Can Lynton Crosby cross the line? This is just one poll, and No 10 is anxious to play down its significance with almost two years left until the next election; other surveys still give Labour a clear lead and show Ukip doing much better. And the internal workings of No 10 remain a source of concern in the party. "There are too many people, no one is properly in charge, and they don't know what they are doing," says a senior Conservative. But elsewhere, there is no mistaking the improvement in Tory morale as MPs prepare to depart for the summer recess. That ICM poll chimes with a sense that, after a long period of perpetual crisis, the Tories may be bouncing back. That bounce is being attributed, in large part, to the work of the Aussie. But who is Lynton Crosby, and why is he here? The 56-year-old campaign strategist is a conservative gun for hire who hails from South Australia, where he studied economics at the University of Adelaide. He has fallen in love with life in the capital - he and his wife Dawn live in west London and enjoy the city's theatres and restaurants - but they return regularly to Australia, where they have grandchildren. He learnt his trade on the tough Australian political scene and was instrumental in helping John Howard - the unexciting but, in electoral terms, spectacularly successful former Australian prime minister - to four general election victories over the Labour party. Mr Crosby also ran Boris Johnson's campaign for the mayoralty in 2008 and masterminded his successful re-election last year. George Osborne had drafted him in when he became convinced that the then struggling Tory candidate was about to be crushed by Ken Livingstone. Mr Crosby's subsequent success in forcing Boris to accept some discipline, and to - mostly - stick to a script, convinced Mr Cameron that with his own election machine in such poor shape he could do with help. The Australian had much less success the last time the Conservatives hired him to run a general election campaign. He had attracted the attention of William Hague and other Tories on visits to Australia in the late Nineties. But in 2005, when Michael Howard put him in charge of Conservative Campaign Headquarters (CCHQ), the party lost. Tory modernisers said that Mr Crosby's concentration on traditional themes such as immigration meant the party struggled to reach out to floating voters. His supporters say that he restored some order to a shambolic campaign that could have turned out much worse if he had not been on hand. And he did notice the media-friendly talents of Mr Cameron and Mr Osborne, telling Mr Howard: "You should promote these guys." Even his critics accept that the obsession with a clear message is the Crosby hallmark. He has very little patience for people theorising and playing at being strategists. Lynton believes that you get a couple of simple messages, which are true to your values and which will appeal to the electorate, and then you keep saying it all the way to polling day," says a former Conservative staffer. "Lynton calls a spade a f---ing shovel," says another former colleague. Despite his reputation for Aussie bluntness, supporters say it masks a scientific approach rooted in an examination of the polling and focus groups. He's not emotional, or someone who swears and shouts his way round the office. Lynton wants to win and he uses the polling evidence to explain to the client how they can do it. It is an approach he has used to attract corporate clients, an area of his work that is now attracting negative headlines. From an office in Mayfair, Crosby Textor, the business he founded with fellow strategist Mark Textor, advises a wide range of companies and individuals on how to get their message across - and sometimes on how to persuade governments not to stand in their way. Controversially, the company advises tobacco firms. Labour has accused the Prime Minister of giving in to pressure recently not to introduce plain packaging for cigarettes, a move the industry opposed. This is denied. Mr Crosby tells friends he is a "good Methodist" who would never dream of lobbying the Prime Minister on behalf of a client. However, it is obvious why Labour and the Lib Dems are so keen to snare Mr Crosby on the issue of lobbying and tobacco. After a long spell in which it seemed that the Conservatives were destined to approach the next election in a state of semi-permanent chaos and potential insurrection, their new adviser has helped get them back in the game. Officially, the campaign supremo is only contracted for one day a week, although he is constantly on call for the Prime Minister and spends the equivalent of a full working week on preparations for the Tory election campaign. In addition to that basic contract, his company benefits financially from commissioning the expensive private polling that the Conservatives undertake, and Mr Crosby now controls the questions that are put to voters. "You've got to have control of the map," he has told colleagues. He does not sit inside No 10 with a campaign map on his wall directing operations. Indeed, he avoids involvement in the minutiae and declines to involve himself in the rolling meetings that take hours every day. "Lynton thinks No 10 is like a debating society," says an MP. Others suggest that he refuses to be merely one voice among many: "He wants to be the voice." He deals direct with the Prime Minister, pops into CCHQ at Millbank and darts around Westminster, and to Mayfair for lunch, answering calls from Mr Cameron as he goes. The working relationship with the Prime Minister is becoming very close. Ironically, it was Mr Cameron's friend, George Osborne, who did the formalities of the negotiation and hiring, but the Australian has since supplanted the Chancellor as the driving force of the Tory campaign. "He thinks that George has many skills but couldn't strategise his way out of a paper bag," says a friend. Mr Crosby may have to make a decision as the election nears. A good start has been made, but it is a long way from being fixed. No 10 is still all over the shop. Lynton is going to have to go full-time and drop the outside interests eventually," says an MP. Labour's fixation on the question of lobbying and tobacco is a reminder that such matters can become a very damaging distraction if they surface in the heat of an election when the voters are watching. The Australian, hired by the Tories to craft a simple message and instil iron discipline, will know that he cannot afford to allow anything so elementary to stand in the way of victory.