The chief executive of Birmingham City council, Stephen Hughes, must have found himself in the classic no-win situation when deciding how he should respond to growing fury at the impact on local authority staff and public services of unprecedented spending cuts.

Mr Hughes runs the risk of being damned if he attempts to sympathise with low-paid workers whose jobs are at risk, and equally dammned if he carries on imperiously and says nothing.

It is clear from the chief executive’s 1,200 word memo to employees that the council boss does indeed have a heart. How could anyone preside over the decimation of public sector budgets, with all that means for council staff and their families, and not feel a huge amount of sympathy for the human tragedy that is beginning to unfold?

The key message from Mr Hughes’s memo is to stress that it is not the fault of council staff that the country is in such a financial mess, yet they are paying for the consequences of other people’s actions. And, yes, he feels their pain.

Feelings are running high at the Council House, and for some angry people Mr Hughes’s memo will be treated with derision. But it cannot be denied that in pouring his heart out he has acted bravely and with honour.