The New Politics

"If he could persuade middle Britain that schools were improving, hospitals were working efficiently inside the public sector, more houses were being built, and that this was being done without more tax rises, then it doesn't matter whether Cameron heads further right or back to sunny-land. Brown would win anyway. But it would be a historic beating, not just an autumn ambush."

So suggests The Guardian on "the new politics" of Gordon Brown, on the day that the prime minister has announced that Conservative MPs Patrick Mercer, former Conservative homeland security spokesman, and John Bercow, former Shadow Secretary of State for International Development, and Lib Dem MP Matthew Taylor are to advise Gordon Brown's government in their areas of expertise.

Now, while I may be in favour of consensual politics, "concentrating on long-term problems" rather than "indulging in tactical games" and relating issues to their "effect on the economy rather than on party position," with education standards falling, hospitals being closed, and repossessions on the rise, all against a backdrop of the highest tax burden in decades, I find it hard to imagine how things can get any better for Brown once his honeymoon begins to wear off, as today's opinion polls appear to indicate may already be happening.