Spare a thought for Wolverhampton MP Pat McFadden, the Employment Minister representing the Government in today's debate about agency workers.
The House of Commons is to consider a Bill designed to give agency staff the same rights as permanent employees. In the past, the Government has blocked similar legislation. But it couldn't rely on the usual mechanism of simply telling Labour MPs to vote against it. Instead, a minister had to talk the Bill out - by literally standing up and making a long, rambling speech which filled up time until the debate was over.
It meant there was no opportunity for MPs to vote, and the Bill was neither approved or rejected, falling instead into Parliamentary limbo. If the same approach is taken this time around, Mr McFadden will be the one doing the talking, upsetting many of his colleagues, even though they know how the game is played.
The Temporary and Agency Workers Bill due for consideration today is an example of party loyalty clashing with the individual consciences of MPs.
This Government may not always have seen eye to eye with bodies such as the CBI, but it is pro-business. Labour learned long ago that it needed to win and keep the confidence of the business community in order to win elections and govern successfully. And Gordon Brown admires Adam Smith far more than Karl Marx.
He may not share Tony Blair's enthusiasm for introducing market forces into public services such as health and education, but in other respects he is at least as committed to private enterprise as his predecessor.
But the average Labour MP did not go into politics to back the CBI in an argument with the unions. The mood in the party, and among Liberal Democrats, appears to be to back the Bill and it seems the Government is seriously considering giving way. If this happens, there will still be scope for compromise when MPs discuss the nuts and bolts of the proposal in a Commons committee.
Business leaders should try to get involved in this stage - in a positive way. The CBI is right to warn that businesses need to have flexibility when it comes to hiring temporary staff.
But there is a suspicion that some use agency staff for what are really permanent positions, in an attempt to get around employment legislation guaranteeing basic working conditions. If this is untrue, as the CBI claims, then employers have nothing to fear from legislation making it impossible.
