Rumblings about Ed Miliband's leadership have increased after a disastrous performance against David Cameron in the Commons this afternoon.
Labour's leader attacked the Government on its economic policy but failed to hit his target, fuelling questions over his tactics.
Instead, Mr Cameron counter-attacked that Mr Miliband was offering a "blank page" of policies and teased him about his past as one of Gordon Brown's aides.
"I know he's determined the talk the economy down," said the Prime Minister. "Even he is going to find difficulty in finding in the Office for Budget Responsibility report depressing statistics, because generally speaking, what they reported was good news for the UK economy."
When Mr Miliband taunted the Tories as children of Margaret Thatcher, Mr Cameron laughed back: "I'd rather be a child of Thatcher than a son of Brown."
Labour MPs fell silent during the exchanges, a sure sign of unease about the tactics deployed on the day — or of wider discontent.
A former Cabinet minister said later: "There is a real problem if a leader does not define himself to the public and that is what is currently happening. He left himself open to Cameron to come back at him because he has yet to explain what he stands for."
A Labour backbencher told the Standard: "This cannot go on."
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