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Welcome to Political Thinking. I'm Nick Robinson.

How much of what we talk about in the Westminster Village,

the bungled speeches, the U-turns,

the rebellions or the narrow votes,

ever really get through to voters?

This week we had a reminder, a stark, brutal,

deadly reminder of reality,

and the difference between that and what so often we talk about in politics.

More than 30 people have drowned in the English channel,

in the biggest loss of life involving migrants using small votes to cross to the UK from France.

A search for survivors is underway.

With people still grieving, with people still coming to terms with the terrible tragedy in the channel,

it will feel too early to talk about the political consequences.

Being no doubt, though, there will be political consequences.

The question, in essence, it seems to me,

is whether people see this as an issue of competence,

a failure of government to get a grip on a problem that's been building for years,

or whether they see this simply as a question of who they trust to be tough,

to be hard-line when it comes to border controls.

Why might competence be one of the issues at stake here?

Just remember, who can forget that speech to business leaders at the CBI's annual conference?

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