His party was elected almost 12 years ago in part because it had toned down the sort of socialist rhetoric that tends to frighten Middle England. But Mr Brown hails from a more traditional wing of the party than Tony Blair, his studiedly classless predecessor-and class, it seems, is now back on its agenda. Potentially the most significant announcement this week is that ministers are considering explicitly forbidding government departments from discriminating on grounds of social class. And Alan Milburn, a former health secretary who is leading a government commission on how to get more poor youngsters into professions such as medicine and law, frets that their access is being blocked by the sharp-elbowed middle-classes, who give their kids a leg-up by arranging valuable work experience and internships that few poorer parents can line up or finance.

The Tories look vulnerable on class: David Cameron is their first posh leader for decades, educated at Eton and then Oxford, and surrounded by political chums from the social elite. His background seemed not to matter much while the economy was growing and voters were getting richer. But there is nothing like a recession for sharpening an electorate’s sense of envy.

© The Economist Newspaper Limited 2008