Dave Cameron has reached the next chapter of that new text book he got for Christmas entitled ‘How to Transform a Political Party and Make People Like You’. He’s read the bits about being nicer and being greener, even scoring well on the end of Chapter assessment tests and now he’s reached the section that explains the importance of a shiny new logo.

This being a true text book approach, Dave has leaked some of the findings to the press to maximize the good vibes and to test early reactions to the designs that he likes. One of those is a picture of a tree to emphasise traditional Tory values of strength and stability as well as newer ones such as concern for the environment. So all the boxes are ticked.

However a quick scour round the Tory blogs shows a mixed reaction to the tree idea from the faithful. Tam Large said: “Talking of new logos when the NHS is nearly bankrupt, southern Lebanon is being ethnically cleansed and our party is blurring into nothingness, sounds like deckchairs on the Titanic.” One activist describing himself as Jack W said:”Trees are often the object of desire for man’s best friend. Will the voters do likewise and piss all over the Tories again?” and the last word must go to anonymous who says “Why bother with all of that stuff? What about a picture of a really cute kitten, to fit with the cute cuddly and definitely non-nasty Nu-Cons?

Mark Hanson is producer and presenter of politcal podcast ‘The Big Issue’