I can’t decide if this is genuine or the ultimate in Todd blarney. Most MPs are more diligent in forging connections with their constituents than is popularly believed, but we’re not in Todd’s constituency and he’s a busy man. So what is he up to?

‘Look over there.’ He raises his arm and points above the rooftops to the gleaming pointy-topped tower across the river: 1 Canada Square, fulcrum of London’s new financial district at Canary Wharf. ‘We have the money to build palaces for bankers and lawyers. Not that I’m knocking bankers and lawyers,’ he adds hastily. ‘We need them.’ Even off the record, Todd does not want the FC to think he has anything but the greatest admiration for the wealth creators of the City and Canary Wharf. ‘But with all the income they generate, all the taxes they pay, we should have the resources to make sure no one lives in conditions like these.’

He pauses, sweeping his gaze around the estate. For the people who live here, looking at the towers of Canary Wharf must feel like staring at the moon.

‘Families where no parent has worked for a decade. Teenage addicts. Girls becoming mothers at fifteen, sometimes younger. Kids who grow up thinking that the only career choice is living on benefits and the route to a home of their own is falling pregnant so they can get a council house. It’s everything that’s wrong with Ramsey’s Britain.’

Much of this is standard campaigning stuff. But not what comes next. ‘It’s what’s wrong with the Labour Party, too. We say we are the guardians of a welfare state that we created. But this isn’t what Beveridge and Atlee had in mind. It’s not a safety net – it’s a trap.’

Todd has the knack of the superstar politician – Clinton, Reagan, Thatcher – of making you feel you are the only person with whom he or she has ever shared such thoughts, that only you matter. I know I am being seduced, and it is hard to resist. But out of my mouth comes the voice of my dad. ‘We’ve lived through almost twenty years of tax cuts for high earners and big business. Surely it is time to reverse that, at least in part, so we have the money to turn this wasteland back into a safe playground for kids?’

Todd pauses. The spell has been broken. ‘Are we off the record, Gil?’

‘Erm, I’m not sure. Probably. I didn’t come here to write a story about you. But there is a story here, isn’t there? If you want to tackle deprivation, but you won’t put up taxes, then it’s all just good intentions, isn’t it?’