Ah, but it all depends who says it.

In his address, G.Brown, in his proposal to consign teenage mothers to hostels (some have nick-named them 'gulags for slags' or 'huts for sluts') and which received rapturous applause, was guilty of an about-face.

Firstly, as Guido Fawkes has pointed out, this policy was similar to the policy advocated by the BNP, hated by Brown as much as he hates the Tories. Earlier in his speech he was applauded when he attacked the BNP, saying that there should be no place for them in British politics.

Secondly, his proposal is not unlike Blair's 1999 plans to house teen mothers in hostels although, unlike Brown, Blair was not proposing to make it compulsory! Brown apparently opposed the proposal.

Thirdly, there are already a number of such hostels, with about 8,000 teenage mums living in them. His plan, it seems, is to build more, in case some of the mums need to be directed there. His plan is not new, and given that it will take a few years to plan and build these residences in a time of financial constraint it seems that he was just window-dressing.

The most amazing thing about the promise, was the the fact that his party applauded it, presumably unaware that it was both an old policy and like that of the BNP. I wonder what his party would say if the Tories promised something similar - "These hard-hearted Tories"?