No one was paying much attention to what Labour would do with its fourth term; most people had presumed that it would lose on May 6. Now that the opinion polls have narrowed, it’s worth examining what plans Gordon Brown has for the next five years.

This morning we reported ministerial concerns that Ed Miliband has over-sold the manifesto by claiming it will be the most radical in Labour’s history; most of the policies we know about have been kicking around for months or years.

For immediate evidence of Labour’s tendency to over-promise and under-deliver, take care for the elderly; an area which needs to be addressed swiftly and radically. That now isn’t going to happen, judging by Andy Burnham’s interview in this morning’s Times.

In theory the health secretary’s big idea is to give free care to elderly people who have already been in residential care for two years (ie a small proportion of them) at the cost of £1bn a year. (This is part of the new ‘national care service’.)

In practice the bigger issue – how to pay for everyone else who is in care for under two years – is being kicked into the long grass: Not only will the measure be postponed while a cross-party commission takes another look at it; it is also at least half a decade away, as the Times explains.

Although a re-elected Labour government would legislate for a compulsory system in the next parliament, such a system would not come into force until the following one.

The fact that Labour has abandoned its so-called “death tax” (a levy to pay for elderly care) was revealed last night by Alistair Darling during the chancellors’ Rumble in the Jungle soiree in the foyer*.

Burnham’s new compromise policy would appear at first examination to be a fudge of the highest order.

UPDATE

Norman Lamb, Lib Dem health spokesman, said the delay was “unacceptable” on the Today programme. Having said that, Lamb was himself criticised for wanting to carry out a review of care for the elderly before making a decision; the difference was, he said, that his would be completed in a year. The Tories have called Burnham’s proposals an “utter retreat” and a “car crash”.

* Or as the Sun puts it: “Clash of the Tight ‘Uns”.

UPDATE

Nick Robinson agrees that the “journey” towards universal care for the elderly has only just begun.

Meanwhile the New Statesman is suspicious about our critique of the Labour manifesto