Morning Report – May 18th

The Independent reports this morning that Ed Miliband had urged Labour councillors to form “progressive coalitions” with the Lib Dems in a bid to win control of more councils. This is said to be the first step in building a working relationship between Labour and the Lib Dems ahead of the next general election. Yet there’s only crucial problem with this plan – Labour councillors largely loathe their Lib Dem counterparts, and the feeling is more than mutual. Part of the suspision felt by many Labour councillors towards the yellows is that they are closet Tories. David Laws – perhaps on a break from his parliamentary suspension – has urged the Lib Dems not to attack the Tories(£), which is exactly the kind of story that backs up such sentiments…

The Tories are on the march against Gordon Brown again. Danny Finklestein writes in The Times(£) this morning that Brown would use the IMF against the government were he to run the organisation, so the Tories should block him. It’s not even clear that Gordon Brown would be interested in running the IMF – he has made no public comment on the issue – which suggests this is all just an unpleasant means of trashing Gordon Brown in the press. At least the Tories are trying to think up reasons for doing so now, rather than just acting out of spite.

Nick Clegg has decided that he is against “Monitor”, the body set up under the new NHS reforms that would ensure competition in the health service. He has taken his time to come to that conclusion, and his MPs have helped the bill through the house unimpeded so far. Yet Clegg has now decided to take Labour’s lead and oppose Monitor. Anyone would think he was trying to salvage his credibility. For the first (and perhaps only) time, we must agree with hard-right Tory MP Peter Bone, who said: “Why now is he changing his mind and what’s happened to collective responsibility?”

Elsewgere, are we about to see a national public sector worker strike? PCS are expected to ballot their members on strike action, and two teaching unions (ATL and the NUT) are balloting members at the moment. Could the Post Office be converted into a mutual? And does Geoff Hoon’s new job for a military helicopter firm suggest that we need stricter rules on what ministers do when they leave office?