Morning Report – June 21st

A sleep day today in Westminster with little on the agenda, so it’s not surprising that Ed Miliband has allegedly set today aside for a shadow cabinet war council. No doubt events in Manchester at Unison conference will be of very real interest to Ed Miliband, as General Secretary Dave Prentis gives his keynote speech, amid growing concerns over public sector pensions and possible strike action. In The Times, Rachel Sylvester says that striking is a “blunt weapon”(£), and that it won’t work for the unions. But what’s the alternative?

It was inevitable from the moment that he was savaged by the tabloids, but it looks like Ken Clarke’s sentencing reforms are being sacrified by the government on the altar of public opinion. How many u-turns is that now? We’re beginning to lose count…

And never let it be said that David Cameron is a slave to the interests of Murdoch or his papers – perish the thought – but it was interesting to see him attending a closed-doors conference at Murdoch’s Wapping HQ just days before the government’s decision on BskyB is due. Surely a total coincidence… Later today Ed Miliband will be speaking at the event “to provide political balance” argues the Guardian. The Murdoch press certainly aren’t fans of the Labour leader, and anyway, they have nothing to lobby him over.