Slow news day?

By Alex Smith / @alexsmith1982

It could be that the first throes of summer are finally with us, or it could be that Labour are out of power and out of mind, but there’s very little of interest to party hacks in the news today.

Alan Johnson said, on Marr, that Ken Clarke’s prison theory is “confused” and that the Tory plans for cutting the home office budget by 25% without harming the police force amounted to “fantasy land”. Expedient opposition, but hardly big news.

And there’s Ed Miliband’s Times interview, the headline of which states: “No offence, bro, but you are history”. Call it sub-editor’s license, but I’m not sure Miliband ever quite says that, at least not in a way that warrants the quote marks. What he does say is that he thinks he’s someone who can “better turn the page on the past.” The interview is online, of course, but you gotta pay for it if you want it.

Apart from that, a mercifully quiet day in the Labour leader race, then, and an opportunity for us all to catch up on some reading, and some sleep.