The pain of being a number two

A hack colleague noted the plight of poor Employment Minister Jim Knight earlier.

For months and months during the dark days of the recession Knight has been on the telly once a month to brief us on unemployment stats.

Then things start to turn around and up pops the Work and Pensions Secretary Yvette Cooper to explain what a great job she’s been doing.

It must be tough being one underneath Cooper in the pecking order – I imagine she has a very sharp beak.