Is the US pollster right on the language that both men are adopting?

This, I know, is getting into dangerous territory because two words that lead to the biggest explosions on PBC are “Frank” and “Luntz” – ever since the US pollster’s famous “focus group” screened on Newsnight during the Conservative Party conference in October 2005.

In this week’s edition of the Spectator, out this morning, Luntz is the author of the cover feature on how both men use language and how Gordon is having to catch up with Dave. No surprise there then I can hear you say.

His argument is interesting and the piece is well worth reading.

Luntz write: “… Today’s voters will punish their leaders for trying to score political points at the expense of getting work done. Message: reach across the divide with words and intent when there is success to be had, progress to be made and prosperity to be achieved…Incredibly, Mr Cameron, a relative novice, is defining the words and themes that the Chancellor uses and, by extension, his political agenda. And it shows. That is why — as my research has consistently demonstrated — the British people aren’t buying into the new, ‘cuddly’ Mr Brown, the one who listens to the Arctic Monkeys in the morning before heading off to a photo op at a nursery school. They know it’s not the real him.”

In the Labour leadership betting the Gordon price has eased sharply in the past 24 hours to 0.24/1. This is down a touch on last night when I got £400 on the Chancellor at 0.25/1. The announcement that veteran Labour figure, Michael Meacher, is going to mount a challenge has had almost no effect.

Mike Smithson