Alan Johnson: Vote buyer.

Alan Johnson is out buying votes.

£120 for each pregnant mum to buy whatever takes her fancy such as booze, fags, twizzlers and take-aways vegetables and healthy food. Note it will be available in 2009. I wonder when the next election will be? I wonder if this "announcement" will be re-announced?

This mentality - throwing other peoples' money around with no guarantee of a result is just New Labour writ large. The mentality of using other peoples' money to buy votes is just New Labour all over. It not only attempts to buy the votes of the pregnant women, but their partners and their "mam"s.

Of course, the knee-jerk class-war criticism comes out because it is also being given to "middle class mums". At least middle class mums are likely to be amongst those households PAYING for it, so for them to get it is hardly a SIN!

The whole thing is daft. If you want to make sure pregnant mums at least have a chance of getting the right food, have a voucher, coupon or just arrange for Occado to deliver an organic crate or two to all mums-to-be who sign up for it.

I must declare an interest: Mrs T is pregnant (no, not THAT "Mrs T"!), yet I still think the whole thing is a cynical vote-buying mechanism.