Yesterday’s post-conference YouGov/Sunday Times poll put the Tories two points ahead of Labour and had Miliband personally trailing Cameron by 41 points. It clearly didn’t go unnoticed among friends of Alan Johnson, whom the Telegraph today reports are plotting to help mount a leadership bid to oust Ed before the election. Apparently “the rebels hope to convince him to stand if disaffection grows over the coming months while also building up enough support inside the party to convince Mr Miliband to stand aside”. For Alan is an honourable man…

The list of suspects is long. In the weekend papers Lord Gulan Noon slammed Miliband’s mansion tax as “hopeless and desperate”, Lord Levy described it as “totally inappropriate”, and donor John Mills said it would cause “all sorts of problems”. An anonymous Shadow Cabinet briefer sniped at Team Ed: “they are in the ideas business, the rest of us are in the winning-votes business”. Even Prezza piled in, attacking Ed as “far too timid” and saying of his policies “nothing sticks in my mind”. Calling all members of the Don’t Unseat Ed Miliband Association: code red…