Another stunt? Or a passing enthusiasm, quickly forgotten? I don’t know. If he is being sincere, he’s wise not to talk about his faith too often, since to do so might alienate the increasing number of militant non-believers. And it should also be stressed that the moral courage which I am calling for does not have to have its roots in religious belief. Winston Churchill, who was at most sympathetic to Christianity, was able to tie together the deepest bonds of nationhood by appealing to history and people’s love for their homes and country. What was that if not a profoundly moral mission?

All the same, if I am right in suspecting that Mr Cameron has grown increasingly religious, we may credit him with having a moral dimension which, since he is an upper-middle-class Anglican from the home counties rather than a lower middle-class non-conformist from Grantham, is apt to be concealed. He must know, though, that there are more things in heaven and earth than are dreamt of in Lynton Crosby’s philosophy. I should say that I have met the great Australian political guru only once, and found him charming, amusing and cynical. Affable though he is, I imagine he would boil any of us alive if required to.

Perhaps I am catching at straws, and attributing qualities to Mr Cameron which he does not possess. But if he does have them, fate has bestowed a potentially incalculable advantage in pitting Ed Miliband against him. For the Labour leader, who happens to be a self-professed atheist, really is the kind of socialist to whom Margaret Thatcher alluded in that 1977 speech who prioritises economics to the detriment of everything else. In his robotic way he can’t speak to the hearts of ordinary people, and he struggles to make any connection with their everyday concerns and anxieties. His proudly declared socialism even fails to ignite the dormant passions of the faithful.

I’m not asking Mr Cameron to commit political hari-kiri by climbing into a pulpit on the eve of an election. The task is a simpler one. Most voters don’t need much persuading that the Tories would be more competent in running the economy than Labour, and they probably don’t even believe scaremongering by the “two Eds” that a Conservative government would destroy the NHS. But many people do think that these rather aloof and conspicuously privileged public school boys who dominate the Tory party don’t really care about those significantly less fortunate than themselves.

The stakes are indeed very high. So much hangs on this election. Mr Cameron will only win if he succeeds in conveying that he is more than a reasonably safe pair of hands. To be sure, he will have to act against the script written for him by Lynton Crosby, and say things that would not come naturally to his friend the Chancellor. He will have to show moral courage. And it will only work if it comes from the heart. Time is running out, but it is not too late. Somehow David Cameron must show not only that the economy is safe in his and George Osborne’s hands, but that the people of this country are.