Dice are loaded against Brown

The news that stamp duty is to be axed on houses costing less than £175,000 is rather underwhelming—the Tories proposed abolishing it on homes under £250,000 last year but is indicative of the problems that the government is going to have with its re-launch. The best chance for a successful re-launch would have come from a genuine period of silence over the summer followed by the rollout of a set of new initiatives. Instead, what we are seeing is confirmation that variously extensively trailed ideas are going to be implemented and often in less radical form than first suggested. This, as the Populus poll in the Times shows , is unlikely to change the voters’ mind about Labour.

Previewing the few remaining shots in the government’s locker was a mistake but it was one that the Brownites felt forced into making by David Miliband. The Brownites were keen, perhaps too keen, to