Just days before the budget is announced, a senior Labour party worker at Westminster has written a blistering attack on Ed Miliband's failure to win over support from the business and financial sectors in Britain, arguing that since the 2010 general election "Labour has consistently been out of line with and detached from the economic reality."
"It is the irresponsible reaction of our Labour opposition, of which I am a member, both to the economic crisis we face and to the strong economic legacy of our party they have shredded that will cause the most damage to this country in the long run."
Speaking to us about his blog, the Westminster insider said his post was written out of "sheer frustration", giving further weight to newspaper and blog reports last week which documented an escalating sense of turmoil and disconnect within the very heart of the Labour operation.
It confirms what many Labour insiders have been briefing for several days - that the leadership of Ed Milband and the prevailing views of party workers in Labour HQ are at odds with each other.
The blogger explains:
In recent days we have seen a coup in Labour's headquarters. The leadership sees the party as being too ‘New Labour’ and distanced from its message of public sector enlargement. And it’s the message of opposing almost every single cut that is causing the most damage to Labour’s reputation.
Last week, the newly elected general secretary, Iain McNicol, was said to be furious at the creation of new executive officers, which in effect push him to the sidelines of the leadership.
Miliband's new chief of staff, Tim Livesey, reportedly struggled with hard questions from other party workers at their soon-to-be-vacated offices in Victoria Street in Central London.
The party is moving offices to new premises in Westminster, reportedly to save money. It was confirmed that the party ran at a £1.7m loss last year - adding to existing debts approaching £10m.
Livesey reportedly admitted that Labour "has no strategy" at present, in a sign that the "blank sheet of paper" is still a long way from being filled in.
On Wednesday, Ed Miliband will have to stand at the dispatch box and deliver Labour's response to George Osborne's 2012 Budget. Labour have said they oppose the scrapping of the 50p tax rate - something widely believed to be included in the Budget statement - although from Monday's HuffPost blog, it seems not everyone is singing from the same song sheet.
On the 50p tax, for example, the party will not listen. The party has openly said that they would keep it even if this meant less money in the exchequer. I believe that this is trite populism of the worst kind, disregarding all warnings in favour of a politics of class war and jealousy, redistributing wealth from hard working squeezed families.
In short, they want to introduce a something for nothing culture and want to oppose policies that would bring stability to our ailing economy.