Gordon giveth and Gordon taketh

Billed as the speech of his career... The wolves must now be well and truly circling.

So, it's your big speech at the party's conference. You want to make a good impression, not only to the flag waving (un)faithful but to those crucial floating voters. Voters who have had their confidence shaken by what you've called the 'global economic crisis', the 'collapse of faith in politics' and the 'failure to connect' which has seemingly resulted in massive swings to the BNP in parts of the UK*.

*Notably the North-West from where I write this entry.

So, what do you do?

Well, in Gordon's case (perhaps typically of his premiership) you excite to begin with and then come crashing down on your hopes within a few sentences.

You are following, right?

Let me explain a little more. As a 'floating voter' myself some of today's speech was, I shall admit, interesting. Plans to finally drop the ID cards scheme notably got my attention as did pledges to hold a referendum on voting reform and to fund international aid.

Some, incidentally, Tory policies.

Never mind, because as we've been repeatedly told the Tories are harsh, evil bastards and Labour are the Andrex puppy of the political world.

Well, that was until this particular clanger came out of the Prime Minister's mouth. 'State housing for under-age mothers'.

It's already been called the 'Gulags for slags' scheme by some and perhaps even more worryingly it broadly seems to have been a BNP policy for quite some time. I wonder if this extract from the BNP will even make its way into the draft bill,

"The homes should not be ‘institution’ like, but at the same time there will be rules which must be adhered to; such as a curfew of approx 9pm, a dress code which states skirts must come to at least the knees & no cleavage to be on show".

Doubtful I know, but as Lancaster Unite Against Fascism have shown, it does have an awful lot of similarities. Doug Alexander has been called the manifesto man - I shall like to see him squirm his way into making this sound attractive.

Because, to me, it seems abhorrent that we should in the 21st century be seriously entertaining the idea that 'fallen women' still exist and should be 'handled' in such a manner as to create a change in their behaviour by re-education and effectively punishment and social isolation.

Perhaps I'm wrong, as the Prime Minister himself stole from Cameron's original quote, and the situation of children looking after children needs to end - but in this way? No, on this I believe Gordon has got it wrong.