Did anyone else just see

Dan Hodges is right to say that Labour's 35% of the vote strategy is wrong.

They are aiming too low and if they don't succeed, they are sure to fail. They should be confident and aim high and offer a real vision and if they fall short, then they will still get enough votes to succeed.

But instead they are aiming for the small part of the pie that is disgruntled LibDem voters while missing the fact that UKIP are eating some of their pie by taking their working class voters.

Labour are in opposition, so negative campaigning is not good enough for them, they have to offer something positive. But of course they have nothing positive because their record under Brown and Blair is like a chain around their neck. All they have left is a wing and a prayer, spin and Spitting Image.

I am a labour supporter and so get a lot of emails etc from them and the level of over copy written spin in what they send is really starting to hack me off.

I want something more than a sound bite and they really aren't delivering it

Bad video by the LibDems.

That video will only add to UKIP's support because it boosts UKIP by implying that UKIP are the only opposition to the establishment LibLabCon Oxbridge gang and that the gang should all try and stop UKIP.

Plus as TheHammaconda said, Cleggy's performance was abysmal in the debate with Farage, so there is no point banging the same drum and when you are in a hole, you should stop digging.

The LibDems have released their own . It's gets their "We're the party of integration" message across well.

I wouldn't have mentioned that only one leader is standing up to UKIP with a picture of Clegg (54secs) it'll just remind people of his performance in the debates.

Apparently this is why they're gunning for Clegg. But I think Hodges pointed out that Milliband can hardly take the moral high ground now if he gets negative campaigning thrown back at him. That said, Labour's probably working on the assumption that that's exactly what's going to happen as such an easy target. Who could resist?

You're right, they should have had a clear message from the beginning of EM's leadership.

2015 will be a two horse race but neither party look like winners.

Dan Hodges again

"Is this what Miliband meant by the New Politics? Third-rate comedy sketches to try and cover up the gap where Labour’s economic policy should be."

There is only one year to go and this is what Labour's great and good came up with. They probably patted each other on the back and said "that'll show 'em".

As McEnroe would say "you cannot be serious!" and it is that lack of seriousness that will sink their prospects of victory.

'They don't need a manifesto for this election - no other party has released one. If they released it now it would be old hat by the time of the GE, all the discussion points would have already been done to death.'

No. They should have spelt out their message from day one, 4 years ago. As Dan Hodges said recently on the Daily Politics, their message from day one was wrong and they never changed it. They stuck to it. They put Ed Brawls out to face the public and of course he fell flat on his face, as he was part of the old losing team of Gordon Brown. Dan Hodges rightly said that it is now too late, with just one year left, to change their message. The public won't believe them now.

Cameron is also not very good, that is why half of the Tory Party membership has left the party, but even Mickey Mouse could have beaten Gordon Brown.

'Since Blair we've gone for charisma over conviction'

Yes, because that is all these jokers and actors and players from public schools could offer us - spin. But the public has had enough of it, and that is why they have turned to a party that they all say is "anti politics", but is really "anti spin".

I thought it was a peculiar choice at best. I hate all this negative campaigning and I do think it runs the risk of backfiring in this country.

I don't think labour stand a chance at the next election. I hope that the conservatives win an overall majority because if they don't, and the lib dems are also decimated, the government make up is going to be very worrying indeed.

I don't know in how many seats UKIP plan to stand, but presumably there is a real possibility they could actually end up with some power.

Labour should have listened to Lord Glasman. I think he has understood what is going on.

"Labour’s working class support has “died” as the party becomes “very middle class”, an advisor to Ed Miliband has said.

Lord Glasman, the policy guru ennobled by Mr Miliband, said Labour voters who defected to Ukip may never return because the party is failing to address concerns on welfare and immigration."

www.telegraph.co.uk/news/politics/labour/10792422/Labours-working-class-support-died.html

The problem is that their entire leadership is "middle class", a metropolitan elite that has lost touch with Labour's roots. That is why they are just play actors, playing at politics, like public school debaters in the Oxford Union.

Dan Hodges has it spot on and that is why he has predicted that Labour do not stand a chance of winning the election. It is because they are not serious and do not treat the voters seriously.

