose campaign, let's not forget, came up with the insult ') really does mean to work with the man who so narrowly defeated him.
Together with the newly-invigorated and popular Vince Cable, these three men could make a highly-effective troika. But the fact that 10,000 fewer Lib Dems voted in this leadership election, compared with the last one, demonstrates how much more they have to do.
Today, having first cast aside the popular Charles Kennedy, and then the experienced Menzies Campbell, the Lib Dems have somewhat tentatively picked someone unknown and inexperienced, but with bags of energy and charisma.
It's a recipe that recently worked for the Tories and, once before, for the Lib Dems - with Paddy Ashdown. The party is hoping desperately that it will work for Nick Clegg as well.
"He needs to learn that lunch can be a very dangerous occupation". So says a Whitehall source about Mervyn King. The governor of the Bank of England had two meals last week. One with the chancellor which, I'm told, was quite convivial. The other with the journalist who has since the Bank of England's frustration at the government's inability to take speedy decisions to deal with the aftermath of the Northern Rock crisis.
Ministers are said to be baffled by this complaint believing that the Bank was happy to take time to take the right decisions rather than rushed ones.
The two key decisions that need to be taken are:
• an extension of the guarantee to depositors - there's no disagreement here
• reform of the tripartite system so that it works in a crisis and not in peacetime
Today opposition members of the Treasury select committee are likely to want dine either on Mr King and his deputy, John Gieve or on their tales of government failures. Both men have been trained to say very little in public. They are now under extreme pressure to show that they can do just that.
Underlying all this is the issue about whether Mervyn King will get a second term as governor. Some in government would dearly love him to walk away but know that to deny him re-appointment if he wanted it would cause a crisis of confidence in the markets. This is not a problem that will be solved over a good lunch.
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