With Nick Clegg set to formally name the day of the AV referendum at 3.30pm, the positioning is already well under-way. Burnham is trying to invigorate his campaign by being the anti-AV Labour candidate, but Balls was moving onto his patch this morning, declaring that he has serious reservations about the legislation. The Milibands fired early, before the weekend, and might regret nailing their pro-AV colours to the mast so quickly. Will Labour members be able to resist lobbing the  “no” grenade underneath the Clegg/Cameron’s love-in?

If it is a no to AV then the coalition is going to come under some serious stress. This is where the LibDems could split and would explain the lukewarm response so far from Cameron and Hague.  The “Tories for AV” camp is growing, spurned on by the somewhat short-term idea that they can lock in the coalition at the next election by putting LibDems 2nd and vica-versa, thus kicking Labour hard. Alright for one election yes, but a blinkered approach from those whispering in Dave’s ear. A most surprising entrance from stage right has been Boris who, elected under AV, declared today that First Past the Post is dead and he is agnostic as to what should replace it. AV is for life, not just 2015…