Weirdos in government

Remember all the John Redwood Vulcan gags back in the mid-1990s? They accompanied the last days of John Major's administration, and they represented a moment when the British press finally lost its last vestiges of respect for the governing fraternity, egged on by a strengthening Opposition that saw a useful narrative in mocking, rather than just, like, opposing, the incumbent ministers.

Well, looks like we're here again. David Cameron set the tone a couple of days ago by calling Gordon Brown "strange," which doesn't add up to much in policy terms but probably speaks quite powerfully to a sense among the electorate, particularly in England, that Brown is not "one of us." As compared with his predecessor who got roundly mocked for affecting estuary intonation on ITV entertainment shows, but won three elections on the back of it.

The Speccie and the Torygraph pick up on the theme this morning. James Forsyth rather subtly digs at the current Cabinet by pointing out who isn't in it.

A quick check on the health of a party is whether there is more talent on the back benches than the front bench. Labour are close to that tipping point with Charles Clarke, Jon Cruddas, Alan Milburn, Stephen Byers, Denis MacShane, David Blunkett and Frank Field all out of the front line. Any of these would have added heft to the cabinet and all are more impressive figures than Caroline Flint and Yvette Cooper. If Brown had appointed Milburn to the Department of Work and Pensions he would have shown that he has moved on from the Blairite Brownite fights of the past and would have put someone in place who could have given the Tories a fight over welfare reform.