Labour needs someone with the guts to tell the party what it must do to avoid disaster

Gordon Brown is not used to being spoken back to in Cabinet, which made a recent session on tackling David Cameron all the more memor-able. The civil servants were sent away, as is the custom at political Cabinet meetings, and the Prime Minister laid forth the Gospel according to St Gordon. The Conservatives had not changed, he said, and the next election would be a choice between Tory cuts and Labour investment — the narrative of the 2001 and 2005 campaigns. When he finished, there was an embarrassed silence. Then, one by one, his colleagues told him why he was wrong.

This time last year, the Prime Minister could have told them that the moon (or Mr Cameron) was made of green cheese without fear of contradiction. Now his authority has all but perished and his Cabinet are un- afraid to speak out. During that meeting, Mr Brown was told that it is futile to pretend the Tories have not changed and that it is more important, in fact, to persuade the public that Labour has changed.