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There is no doubt that Mr Purnell and his advisers have acted in what they perceived to be his best interest. But Britain's pensioners and those fast reaching retirement age no doubt feel they have been given the short end of the stick once more.

In fact, if the vast majority begin to feel that prime minister Gordon Brown has no feeling for pensions and, thus, pensioners, it would be a justified sentiment.

Since May 1997, when as chancellor of the Exchequer he imposed a swingeing £5bn a year cut on the investment returns on occupational pensions, Mr Brown has done little to confute the basis of his negative reputation among pensions professionals.

Almost immediately after imposing the dividend penalty, he launched a terrible in-fight with Harriet Harman, then social security secretary, and launched the Individual Savings Account, as a Treasury-driven savings vehicle in order to counter anything proposed by the DSS.

When Alistair Darling replaced Ms Harman at the DSS, the pensions sector felt confident that a Treasury insider - Mr Darling had been Mr Brown's number two at the Treasury - was at the DSS so there would be some kind of joined-up policies.

But the merry-go-round kept going round and round. Not only with secretary of states, but also the junior pensions ministers.