A little bit of class warfare

The backbenchers are restless, they have been pulled into line over the leadership of their party, Gordon Brown and his henchmen have made sure that no challenge from the left could materialise. A few scraps need to be thrown to them so that the rumblings of dissent recede. Hence the two policy announcements yesterday: first HIPs - these have been postponed for two months and when they are introduced it will only be on the houses of rich folk who have a four bed roomed house or larger, secondly on road pricing - the insertion of "green" differential pricing provisions means that "4x4" or "gas guzzlers" can be charged more per mile. Will this satisfy more on the left than it annoys amongst the middle class Labour voters?