Digby Jones declares his love for Gordon and gives the Birmingham Post a free plug
If nothing else, Gordon Brown's trip to Brum has put paid to suggestions that Trade Minister Digby Jones has fallen out of love with the Prime Minister.
Lord Jones of Birmingham compered the "public engagement" event at the ICC today, in which Government Ministers met the public to hear their ideas and complaints.
As well as informal discussions - with reporters kept firmly out of earshot as politicians rubbed shoulders with ordinary folk - there was a formal question and answer session, in which the Prime Minister talked about how Britain could turn the rising price of fuel to its advantage by leading the world in greaner, more efficient technologies.
After he had finished, Lord Jones told the congregation: "It is that vision, that you have just heard for ten minutes, which persuaded me 15 months ago to give up what I was doing and become one of his Ministers."
He's either a genuine fan or a great actor.
Lord Jones also offered a plug to the Birmingham Post (the cheque's on its way), as he introduced West Midlands Minister Liam Byrne (Lab Hodge Hill).
He said: "Those of you who read the Birmingham Post will know that Liam was voted the most powerful person in the West Midlands this year." He joked: "I hate him!"
This was a reference to the Post's Power 50 list, which did indeed place Mr Byrne at the top - replacing Lord Jones, who was in the number one spot last year.
Whether his visit to Birmingham will help the Prime Minister remains to be seen.
The reality is that a Cabinet meeting is the same wherever it's held. When you are sat inside a room with the door firmly closed, it hardly matters if you are in the centre of Birmingham or in Downing Street.
But the other events - visiting local businesses, schools and hospitals and meeting members of the public - might be useful.
Mr Brown and his colleagues will inevitably be accused of publicity-seeking, but I think it would be a shame if today's experiment was never repeated. Even in somewhat artificial circumstances, we want our leaders to speak to people in Birmingham and other towns and cities outside London.
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Is this the same Digby Jones that organised a seminar to help West Midlands firms outsource to India? Why is this man representing the West Midlands?
Good to see Liam Byrne telling the rest of the government that we need more regional decision making not less and that we don't have the tools to do the job currently.
Maybe Lords reform offers a chance to create an elected region-wide body that could do the business on transport and regeneration. We're always going to lose out to London unless, like them, we have a regional government to fight our corner.
I'd also like to see a regional element to the House of Lords, if there are elections at all. I'm one of those who sees nothing wrong with simply appointing the great and the good to the Lords, as long as it has no real power - letting union leaders, business leaders, top academcs and religious leaders have the chance to offer advice seems ok to me (as long as it's only advice).
I also think the regional select committees that the Government has proposed are worth taking seriously. They will have no direct power to make decisions but it won't be possible for Ministers to ignore them when they are upset about something.