Just over 15 years ago, a realisation began to dawn on British politicians, triggered by the financial crash of 2008 and its effects on millions of ordinary lives.
Before that rupture, they had clung to the idea that a huge chunk of the public was made up of contented consumers and property owners. Now, though, any such certainties were being shaken – something highlighted by the Labour conference speech given in 2009 by Gordon Brown, which contained two particularly eye-catching words: “When markets falter and banks fail,” he said, “it’s the jobs and the homes and the security of the squeezed middle that are hit the hardest.”
