"I feel voters' hurt" says Brown

"Rubbish" say I.

Funny how Brown seemed completely oblivious to voters hurt a few weeks ago. At that point he was confident he could push through the tax grab on the low paid and get away with it. So much for feeling their hurt.

It is completely clear to even the least politically astute observer that Brown's only feels anything when he has lost a vote or runs the risk of losing a vote.

Over the next few days Labour ministers will come out with variations on the theme of "voters have given us a warning". This is a disgustingly arrogant point of view. It assumes that voters are only ever focused on Westminster and the Labour government. It clearly has not hit home to Brown, Harman, Smith et al that what voters wanted was a change of councillor or council or, in the case of London, a new mayor.

Voters don't want the Labour government to change, they want to change the government.