“There is a sense of disappointment,” Graham Stuart, a veteran Conservative MP, told parliament in a tone of sadness. Was he talking about the dismal test match at the Oval? Had he been hoping for more from Beetlejuice Beetlejuice? No, it turns out that the thing which was failing to live up to his high expectations was a Labour government.

After 14 years with the Conservatives in charge, when it seemed terribly important, at least to those of us with desks in Westminster, to know who was the deputy chair of the ERG, and who had crossed whom in some late 1980s Oxford Union vote, we are all adjusting to the new world. For Tories, the question of how to do opposition feels very urgent.

Do they, like Robert Jenrick, simply continue Hot Dog Toryism into opposition? On Tuesday he announced a “day of shame for our criminal justice system”, and demanded more prisons be built. You can’t help thinking this insight would have been significantly more valuable if he had shared it with the nation back in the years when he was an actual minister.

The Stuart approach is more subtle. “When people voted Labour, they thought that they were getting change and transparency,” he said, in a way that suggested he might actually have been one of them, urging the people of Beverly and Holderness to cast their ballots for the Conservatives while secretly wishing they would clear the bastards out. “They were promised higher standards, they are getting the opposite.”

In the long term, this is probably the way to beat Labour. Governments always disappoint in the end. In the short term, it requires a certain amount of chutzpah. Which was why Mel Stride’s performance in the debate on the Winter Fuel Allowance was so impressive. “Look at what has happened in a matter of a few short weeks,” he said, urging MPs to vote to keep millionaire pensioners snug and warm this Christmas. “Broken promises already. The special contract that Labour sought to have with the British people based on integrity and decency has been smashed into a million pieces.” He couldn’t quite manage Stuart’s note of disappointment, so he went instead for gleeful anger.

His own side loved it. They were voting that afternoon on who to eliminate from their leadership contest, and it seemed, briefly, like we might be watching a career-altering speech. Were they going to look at Stride and consider that good old Mel might be just the chap to take the fight to the enemy? “Shocking!” they shouted, as he denounced the tightfistedness of Rachel Reeves.

A thought seems to be dawning on the Tory benches. After 14 years of austerity, of bedroom taxes and two-child limits, they are no longer the party of saying no. At last, they can be like the Lib Dems, or the Greens, or the SNP, and simply say yes to everything. You can almost hear them asking each other: “Are we … the goodies?”

Edward Leigh weighed in. The £22 billion black hole that Labour is so fond of mentioning? “A mere accounting device!” He’s not exactly wrong, but I don’t recall Conservative MPs queueing up to point out the mistake when George Osborne was comparing Britain with Greece in 2010.

Neil O’Brien, never previously a softy, channelled the kind of fury at welfare cuts we’re more used to seeing from Corbynites. There were thousands of pensioners in his constituency who stood to lose out. “WHAT ARE THEY SUPPOSED TO DO?” he yelled, jabbing his finger at the government benches. House prices in his constituency are above the national and regional averages, so some ideas do occur, but it didn’t seem the moment to suggest them.

The response from Labour MPs generally involved a heavy-hearted explanation that these measures were regrettable but made necessary by the fecklessness of the last government. This was the line that Keir Starmer had taken in the morning, addressing the Trades Union Congress: a headmaster come to explain unfortunate but unavoidable realities. The union delegates had largely behaved themselves in response, and so did Labour MPs. Even Rachael Maskell, who has been outspoken against the cut, only abstained.

Liz Kendall, closing the debate, offered her own fury in response. She was a deputy head who has just seen what the sixth form have done to their common room, accusing the Conservatives of “faux outrage”, and pointing out that they had, a few months ago, been quite relaxed about nearly a million pensioners not claiming all the benefits they’re entitled to. Harriet Baldwin, a Conservative, rose to ask if it wouldn’t cost a lot more money if they all did, which Kendall seemed to feel rather proved her point.

Generally, though, Labour MPs were reluctant to make the case for the cut as a good thing, rather than a choice forced on them. Josh Simons, the new MP for Makerfield, told us he was going to, but then he ran out of time.

The vote, when it came, was a foregone conclusion: a single Labour MP, Jon Trickett, voted against the government. A couple of hours later another vote revealed that Stride’s speech hadn’t been enough to change his fate: he was knocked out of the leadership contest. It was another disappointment for him. Still, he can always blame the government.