Morning Report – June 8th

The lady wasn’t for turning, but that can’t be said for this lot, for better or worse. The government are on extreme evasive maneuver’s this morning as Cameron tries to remove any policies (and potentially any ministers) who might be politically damaging. Ken Clarke has had his legs pulled out from under him on sentence reduction – a win for the Tory right – but at the same time there’s some pretty humiliating briefing against Andrew Lansley – seemingly we should now consider the PMto be the health secretary. How will the health secretary feel about that? And what about the Tory right? Will they accept one u-turn win for one u-turn loss?

Elsewhere pensioner poverty is back on the agenda, as many of the poorest in society face a “heat or eat” dilemma, according to the IFS. That this comes from an organisation well known for political independence will cause concern within the government, and heighten calls for action on utility bills.

In the FT – who are increasingly critical of the government’s economic policies – Martin Wolf says that the road to recovery is getting steeper. Yet there’s some growth denial in the Times, where Anatole Kaletsky says that Osborne must stick with Plan A(£). That’s a bold, but political, assessment…