Carter got

The Independent on Sunday’s report that Stephen Carter has been demoted is hugely significant. If it is right, and I have no reason to think it is not I just haven’t independently confirmed it, it suggests that a change in strategy is coming; that the Brownites are going to adopt a more bare-knuckle approach.

In recent weeks, Carter has been advocating not trying to tear David Miliband down, he played a key role in the brokering of the Peace of Minorca, and trying to separate David Cameron from his party, Carter argues that the public believe Cameron to be a decent guy and a moderate so attempting to demonise him won’t work and that the best strategy therefore is to say to voters OK Cameron is alright but what about the rest of them. Carter’s slide down the Downing Street pecking order suggests that he has lost both these arguments and that we will soon see full-on personal attacks launched on both Miliband and Cameron.