Straw reminds New Labour of its debt to middle class

London - One of Mr Tony Blair's senior ministers reminded Labour Party activists yesterday not to forget the middle-class voters…

London - One of Mr Tony Blair's senior ministers reminded Labour Party activists yesterday not to forget the middle-class voters who backed the party for the first time in last May's general election.

In a speech prepared for delivery in the rural Norfolk town of Kings Lynn, the Home Secretary, Mr Jack Straw, said the Prime Minister's government of the radical centre "reaches out beyond the traditional left-right divide".

He pointed to the fact that he was speaking in one of the most rural areas of England but one which returned a Labour MP.