As many people have tweeted in response to Perkins’s tweet, it’s not the best idea in the world to insult voters whose support you need. (And before you ask, neither Tim nor I had provoked Perkins.)
I won’t play the game of asking which really is the Nasty Pasty on this evidence. I know too many Labour MPs and members I like and admire to do that.
But I do ask Labour’s new leader, on his first full day in office, to condemn this remark – and rebuke its author unequivocally.
9.45pm update: We have what is known in the trade as a non-apology apology, although there is some progress: Perkins now says he doesn’t hate “Tory MPs” (what about other Conservatives, though?)