IT WAS a weekend of two snubs – and the one with the lesser publicity was probably the most significant. Less than a day after Wayne Bridge snubbed John Terry at Stamford Bridge, the political chattering classes were talking about another snub: the one served to Cameron by the latest opinion poll.

Eighteen months ago, the Tories had a poll lead of up to 25 points. Now it is down to two points. A Prime Minister with a bad temper who struggles to connect with the public, an economy in crisis and a Government which feels tired.

How do you throw away a 25-point lead against that? If Cameron delivers anything less than an emphatic victory at the General Election, it will surely go down as one of the worst political throwaways of all time – the sort of strategic disaster which we’ve actually come to expect from the current Labour Party.

Labour certainly haven’t been doing anything differently, other than getting better at telling their side of the story. George Osborne believes the problem lies in the fact his party has sought to talk about policy, thus diverting attention from Labour. But how many Tory policies can you remember?

Cameron, meanwhile, promised to keep reminding the public of Brown’s track record when he spoke to the party faithful at the Tory spring “forum”. The fact he was having to gee up his own troops at an event frontbenchers had previously feared could have been seen as an assumptive pre-election celebration tells its own story.

Both cited the expenses scandal when questioned about the dip in popularity – but surely it would be the ruling party who would suffer that hit? And why are voters now taking a year-old scandal out on the Tories?

Are we all suddenly enraged by a duck house or a moat? The problem lies with the Cameron-Osborne double act. They aren’t listening, they are just telling.

To challenge voters, as Cameron did on his insurgent-like web video, to find his policies “timid” is a sign of arrogance.

All parties promise to protect the NHS, improve the economy and raise standards in schools. It’s like reception class poetry being dressed up as a new work of Shakespeare.

In his quest to win the election at any cost, Cameron has allowed spin to overtake substance and has learnt that the electorate have long memories – they remember Tony Blair’s similar sales job in 1997.

John Terry got snubbed after his secret came out. Cameron and Co are being snubbed because they won’t let their secrets out. The devil is in the detail – and the public seem to think it’s better to stick with the devil they know than they one who isn’t really into detail at all.