Ah, it’s a joke, right? Mandelson becoming Minister for Information? Yes, it’s a joke. He’s not actually becoming Minister for Information, that’s just the Telegraph being cheeky scamps.

But the other bit though, that’s true.  The bit where, once a week, the civil servant that acts as the Prime Minister’s official spokesperson will be swapped out for a Minister, television cameras will be invited in and the results will be put on the Number 10 website for our viewing pleasure. Hmm…. the pleasure!

So, let’s break this down – the PM’s official spokesperson, being a civil servant, isn’t allowed to act in a party political manner. This, it seems, will not do. Ministers have no such restrictions – they can report on the activities of Downing Street in a way that blurs the line between Government and Party, Reality and Spin, Facts and Propaganda. A reliable source for what’s going on this won’t be.

So going through the journalistic tick list, that’s the ‘what’ covered. The ‘how’ is simple – they’re just doing it. When? Nick Robinson says, “run up to the election” (which means no-one knows.)

That just leaves the really really interesting question: Why. Why are they doing this?

One of the most consistent traits with this particular Government has been an obsession with what they believe is an inability to communicate their message properly – that if only we understood then we’d see that this is a bloody fantastic Government. So this stunt is all about trying to by-pass the newspapers and the blogs and go straight to the people through television.

Will it work?

Because, as we all know, Labour’s unpopularity is due to their inability to explain just how awesome and successful they are, right? To their credit they’re not blaming us for not understanding this time, they’re blaming themselves for not trying hard enough to get across their achievements, wonderful wonderful achievements – like abolishing youth unemployment, boom and bust, saving the world… what kind of screwed up evil world do we live in where a Government that’s been this successful should be cursed with unpopularity?

So, will it work? Will this save the Government?

Well… no. It won’t work because, just like every time they come out with a new initiative to get their message across, it’s the wrong diagnosis of the problem:

“Blair was a good communicator, we were popular. Brown is a terrible communicator, we’re unpopular. Therefore the problem is communications.”

Survey said? Eh-eeeh. Sorry, that’s not one of the answers we’re looking for. This is a fallacy that’s so easy to spot it’s breathtaking it needs explaining: Blair, after Iraq, was extremely unpopular. He was still a great communicator, but, see, people didn’t trust him or the Government anymore, so all the charm in the world couldn’t save them. Communication not the problem then, and not the problem now.

Of course, if they could admit that then we’d really be making progress.