Public Interest.co.uk

According to Policy Exchange, a 'rightwing' thinktank, it says here, 9.7 million people are "living below the poverty line". I hate to think what number the leftwing thinktanks come up with. At any rate Polly Toynbee is in raptures:

"Labour has stamped its imprint on social justice. Labour language is now common parlance among Tories extraordinarily eager to talk about poverty and how to tackle it: not long ago they denied its very existence. The terms of political engagement between the parties are now drawn up firmly on Labour turf".

I find this all too plausible. One of the most depressing things about being a Tory is watching them behave like trendy vicars suddenly announcing how much they like Eminem. First they denounce it, then they grudgingly tolerate it, then they embrace it just when everyone else has filed it away in the attic as being so 2001. Look, if you want to believe that 9.7 million people are in poverty, that's your prerogative. People believe in Santa Claus and UFOs. But should they really be encouraged? It also leaves the Conservatives in a right pickle policy-wise:

"Do they go for tax-cut bribes - or for shadowing Labour? If their polling tells them they must sound as if they really care about social justice, then they can't offer tax cuts as well".

Mind you, Labour mustn't be too complacent about this. After all

"if Labour really wants to abolish child poverty by 2020, it will have to redirect money from rich to poor radically. The income of the bottom 10% will have to rise at three times the rate that it rises for the top 60% of the population for the next two decades. Is that politically saleable?"

I don't see why not. If the Tories have capitulated who's to stop them?

"It can be done: the Nordic countries prove it".

In which case it's in the bag. I wonder what's next for the Tories. Adoption of the Euro, maybe?