I know you’re not suppposed to, but let’s get party political about the Olympics for a minute.

Can you imagine this kind of Olympics – and Paralympics – being commissioned by a Conservative government back in 2006? Imagine Michael Howard, Iain Duncan Smith or William Hague talking about London as a ‘world city’ and the event as an occasion to embody not only Britishness but global values.

Even David Cameron in his most Big Society phase might have struggled with the concept of a cosmopolitan celebration of human, social principles and history as well as a progressive future where we focus on the ability not the disability. Remember it was Jeremy Hunt who didn’t want the NHS references in the opening ceremony.

So credit where it’s due should go to the much-maligned Tony Blair and his team. But this is a non-partisan success – in their different ways Conservative peer Lord Coe and London Mayor Boris Johnson have also helped define London2012. In the end that is why despite some tawdry corporate moments, it has been a collective triumph.