IT IS a measure of the poverty of ruling-class ideology when a Tory prime minister uses the language of the left to win support for his government’s profoundly anti-working class policies.

Yesterday David Cameron spoke of “helping everyone to achieve their full potential,” adding that “there is nothing progressive about racking up debts for our children to pay” and that “the right track is to recognise the causes of stalled social mobility and a lack of economic opportunity.”

“Recognise those causes,” he said, “and the solutions follow.” Except that the causes he identified — family breakdown, debt, addiction, poor schools, a lack of skills, unemployment — are not causes, but symptoms of Britain under the policies of his government and under capitalism in its phase of general crisis.