Opinion poll shows class is an issue

The Mole doesn't often find himself taking sides with Alastair Campbell. But today - coincidentally on the morning Tony Blair's former spinmeister is due to be grilled by the Chilcot Inquiry - he does. And the issue is not a dodgy dossier but the so-called 'class war'.

The question is: was Gordon Brown actually right to include what newspaper editors like to call 'out-of-date class war tactics' in his election strategy? Was his Commons remark about Tory tax policy being formulated on the 'playing-fields of Eton' bang on the money if he wants to win the general election?

In short, instead of Darling, Harman and Co extracting a post-coup promise from Brown not to harp on about it - should be be doing precisely that?

The reason the Mole asks is because of a finding in the new Populus poll for the Times.

The headline news from the poll is - not surprisingly - that the British public were not impressed when Labour infighting spilled on the streets last week in the shape of the Hewitt-Hoon attempt to remove Brown as party leader.

The poll, conducted over the weekend, shows the gap between the parties opening up to 13 points, with the Tories on 41 per cent (up three) and Labour on 28 per cent (down two). It's the best score for the Tories in a Populus poll since September.

Just to rub salt in the coup leaders' wounds, more people now think Brown is the best leader for the party - 41 per cent, up eight points since September - while only 12 per cent of people questioned could even think of an alternative Labour politician who would make a better fist of it.

But the Populus finding that most intrigues the Mole is this: Cameron is seen to be on the side of the rich over ordinary people, by 50 to 42 per cent. By contrast, Brown is seen as 64 per cent for ordinary people and 26 per cent for the rich.

It raises questions about whether recent stories about Tory candidate Zac Goldsmith and his non-dom status have taken their toll? And whether - as the Mole suggested has more than once - George Osborne, who wears his public school and Oxford background not as lightly as Cameron, is a liability?

Most important, it suggests Brown knows what he's talking about when it comes to the basic class divide between his party and Cameron's, however much it might grate with newspaper editors and columnists - and his New Labour Cabinet ministers.

So where does Alastair Campbell comes into this? Blogging on Sunday, Campbell picked up on Will Hutton's column in the Observer in which he said that, whether we like it or not, class does indeed still matter in modern Britain.

"While most people would like to believe we 'have got past' worrying about the role of Eton and private education because it is no longer said to matter, the social truth will out," wrote Hutton. "Britain is a chronically unfair and increasingly closed society and private education plays a central role. Worse, an unfair society cripples the economy. Open, dynamic societies lead to open, dynamic economies."

Hear! Hear! Campbell responded. "Thank heavens for a voice of sense and reason in the debate about so-called 'class war'."

Big Al argued that when Brown threw Cameron that 'playing fields of Eton accusation' curveball in the Commons, "it was evident from Cameron's face that he hated it. It was clear from the faces behind that they shared the hurt."

Instead of allowing the Tories and journalists to deflect the attack by claiming it was antediluvian politics, Labour should have forged ahead, said Campbell. "It is not remotely anti-aspirational to ... point out the social and economic consequences of inherent unfairness in a class system in which private education plays such an important part."

Campbell concluded: "Nobody is saying Cameron is unfit to be PM because he went to Eton. But when his background dictates his policy agenda ... it is a perfectly legitimate attack to mount. And when Cameron tries to portray himself as having a real understanding of how people live their lives, his background and lifestyle are relevant to that debate too."

Many Labour backbenchers will agree with Campbell on this. But unless Brown came climb out of the straitjacket his Cabinet colleagues have just put him in, it's a bit late now.

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