It’s taken some time but it seems the Labour kickback machine is getting into gear. The dividing lines are being drawn over the whether or not Labour back the Welfare Uprating Bill that will apparently be published this side of Christmas. In the meantime a nice row is brewing over the so called “Mummy Tax”. After granny and pasties, hidden hits are de rigueur these days. A friend of Ed Balls tells Guido this morning:

“Osborne effectively branding mums, taking time out from work to be with their new baby, as work-shy benefit scroungers is a big political mistake.”

Guido is not sure how a reduction in hand-outs is a “tax”, but the issue is certainly potent. Mumsnet will be unbearable today…

Up and down the country millions of people are waking up in a cold sweat in the middle of the night, petrified by the spectre that has haunted them throughout the early hours. And who is this terrifying figure? A poll for the Mail says that the celebrity most likely to appear in our nightmares is none other than George Osborne. Ouch.

The Chancellor, rather harshly, comes one place ahead of Gordon Brown, a man who no doubt still keeps those who worked with him in those dark days of 2010 up at night. The likes of Katie Price, Anne Robinson and Marilyn Manson also make the list, with shadow chancellor Ed Balls coming in at number ten. No Maggie era Tories strangely…

Yesterday’s Daily Star Sunday column revealed further details about Osborne’s Class A habit and why the BBC’s coverage of it was a little subdued:

CHANCELLOR George Osborne was left red-faced when he was accused of trying to get away with sitting in the first-class carriage of a train with a standard-class ticket. His spokesman and Virgin Trains deny an argument ever took place, even though a witness says his aide tried it on. Osborne does have previous on bending the rules. The same thing happened back in May when a ticket inspector was high-fived by other passengers for refusing to let the multi-millionaire sit in first class without the correct ticket. Strangely, BBC news all but ignored Friday’s incident. Nothing to do with the aide in the spotlight being Poppy Mitchell-Rose – a former BBC employee who is dating Ben Wright, the BBC’s political correspondent.

Guido’s favourite story was the Shadow Public Health Minister’s morning tipple:

LATE-NIGHT TV star and part-time Shadow Minister Diane Abbott was up for an award last week for the “Best Politician on Twitter”. Eyebrows were raised at the nomination, given that Abbott came very, very close to losing her job in January when she was embroiled in a racism row after tweeting blanket insults about all “white people”. There were even more eyebrows raised at the example set by the Shadow Public Health Minister who, upon arriving at the posh ceremony, immediately tucked into the champagne. At 8am.

You can now read the rest of Guido’s Sunday column online here.

After his vote winning booing at the TUC, Ed Balls has donned his bow-tie to butter up the CBI. Though he won’t say it on the airwaves, behind closed doors with businessmen the Shadow Chancellor is desperate to play up the resemblance between himself and George Osborne:

“George Osborne and I have some real differences but we also have some areas where we really agree. There is no doubt that a credible deficit reduction plan is essential… There have to be tough decisions on spending and pay and measures to kick-start the economy. We need action now for growth, jobs and confidence.”

It rolls off the tongue of the former City Minister.

And it’s clear where he has got his inspiration - Osborne’s Mansion House speech in June:

“My conclusion from that the balance of risks in the UK argues strongly in favour of credible deficit reduction… A time for decisions has come. The common challenge is [how to] create the conditions for sustainable growth and new jobs… I will take action [to] inject new confidence into our financial system.”

What is the point of the Shadow Chancellor if he’s just an echo? 

UPDATE: A source close to Osborne tells Guido:

“Looking forward to Balls announcing this deficit reduction plan at Labour conference, but not holding our breath. So where is this Balls deficit plan? Or is he adopting ours?”

