Morning Report – June 24th

Much of this morning’s news is taken up by the news we broke last night – that Ed Miliband wants to choose his own shadow cabinet, and wants to abolish shadow cabinet elections. However what is becoming increasingly clear is that other poposals and internal party rules (like an elected chair and a gaurenteed quota of women MPs in the cabinet) have also been dropped by Miliband. It is disappointing to see Miliband u-turning on a directly elected chair – especially as he promised one during the leadership contest – but perhaps most troubling is the removal of the shadow cabinet quota. Miliband says he wants to see 50% of the shadow cabinet being women, but surely removing the quota won’t help? At the same time (in retaliation?) Harriet Harman has ramped up her plans(£) to see at least one of the top two positions in the party held at all times by a woman.

There’s some worrying news from the trade union movement today, as The Times reports(£) on a presentation given by outgoing Unite leader Tony Woodley that suggests a slump in their membership. That will be of real concern for the Labour Party, considering how much of the party’s funds are derived from Unite.

And remember Nick Clegg’s bank shares plan (or bribe, as Mark labelled it yesterday)? Well it seems it is as dead as Clegg’s own popularity(£). Another victory for the chancellor over the deputy prime minister. It’s becoming something of a tradition…