No its not anything to do with attack dogs (John Reid) or Mongrels (Howard), its the sound being heard by the pro-life lobby. Cosmopolitan magazine, home of the “high heeled” non-voter, asked the party leaders about abortion. “What we have now is tantamount to abortion on demand,” Howard told Cosmo, “in the past, I voted for a reduction in the limit to 22 weeks and I would be prepared to go down to 20.”

That’s “the dog whistle”, because only the anti-abortion militants hear the message. In the U.S., Rove whistled to anti-abortion and anti-gay voters. I am sure that this is Howard’s genuine opinion, not contrived by pollsters, but it’s helpful for him that it will be heard by a highly motivated population segment who will get out the vote.