Help, help me Rhondda, there's been another defection

After Quentin Davies defected to Labour, Ed Balls hinted that there would be more to come. Well, one is about to be announced. Are you sitting down? It is none other than David Anstee, 26, former vice chair of the Rhondda Conservative party.

Here are the words his new friends have written for him:

"Like many political moderates I had hoped that David Cameron's leadership of the Conservatives would herald a changed party that reflected the concerns of the people of our country. But unfortunately the Conservative Party has shown itself to be incapable of change. It has pandered to the views of its right wing whenever it has faced a serious test."

Will anyone seriously believe this? Cameron so right wing that he is repelling members? Yet this is the Labour attack message, which I hear all the time from ministers. It is important to Brown that he can attack Cameron as an unreconstructed Thatcherite. It is risibly, lamentably untrue.

But there is more from our young defector.

"In contrast, I have been really impressed by Gordon Brown's leadership. His strength and vision for Britain has been inspiring. We need a serious leader for serious times, to meet the challenges of security, global warming and housing."

This guff matters because it shows what Labour wants floating voters to think. As ever, it doesn't fit with reality. Brown has stayed commendably clear of the global whining agenda, though he obviously sees political capital in it. He has offered nothing on housing until 2013, but wants us to think he has changed things. As Chris Grayling says, read the small print.  

Somehow, the Conservatives will have to struggle on without the services of David Anstee. But this lame stunt has served, at least, to show how Labour is sketching out the battle lines.