The Labour party is seriously worried. How else to explain Dennis MacShane's article in the Telegraph today calling for lower taxes and a smaller state.

A government should be no different. Labour should not be frightened of being a party that leaves more money in the pockets of hard-working individuals, starting with those at the lower end of the income scale. A Labour government that got serious about weaning its bureaucracy and clients off dependency on the citizen's money would find itself popular again.

This is about as convincing as a turkey suddenly declaring that it was in favour of Christmas all along and could someone pass the cranberry jelly.