It doesn't take a genius to know that Labour's greatest problem in the forthcoming general election campaign will be how to sell the prime minister to the public for another whole term. Four or five more years of Gordon Brown is not a great soundbite. In fact it, could hardly be worse.
The truth is that Labour is stuck with a product that is not easy to sell. But somehow it has to try.
Today at prime minister's questions came another clue as to how it intends to do that.
Up until recently, the main way Labour had tried to sell Gordon was as the man who made the right calls on the big issues, the man who called it right on the economy when it mattered while the Tories got it wrong.
Today however – on a day when Cameron did better against Brown – the PM unveiled another theme with which to attack the Tories – on the issue of consistency.
Cameron did OK highlighting Brown's recent conversion to electoral reform and the way he has been criticised at the Chilcot inquiry for failing to equip Britain's troops.
But perhaps the more significant move was Brown's decision to go for the Tories on their inconsistency over a series of issues of more immediate interest to voters, notably his recent changes of tack on tax breaks for marriage and public spending.
Labour is seeking to portray the Tories not only as inexperienced on the big issues but also as people who cannot make up their minds, people who do U-turns, who say one thing one day and another the next.
It may not work but it is a strategy. It involves selling the PM as not just Mr Experience but Mr Consistent. In uncertain economic times, Labour knows it cannot make people love Gordon Brown – but it can sow seeds of doubt about the alternative on offer.