"Instead the people who run it [the Labour Party] – or pretend to run it – are playing a game. They are living out a self-indulgent student fantasy in which they get to strike poses, and shout slogans, and scream “Toff!” at every passing Tory they see."

"Just being against what the Tories do with no concrete policies apart from trying to offer "feel good" policies about the cost of living, does not look serious."

Well, opposing is what the opposition is supposed to do! Those were the exact same accusations thrown at Cameron in 2009 - no policies, David Chameleon etc.

They don't need a manifesto for this election - no other party has released one. If they released it now it would be old hat by the time of the GE, all the discussion points would have already been done to death.

For me the big problem in UK politics is a dearth of leadership. Since Blair we've gone for charisma over conviction and all the parties are looking for another Blair-type charismatic figure to change the face of their party. I think the electorate are past that. We want honest politicians who won't belittle us by reducing us to stereotypes. Politicians who are prepared to act in the interests of the electorate.

Yes but Clegg's already announced he wants to be deputy pm for another five years in a coalition government. He's banking on neither labour or the Tories winning an overall majority. Both need to undermine him to boost their own chances of winning outright.

And he's a little shit who deserves the piss being ripped out of him

Labour kept banging on about where was Osborne's Plan B, but now that Osborne has come out trumps, where is Labour's Plan B. They never had one because they were too arrogant, and that pastiche political broadcast displays that arrogance, "uncredibility" and irrelevance.

'Also, what else could they campaign on? They've not announced any clear, costed policies'

This is their problem. There is only one year to go. Just being against what the Tories do with no concrete policies apart from trying to offer "feel good" policies about the cost of living, does not look serious.

Hence, a pointless pastiche of a fifties sci-fi B-movie about the "uncredible shrinking man", Cleggy. It is not credible. Labour are a pastiche of a political party and that is why they will lose. They do not deserve to win as they cannot articulate a solution to people's problems and the country's problems.

They are out of touch, out of mind and out of luck. And for the first time since Thatcher, they have a party, UKIP, that is taking their working class vote. Their metropolitan elite leadership has no answers apart from pastiche and ironic references to the past. Their present broadcast points to their uncredible shrinking future.

Expectations of the LibDems' performance are so low that only the loss of all seats would count as a defeat at the moment. If they can annihilate the LibDems in the EP elections pressure on Clegg to go mounts. If Clegg goes the government is destabilised, people lose faith in the concept of coalition governments and the vote is polarised between Labour and Conservative. With (I'm sure Labour strategists hope) all the LibDem votes going to Labour.

Also, what else could they campaign on? They've not announced any clear, costed policies (nor do they need to until next year) so can't campaign on that. They could use their record in the EP, including their grouping, but I can't imagine a bigger turn off for some voters.

Class war is a Labour core vote strategy. This shows that Labour aren't serious about converting floating voters, which is great news.

And I agree with claig - everybody hates Nick Clegg anyway; what's the point of wasting energy attacking him?

The title of their broadcast was "The Un-credible shrinking man". It was about Cleggy. But why waste precious time on that. Even LibDem voters know that Cleggy is a joke. No one will be voting LibDem because they have faith in Cleggy, if they vote LibDem it will be despite Cleggy, and anyway I expect he will be gone shortly after the Euro election results come out. The broadcast was a wasted opportunity and shows that Labour cannot identify the real issues.

The trouble is that they have nothing serious, no serious policies. All they have is "the cost of living" and that is not enough to convince the public to vote for them.

Yes, but jokes are not serious. Labour are supposed to be a serious party. They used to have a spin slogan "Britain can do better than that". Labour have to do better than that. They have to get serious.

He didn't come out of it too brilliantly.

'They're really gunning for Clegg aren't they?'

Yes, but what is the point of gunning for Clegg? Cleggy is already finished. He did that himself. They should be concentrating on Cameron, not Cleggy.

They're really gunning for Clegg aren't they? As PPBs goes it's different to any I can recall seeing before, I think the tone and content will appeal to younger voters.

No, specifically Spitting Image ruined David Steel's career by portraying him as a teeny-tiny puppet of the vast David Owen. He never recovered from that.

Yes, he is Glenda Jackson's son.