It’s Kill Osborne season. Trevor Kavanagh in the Sun keeps up the pressure after another terrible round of Sunday’s for the Chancellor:

“It is Mr Osborne, not Nick Clegg’s Lib Dem rabble, who is to blame for the Government’s collapse in public esteem… In a few short weeks, Mr Osborne has shredded his reputation and turned the Coalition into a lame duck administration. It takes a special talent to cast Mr Balls on the right side of an economic argument but Mr Osborne somehow managed to do so. If the Prime Minister cannot grasp this nettle, he is finished.”

It’s amazing who you bump into on trains. Guido was chatting with this morning a loyal Cameroon source, familiar with Andrew Cooper’s polling numbers, who confirmed the speculation that Osborne is the biggest drag on the ticket in Downing Street’s private polling. Since the budget, George’s already shaky polling figures have apparently dropped through the floor and are showing no sign of recovery.

Guido understands that the reshuffle was planned for the week after the senior government appearances at Leveson. It would have been a nice distraction if things had gone disastrously. However given that the outcome of Cameron evidence was seen as an embarrassment rather than full on danger, with his tactician’s hat on, Osborne convinced Dave to delay. A month ago he would have been safe in his job, but 5 September is a very long way away…

In an interview with the Speccie, Osborne has gone for the jugular:

“As for the role of the Labour government and the people around Gordon Brown, well I think there are questions to be asked of them. They were clearly involved and we just haven’t heard the full facts, I don’t think, of who knew what when. …my opposite number, who was the City Minister for part of this period and Gordon Brown’s right hand man for all of it so he has questions to answer as well.”

That should do wonders for the cross-party inquiry consensus… 

Justine Greening to the Sunday Telegraph:

“The taxes that we get in fund the public services that we all rely on. Surely it’s better to challenge the petrol retailers to pass on reductions to motorists and actually I think that’s probably the most important thing to do.”

Treasury Twitter feed on Tuesday:

“Chancellor announces that August fuel duty rise delayed until January 2013 to help with cost of living.”

Sure that went down well in the Department of Transport. Given that Balls was on the radio calling for the u-turn this morning, Guido reckons he was tipped that it was coming…

George Osborne has taken a bashing this morning following his decision to fork out another £140 billion to the banks. The Institute of Directors warned that Funding for Lending will do nothing to make businesses want to borrow, noting that the move fails whatsoever to address fears over the Eurozone crisis.

The Institute of Economic Affairs were particularly damning, chastising the Chancellor for getting into a “terrible muddle” over banking policy and suggesting that “the left hand of the Treasury does not seem to know what the right hand is doing”. They highlight the fundamental contradiction between FSA regulation reducing the flow of funds to borrowers while the government subsidises lending from the very same banks. That GCSE maths textbook might come in handy.

Meanwhile Ed Balls backed the plans, saying “I welcome any action”. Says it all really…

Guido has said it before; history will be far kinder to Alistair Darling than any of his old government colleagues. This morning he’s the boy pointing at the €uro-emperor’s new clothes with vigour. While his Labour colleagues are silent, he popped up on Today to warn that he was “very sceptical” that the Greek bailout will work and that the Greeks could “stick to eight years of austerity”.

He warned that the Greeks will be “back at the table” for more money. Meanwhile Osborne is saying this morning that the Greeks do not have any other option despite how difficult this is. Now that just isn’t true… 

Last month Guido declared that if Osborne doesn’t risk any more British taxes to the IMF, then he would run naked from the EU HQ around Smith Square on St Patrick’s Day. The Chancellor promised back in October: “Britain will not be putting money into the bail-out fund either directly or through the IMF”. Well it looks like Guido’s dignity has been saved:

“My attitude is first of all I’m very happy at any point to explain this to parliament, if I needed to seek and felt it was right to offer something more than the current parliamentary limit allows… Of course, that wouldn’t be my decision it would be parliament’s decision. But let’s hear what the IMF proposal is first, let’s hear what the G20 responses are. If we need specific parliamentary approval for it, then we will seek it.”

This isn’t the first time a convenient short-term promise from Osborne has been quietly forgotten…