As the hacks following the Prime Mentalist were sitting in traffic on the M62 an hour or so ago, there were boos and jeers as the Tory’s Vote for Change convoy sped past in the opposite direction. And it wasn’t just political, apparently all is not well on the Brown Battle Bus. Despite having paid £13,000 for the pleasure of  travelling with the PM, they hardly ever do. He’s on the plane with them – secured off at the front, but never travels on the bus. He is also dodging questions and as a result of a concern over too many sound booms in the pictures, Labour insisted that Brown would only have one pooled radio mic. Cue shock horror when the sound guy wired him up at one stop and told the PM that he was now live and the hacks could hear everything he said or did. One minute later Jonah announces that he is off to the loo…

Apparently the coach driver has no idea where he is most of the time. At one point he managed to miss Stansted airport and people and things keep on getting left behind. One Sun hackette was left on a train waving and screaming as her colleagues drove off. The next day it was the lunch that got left behind resulting in a raging mob. The anger is made worse by the fact those travelling on the Ashcroft-mobile are living it up. Via The Times we learn “as the Tory plane headed for the North West yesterday, passengers dined on parma ham, mozzarella and rocket salad, followed by rare roast lamb on a bed of lentils and peppers, with chocolate mousse for pud.” On the bright side spare a thought for the cub-reporters following the Lib Dems. All they get is a warm cheese sandwich.

Image taken from the travelling Niall Paterson’s Twitter, which is worth a follow for bus news. Guido understands he has so far managed to keep his clothes on…