Will Balls and Cooper capitalise from Johnson’s mistakes?

You’ve probably heard about Alan Johnson’s latest slip-up yesterday. But it’s still worth highlighting the response made by a Labour spokesman – as Dizzy has – because it’s simply extraordinary. Here it is:

“We have a Shadow Chancellor who lives in the real world. He knows the difference between a progresive and regressive tax. He knows what it takes to get on in the real world. That is more important than taking part in a Westminster quiz game.”

Extraordinary that Labour should already have to make excuses on behalf of Johnson. But even more extraordinary that they should be made in this manner. The shadow chancellor errs, in quick succession, over when his party would cut the deficit by; their policy on national insurance; whether VAT is levied on food; and, now, the employers’ rate of national insurance – and one of his colleagues describes expectations that he should know his brief as “a Westminster quiz game”? At a time when the economy is the topic du jour, this is a “game” they really might care to learn the rules for.

I say this as someone who thought that Ed Miliband made an alright