Danny Alexander right to talk about his daughter

The chief secretary to the treasury, Danny Alexander, has today said that he might have to take his daughter to work with him when the public sector union strike takes place next Wednesday. Paul Waugh  has wondered whether this is a gaffe on the scale of John Gummer's famous feed-your-daughter-a-burger-photo-op moment. It isn't and could actually turn into a PR master-stroke for the following reasons:

1. The political class are deemed to be out of touch and aloof so this immediately demonstrates that Danny Alexander understands some of the problems facing parents across the UK while it is the unions who are the ones out of touch;
2. Telling a story or personalising an answer to a difficult question from a journalist often helps to build empathy with an audience;
3. If the chief secretary does end up taking his daughter to work and is faced with an angry and noisy picket line then public opinion is likely to move further away from support for this strike.