For all his many failings Tony Blair had a brilliant sense for the public mood, he was able to articulate on emotional subjects sensitively. The most talked about issue this morning in offices and workplaces across the country is not the unemployment figures, it is how could this happen again in the same borough again?

Gordon has just demonstrated that he is completely incapable of sensing the popular mood. Asked a straight forward question about the death of Baby P he went into a prepared answer full of bureaucratic jargon. His tone was really off key and made worse when he made a cheap partisan allegation. Clearly something is wrong in the Haringey Children’s Services department despite the Victoria Climbié inquiry.

The Children’s Services director should not investigate her own department. Sharon Shoesmith should resign.