Morning Report – April 26th

Peter Mandelson’s back. We promise that’s the last time you’ll see that sentence used in Morning Report. Not because we have some sort of retraining power over the dark Lord, but because it’s increasingly obvious that he never really went away, and he isn’t going anywhere. This isn’t a return to politics, so much as a return to the front pages, which he seems to have the ability to do at will. His face is on the front page of the Independent this morning, where he’s arguing that AV is an opportunity to hurt Cameron. This may rally the Yes campaign troops, and harden their message, but it’s difficult to say that Mandelson holds the kind of universal popularity with Labour voters that could swing the vote back towards Yes.

The Indie’s political editor Andrew Grice notes this morning that Miliband has less room to maneuver than he might have hoped over AV. It was always inevitable that a party divided over the issue couldn’t play the same role as the Tories or the Lib Dems, but Grice is wrong to downplay the role Labour plays in the referendum – after all Labour voters will be decisive.

The Tory right are on maneuvers again, and this time they’re trying to limit the right to strike. Of course as cuts hit public services hard many unions will be planning strike action, but Tory MP Dominic Raab, writing in The Times (£), says he current strike laws are “outdated and open to abuse”. As is often the case a Tory MP has used the RMT to create a straw man – few unions are like the RMT. Expect a furious response from trade unions of all different shades and stripes today.

And there’s one story in today’s papers worth keeping your eye on in the coming weeks and months that tells you more about the internal state of the coalition than any amount of Lib Dem temper tantrums. The 2010 intake of Tory MPs – a large, mostly right-wing and youthful group – are falling out with the Tory whips. They have developed an independent streak already. Expect fireworks next time Cameron asks them to do something they don’t like – which referendum result permitting, could be sooner rather than later…