WITH the SNP still surging in the polls, one man was on a mission to find the most, er, colourful description of the party’s all-conquering leader.

We awoke to newspaper headlines screaming that Nicola Sturgeon is planning to “hold Britain to ransom”, forcing a weak Ed Miliband to cave in to her devious and dangerous demands.

Then Boris Johnson to let rip, likening the SNP leader to….King Herod, a jewel thief, Attila the Hun, Lady Macbeth and “a bunch of voracious weevils”.

In his newspaper column, the mayor of London entertained us with the image of Ed Miliband “peeping from Alec Salmond’s sporran like a baffled baby kangaroo”.

And, for good measure, Mr Johnson added later: “People need to realise that Miliband is in the position of the frog carrying the scorpion on his back.”

Some Conservatives worry this remorseless attack on the SNP threat is putting the Union in greater peril, but No.10 clearly believes it can scare wavering Tories back to the fold.

All we can say for certain is that the polls show no evidence that the tactic is working yet.

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Protest leaflets being stuffed through letterboxes provoked interest at Westminster – perhaps you have seen some in your constituency?

They are published by the Coalition for Marriage and “name-and-shame” MPs who voted for gay marriage, when the Bill was brought forward by David Cameron.

One Conservative, Sarah Wollaston, dismissed the protest with a defiant tweet reading: “Thanks bigots. I’m proud of that vote!”

The leaflets urge people to “use your vote for true marriage at the General Election on May 7.”

However, voters will struggle to do that, because gay marriage was supported by all three major parties – and UKIP has dropped its opposition.

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Education policy has barely featured in this campaign, but there was an uncomfortable reminder of Michael Gove’s legacy for the Conservatives.

Back in 2010, the Tories held a narrow lead over Labour among teachers, but the last five years have been bruising ones in the classroom.

Last year, Michael Gove was dumped from the job he loved as Education Secretary and Nicky Morgan put in his place, with a brief to soothe those wounds.

But it doesn’t seem to have worked – as teachers now back Labour over the Conservatives by a whopping 44 per cent to 29 per cent margin.

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Quote of the day – Beleaguered Scottish Labour leader Jim Murphy, confronted with a heckler protesting that he “couldn’t spell socialism”, quickly replied: “S-O-C-I-A-L-I-S-M”