Peter Hoskin

One of the major recent debates within the Labour party has been over how best to attack David Cameron and the Tories.  Well - if a briefing obtained by the Guardian is anything to go by - that debate has pretty much resolved itself.  It suggests that Labour should portray the Tories as a wolf in sheep's clothing - as a nasty party lurking beneath a veneer of compassionate conservatism.  This passage should give you a taste of what it's about: "Occasionally the mask slips [from Cameron's Tories] and we see the dangerous, old- fashioned Tory rightwing instincts hidden underneath. They believe in unfettered free markets, cuts in public services to fund tax cuts for the richest, and a smaller, less effective government.

Amid all the Labour backbiting and leadership speculation, there remain some – almost comically enthusiastic – voices of support for Gordon Brown.  Here’s Tony Lloyd, chairman of the Parliamentary Labour Party, speaking to the BBC earlier: “The truth is most Labour MPs, the overwhelming majority, want Gordon Brown to be the one who delivers the policies, makes sure that they are implemented .... Anybody  who would have taken Gordon Brown on [in last year's Labour leadership contest] would have been crushed ... he continues to be the outstanding politician of this era." Of course, it's part of the PLP chairman's role to both promote and create the impression of unity.

As Nick Robinson suggests, this New Statesman article by Charles Clarke will throw the cat among the Labour pigeons.  There are two particularly incendiary quotes in it, both expressing the same sentiment: "...Labour's current course will lead to utter destruction at the next general election." And "There is, however, a deep and widely shared concern - which does not derive from ideology - that Labour is destined to disaster if we go on as we are..." Of course, we've heard similar from Clarke - and other Labour figures - before.  But it's the timing of this article which is especially worrying for Team Brown.

The respected Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development has forecast that the UK economy will shrink by 0.3 percent in the third quarter of this year, and by 0.4 percent in the fourth. In other words, they’re predicting a recession for this year.  Ok, so it’s hardly surprising news. After all, the latest figures from the Office for National Statistics had the economy at 0 percent growth for the second quarter – indicating that we’re already in recession. But it does add weight to the argument that the Tories need to find an alternative to their “sharing the proceeds of growth formula” sooner rather than later.

As James wrote yesterday, Stephen Carter's alleged slide down the pecking order at No.10 suggests that his softly-softly approach to tackling Davids Miliband and Cameron has been thrown out the window.  The assumption now is that the Brownite attack dogs will be let off the leash, and we'll start seeing some bare-knuckle politics from Team Brown. One question doing the rounds, then, is whether that (potential) new approach will help Labour eat into the Tory poll lead.  I'm inclined to agree with Political Betting's Mike Smithson that it will do nothing ot the sort.  Two simple, interrelated reasons spring to mind: 1) There's plenty of evidence to suggest that David Cameron is extremely popular with the general public.