Peter Dutton finds himself wedged between the CPAC reactionaries and the independent teals | Katharine Murphy

But given where the US Republican party finds itself (colonised by the reactionaries) and where the British Tory party finds itself (half-deranged by Brexit and post-pandemic voodoo economics), the whole co-option-by-fringe-festival dynamic on the political centre-right does warrant periodic attention.

The CPAC right apparently suspects the Liberals are secret socialists. Moderates were largely routed in May by independents seeking sensible climate action and an integrity commission. But some inside the Liberal party seem to think the response to this is that all remaining moderates should be cancelled. Go figure.

So Dutton has a leadership model. But the collective values the leader referenced on Sky, the values he framed as paving stones on the road back to power, remain works in progress.

While Dutton regroups, the government accelerates towards its first budget. Anthony Albanese faces a different kind of definitional wedge. The prime minister is squeezed between an election promise and the fiscal recklessness of stage-three tax cuts funded by borrowing.

Albanese knows the risks, in other words. But he has licensed Jim Chalmers to go out and expand the political space for overhauling the stage-three tax cuts, a pivot the treasurer has been executing for just over a week. With the stage-three flip frenzy in full swing, Albanese took days to appear publicly this week, but a range of Labor players bobbed up expressing concern about the political risks of broken promises.

Chalmers is a clear communicator, and a bunch of respectable people have helped his efforts to get voters focused on the downside risks and costs of sticking with the status quo this week, from the former Reserve Bank governor Bernie Fraser to the Liberal MP Bridget Archer. But this remains high-wire stuff.

Over a long life in politics, Albanese has undergone a number of definitional transitions. Student activist to factional player in the organisational wing. Backroom to parliament. Backbench to frontbench. Outsider to leader. Tory fighter to safe change. New prime minister who keeps his election promises.

Right now, Albanese is assessing whether the prime minister who keeps promises can also amend them without killing the government.