Morning Report – June 2nd

What do you do when you’re being briefed against, and your press briefer is told to stop speaking to the press. You start speaking to them direct of course, which is what under-fire Andrew Lansley has done today in the Telegraph. The only problem is, he’s starting to reveal his true motives. Only a few months ago these reforms were about what is best for patients, now it’s about avoiding funding shortfalls. As is always the case with the Tories, when you dig deep enough it’s all about money. As shadow health secretary John Healey told LabourList this morning:

“The huge upheaval of reorganisation is making it harder not easier for the NHS to deal with the financial and efficiency squeeze.”

Speaking of financial implications of cuts (it sounds like a tenuous segue, but bear with me), the Independent reports this morning that the elderly will suffer as a result of cuts to council budgets. This won’t come as a surprise to anyone who is close to or working in local government – adult social care was one of the hardest hit budgets across the country – but it’s still shocking to see in black and white like that. Will the government try and do anything about it? Or will care for the elderly be sacrified on the altar of deficit reduction?

Inside the party, there’s an interesting article by Dan Hodges in the New Statesman on the ins and outs of the policy review, which is an excellent companion peice to Amber Elliott’s article in Total Politics on the same issue. As reviews of both policy and party gather pace, you can be sure you’ll be hearing much more about them.

Elsewhere, after we brought you news of rebellion against the government amongst Oxford dons yesterday, it seems that the same is happening in Cambridge (that’s if they aren’t abolished, after all), and there’s an interesting post from a young Tory over at ConservativeHome, asking “Why do so many of Thatcher’s children in Britain identify themselves as Left-wing?“. It’s a question that perhaps answers itself…