The big temptation for Gordon Brown at Labour’s conference in Manchester will be to attack David Cameron and the Tories. That would no doubt get big cheers from the delegates. But it would be utterly irrelevant to the deep malaise that Mr Brown and his party are now in. Their problems lie in themselves, not in the Cameron Conservatives.

Differences over tactics emerged at the preconference political Cabinet last Tuesday when Deborah Mattinson, the party’s pollster, and Douglas Alexander, the party’s election co-ordinator, gave a presentation about Mr Cameron, highlighting where he is vulnerable. There are legitimate questions here: “The deal is not yet closed” between voters and the Tories, as Mr Cameron admits privately.

Labour leaders are hardly in a position to point this out. Several ministers apparently found the presentation beside the point when the Tories are so far ahead in the polls. Focusing primarily on the Tories smacks of complacency and self-denial. Isn’t there something about motes and beams?

There is a more longstanding difference over tactics. The Brownites have always liked to draw sharp dividing lines: we are for more investment (that is spending) on public services, you are for cuts; we care about children and the elderly, your policies would condemn them to poverty. By contrast, the Blairite instinct has been to occupy the centre ground and to squeeze the Opposition out of the picture: we are the true reformers. It is the politics of division versus hegemony.

Mr Brown and Labour leaders have, first, to address and admit their own unpopularity before they can mount any counter-attack.

Given the turmoil in financial markets, it makes political sense for Mr Brown to concentrate on what the Government has done and is doing. This is “the pilot to weather the storm” appeal. There are, of course, lots of flaws: about past regulatory and policy failures.

Ministers should talk about what they plan to do, as set out in this week’s preconference policy statement. This may not be enough, probably will not be. But it is the only plausible way for the Brown Cabinet to behave next week.

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