The 13% point Tory poll lead tells us clearly that the endlessly repeated key “Do Nothing Party” attack line from Labour just isn’t working. Blair’s former aide, Benjamin Wegg-Prosser, in what must be a first for LabourList, gives an honest assessment of Labour’s immediate prospects:

This weekend’s polls show that politics is now returning to normal. Despite defying political gravity throughout the Autumn Gordon Brown has now been brought back to earth with a widening poll gap and a sense that his new year campaigning has not quite delivered. While the second wave of British bail-outs shows that there is no quick fix to the systemic crisis in the global financial system. … The elevation of Eric Pickles to Tory Party Chair is further evidence that both parties intend to indulge in some fairly tough political combat. Having Chris Grayling as Shadow Home Secretary will certainly add some grit to Conservative policy campaigning.

Since the new year Gordon Brown had tried to get with the programme with some bolder moves… [for] the Downing Street team … to get some momentum going … stop repeating tired lines about the Conservative party being a “do nothing” party.

When even your own side think your propaganda is crap, you need to up your game.

Douglas Alexander is said to be furious that his attempt to introduce trials for his poll-tax-on-wheels scheme has been derailed by a Downing Street e-petition, which is approaching one and a half million signatures – up 100,000 in one day.

“We cannot be seen to bend, but we have to listen. There is a difference between listening and capitulating,” said an anonymous government source yesterday. The unnamed source (not a million miles from Douglas Alexander) is said to have claimed that “whoever came up with this idea might be a prat”. Guido emailed his friend Tom Steinberg of MySociety for a comment about that on Monday, but unusually no reply has been received from Tom. He is presumably very busy.

Ooofy Wegg-Prosser is the “web-genius” at No. 10. He apparently saw the e-petition plan as an answer to the interactivity and popularity of WebCameron and, err, Guido. Well that worked brilliantly didn’t it Ooofy?