Ever since that time, the Bush team has insisted that what happened was more good luck than hard work, that the party came to him.

CNN: Who chose George?

But we need to show respect for people who have taken the choice to support this party and we are going to work really hard to win them back.

BBC: David Cameron pledges 'to work hard to win back' voters

Instead, the Conservative leader imagines a welfare system where ministers in Whitehall pull fiscal strings which encourage people towards his party's core values of hard work, saving, marriage and having children (when you can afford to).

BBC: Is the welfare state about need or nudging?

Lib Dems Brendan Glynane said despite the party's poor performance people recognised "how hard we work".

BBC: Northampton

If she really wants to change the party in her own image, she'll need to work very hard from within to remake this notoriously broad church in her own image.

BBC: How Leanne left others trailing

Mr Rubio, by contrast, embodies the future the party sees for itself, as the champion of the sort of hard work and self-reliance that so many immigrants epitomise.

ECONOMIST: Lexington

David Cameron has pledged "to work really hard to win back" former Conservative voters who have defected to the UK Independence Party.

BBC: David Cameron pledges 'to work hard to win back' voters