Listen and learn

And his earlier comments that "I'm listening and learning all the time" could encourage the impression that he's realised where he is going wrong and he's determined to mend his ways.

And, no doubt, that was the intention of the comments, but can they be taken at face value or are they simply the latest examples of spin?

That 5.3 million poor people would be adversely affected was known at the time, but the government ploughed on merrily, emphasising the positive effect of the cut in the standard rate from 22 per cent to 20 per cent.

Did it count on the cheers of the greater numbers gaining from the standard rate cut drowning out the whimpers of the poorest in society or was it counting on the media disregarding, as it generally does, the problems of the poor?

In the event, society's gainers have voiced their dismay at having their good fortune financed by those less well off.

Many even express the view that transferring wealth from the poor to the rich is somehow at odds with a fundamental principle of the Labour Party.

That remains a principle of many party members and, especially, of affiliated trade unions, but new Labour sucks up to big business and turns its back on the need for social justice, including wealth redistribution.

In that sense, the 10p tax fiasco, which the government has defended in the face of evidence from grassroots party members that it is killing Labour election prospects, is not really an aberration.

It fits in with refusal to renationalise the railways or to upgrade the state pension.

It fits in with John Hutton's convening of a gaggle of company bosses to recommend policy on corporate taxation and with government determination to maintain the industrialised most draconian anti-union legislation.

It fits in with the dumping of the government's environmental pledges, collapsing in the face of big business demands for expansion of Heathrow and a free hand for the supermarket oligopoly.

It fits in with the quickening pace of privatisation, as education, housing, health, local government and social services are handed over to privateers, putting their profits before our services and our taxes.

Government refusal to reconsider this neoliberal programme or to listen to alternative proposals from the trade unions or from party conference is costing Labour candidates dearly, as today's English and Welsh elections are likely to show.

London Mayor Ken Livingstone ought to be able defeat reactionary oaf Boris Johnson with one hand tied behind his back, but the general gloom generated by the Blair-Brown pro-business policies is hampering him.

Voters in Greater London should try to forget Mr Brown on Thursday.

Instead, they should concentrate on improved public transport, reduced violent crime, multicultural vibrancy, the pledge of 50,000 affordable homes, half fares for people on income support and free travel for pupils and students and re-elect Mr Livingstone, which will provide an object lesson for the Downing Street neoliberals.