But John Blackmore’s Twitter digs at cabinet member Andy Connelly over the closure of some council-run bars and creches were about more than just an online spat.

What they show is how power may be shifting under Veejay Patel’s party leadership.

Connelly, who along with Rory Palmer, Sarah Russell and Patrick Kitterick, is seen as part of Team Willmott in the cabinet, could be shuffled out of his top job come Tuesday.

Had his position been completely secure, it’s doubtful that a fellow Labour councillor would thumb his nose at one of the ten most powerful councillors in the city. At least not in public...

11am UPDATE: John hasn’t Tweeted a thing for more than 24 hours. Hope he hasn’t been silenced by party big cheeses.

2.30PM UPDATE: He’s Tweeting again.

City cabinet member Rory Palmer took part in the Obama campaign over in America back in 2008, so he’s got experience of working for one of the slickest campaigns of modern times. His Parliamentary campaign is currently ticking all the right boxes too.

He’s taking his election fight to the doorsteps of Bosworth in the run-up to the general election, “it’s where it’ll be won and lost,” he says. Many of his tweets are tagged with #LabourDoorstep too, as part of his online Twitter movement.

Winning an election on the doorstep is better than winning an election on the back of a horse, a stunt that once briefly ran through his mind.

“We’ve dubbed this election campaign The Battle of Bosworth, and I had visions of me riding on a horse through Bosworth in a suit of armour. Now that would have been the election stunt to end all election stunts.”

Quite. Luckily his Obama-campaign pedigree got the better of him.

He’s sticking to knocking on doors for the foreseeable future.