Gordon Brown... attractive to Mail and Femail

If you want to win over the people of the United Kingdom at the general election you must be prepared to fight hard to win over the Daily Mail.

All that right-on soliloquising & policy detail about social breakdown etc is fine, but getting the Mail onside is actually important. Get the Mail and you get bragging rights over Middle England.

Surprisingly, despite the 1922 Committee and unnamed backbench rebel MPs, Cameron got a positive leader at a critical time. Hasn’t he worked wonders, it asks. This after Cameron pledged not to return to the right-wing comfort zone (wherein lies full support for grammars) in the aftermath of the poor by-election showings. [BTW - Nick Cohen may speak to political writers but he clearly doesn’t speak to Paul Dacre.]

Elsewhere, Gordon Brown is chasing the Middle England femail. He's also cleverly talking about reversing the 24-hour drinking decision. Gordon can continue to make consistent, unspectacular forays into enemy territory. He'll do well over time.

But things aren’t looking good for Cameron. On July 23, he gets a great result. Especially at a time when Janet Daly, whilst still on board, is starting to lose patience. On July 24, he blunders into this & this type of publicity. Gordon Brown visits flood victims. David Cameron jets off to Africa. Oh dear.

For a supposed old-style socialist Gordon seems strangely confident and comfortable in his all-new Tory garb. I think the Daily Mail's comfortable with it all as well. Oh boy, is Cameron ever in trouble…