Keith Vaz, a former minister and now chairman of the Home Affairs Select Committee, is not at all happy with Brown’s“British Jobs for British Workers” slogan. In no uncertain terms last night he told the Commons:

There has also been talk recently of the importance of British jobs for British people. I worry about that statement. It lacks credible arguments, and some have suggested that it appears to amount to little more than employment apartheid. It assumes that foreign workers are somehow stealing jobs from United Kingdom workers, an idea for which there is absolutely no evidence. It also raises the question: how do we ensure that jobs are going to British people and what do we classify as British? If someone has another citizenship but they have indefinite leave to remain in the UK, they have a right to work.

Hopes are falsely raised whenever “British jobs” are mentioned. Every position that is filled will require justification and an account kept of how many British jobs there are. The fact is that, in this country, over the past century, we have entered into many agreements with European and Commonwealth countries, which means that we are obligated under treaties, rightly, to give jobs to people who are not British, based on merit… There are Indian and other citizens who came to this country to work hard and to help our economy, and they have been treated very badly.

Guido’s father and grandparents came from India in the fifties*, it seems that if Brown had been in charge, they would have been made unwelcome and denied employment. Think what might have been the resulting loss to the future of political commentary…

If a Tory MP had advocated“British Jobs for British Workers” he would have had the whip removed and been sacked from any party position. Yet Brown is prepared to mouth BNP slogans in order to win council estate voters in Dagenham back from the BNP. It won’t however play so well with Guardian reading Hampstead liberals…