Julia Hartley-Brewer skewered Gove this morning as he was asked seven times to specify how many people his new “Buy a House on Benefits” housing policy will help. Given the policy involves allowing people on benefits to put them towards paying a mortgage, the answer will be tiny. Gove failed to answer all seven times, eventually calling it a “silly question”. Not as stupid as the policy…

Guido has had a quick ring round and one Downing Street source – off the record – described it as “a nonsesensical gimmick”, a think-tanker usually sympathetic to the government described the policy as “insane”. The problems with the housing mortgage market will not be solved by just lowering credit worthiness criteria for borrowers, they will be solved by building more houses, something the government under threat of losing seats to cynical LibDems in the places where people want to live, is failing to promote. The problems of low income earners not earning enough are not helped by the government subsidising low paying employers via the welfare system or putting up the taxes of low earners. More big spending by big government is not the solution…