Will the Agency Workers Bill really relaunch Brown?

You always know when a government is in trouble: it decides to "relaunch" itself. The more relaunches, the greater the trouble. Having been thoroughly underwhelmed by the sight of Gordon's arse on TV sofas recently, and his admission of "mistakes" and commitment to "long-term decisions", I was idly waiting for a ferry today when my reverie was interrupted by news of another Brown relaunch, on Radio 4. The theme, it seems, to be announced tomorrow, in a pre-announcement of the next Queen's Speech, in which Her Maj announces the things her Government are going to announce over the months to come to an excited nation, is "fairness". A vital plank of this imposing edifice is, it seems, to be the AWB, guaranteeing "fairness" to agency workers.

It is hardly surprising that he should throw such a delicious morsel towards the left of his party. Buying off the unions and their supporters is going to be essential to our beleaguered PM over the next few months, and of course the AWB is close to the heart of the unions. The passage of this Private Members Bill through the house is reminiscent of Blair's decision to ban fox-hunting by allowing a PMB through the House, another "dog-whistle" measure in an hour of need.

If you want to find out what "fairness" means to the unions, check out the T&G's horror story.

Is legislation is going to get rid of illegal, immoral and incompetent practices in a minute percentage of recruitment agencies and their clients? That seems to be the T&G's pitch. If you are a desperate Labour MP faced with the prospect of finding a proper job some time soon, you might hope so. But the rest of us who work in the real world know that agency workers, overall, bring dynamism and flexibility to the labour market and that, despite the dire conditions of some, they very often have an "unfair" advantage, by opting for a bit of uncertainty in return for higher rewards and the chance to stay in control of their own working lives - when they work, for whom, and on what.

Gordon thinks that it will endear him to the public. Like me you may disagree and think that it will just be another bureaucratic restriction imposed on business and free movement of labour. Unfortunately he's the relaunching PM - for now.