Morning Report – April 21st

There’s an interesting interview with Ed Miliband in The Times (£) this morning. We’ve already covered perhaps the most noteworthy point about Miliband writing the foreword for the Purple Book, but there are some other interesting observations on David Miliband and the way Miliband sees the debate on the future of the party. Elsewhere in The Times, Matthew Parris argues that Purple is the wrong colour to adopt (£), but there are so few colours available…

The Independent has covered the row that promises to bubble up in the coming weeks over the Lords. Seemingly at the moment there are too many, but not enough Conservatives for David Cameron’s liking. Of course there’s a simple answer for making the Lords more balanced – and it isn’t stuffing 200 Tories into ermine. According to the Guardian the Lib Dems are eyeing Lords reform as a “consolation prize” for Nick Clegg in the event of a “No” vote in the AV referendum. Some might suggest that Nick Clegg should have pushed harder for Lords reform in May 2010 when he had the chance. An unelected Lords is inherently more undemocratic than anything about the current electoral system.

Undeterred by opinion polls that tell him how unpopular he is, and that the No campaign is leading the yes campaign by 16%, Nick Clegg is taking his own brand of political kryptonite on a pro-AV final push tour today. In the Telegraph he says that AV would end safe seats, arguing that “power without accountability always leads to trouble.” We would certainly agree, but that’s an epic lack of self-awareness you’re weilding there Nick. How accountable are you to the people who elected you?

The Yes campaign will no doubt be groaning, but he’s also taking his tour to the ippr today, where he will give a speech about “The Shape of the New Politics” and AV. There’s a growing feeling though that Nick Clegg is responsible for putting both of those to an early death…