By Nick Assinder BBC News Online political correspondent

He didn't drop any clangers, he didn't lose his voice and he didn't dodge too many questions.

In an hour long performance, Iain Duncan Smith presented a thoughtful, pretty straightforward image.

But what he also didn't do was display much genuine passion or charisma or unveil any new policies.

He knows he has an image problem, particularly with the under 35s who made up the Question Time audience.

Moving on from Thatcher

In fact the very mention of his plans to make the Tories fashionable brought an audible titter from the audience.

But he has, thankfully, not attempted any stunts similar to William Hague's baseball cap to win himself some credibility with the youth vote.

Quality of life

Perhaps he is hoping that voters are fed up with image-led politics and are ready to replace flash with solid.

He showed the odd glimpse of emotion over education, contraception for schoolgirls and, inevitably, the euro.

But he also insisted he did not want to spend all his time talking about the single currency which, he suggested, was a distraction from the big issues of public services and other quality of life issues.

On more than one occasion, he confessed straight out that he did not know what he was going to do - on tuition fees, for example - but he offered a promise that he would change things.

This was a powerful platform for the Tory leader who is still struggling for recognition and against unmoving opinion polls.

And he used it to drive home his message that under him, the Tories will become a party for the whole nation, will not tolerate racism and will become genuinely inclusive.

Thatcher legacy

There were tricky moments over racism, particularly Ann Winterton's racist joke that led to her sacking from the shadow cabinet, and private education.

And there was clearly an inbuilt suspicion of the Tories from a large part of the audience of Thatcher's children.

More than once, Mr Duncan Smith gently attempted to move on from that legacy, declaring he was not going to go over old ground or fight old battles.

But he also laid much of the credit for the current healthy state of the economy at the door of the Thatcher years.

This performance can not have done Mr Duncan Smith any great harm.

But it left the lingering feeling that we have still yet to see the completed "product."