Lynton will not be happy. Polls showing the Tories 5% to 8% behind suit his purposes. Polls showing them neck and neck will get Labour voters out of their beds to get Blair and possibly Brown rather than Howard in No. 10. Assuming of course voters are not already under house arrest. It has come to something when George Churchill-Coleman, the former head of the Anti-Terrorist Branch at Scotland Yard says “I have a horrible feeling that we are sinking into a police state” – he’s not exactly a pinko liberal.