Henry Zeffman

It's been clear for some time that the government was going to make the announcement of whatever this policy turned out to be before the summer.

But why did they do it today?

Well, they did it today because this is the start of what could prove a really pivotal week for the Prime Minister.

And I don't just mean that he's going to the G7 Summit of World Leaders in France later today.

Important, though, that is.

It's because when he comes back, he will find out on Thursday night, Friday morning...

whether Andy Burnham, currently the Mayor of Greater Manchester, is going to be the MP for Makerfield.

And if he is, then events could move quite quickly and the Prime Minister will need an argument to fall back upon as he makes the case to Labour MPs for why they should leave him in office.

And make no mistake, this announcement today will form part of that argument.

Well, I've been asking myself a similar question over the course of the day, because as you say, you know, there's been a sort of tone in some of the reaction from those who've been campaigning for this of, well, at last the government has listened and done this.

And

I completely understand, given the harrowing experiences that many of them have had, why it feels like this is only at last.

But in terms of where the political consensus was and where the political consensus now is in Westminster...

I mean, I think it's one of the fastest shifts I've seen in my time covering my decade or so covering politics, because, you know, genuinely a year ago, Sir Keir Starmer was making the argument privately to Labour MPs that as the parent of teenage children himself, he had experienced.

He had seen them experience the benefits of social media.

And sure, there were Labour MPs who were frustrated that that was his view, but he was not some sort of out there aberration.

He came to be because of how fast the political consensus moved.

And there's all sorts of reasons that we could talk about another time about why that might have been the case.

But I think you should never underestimate the fact that

MPs are people too.