Morning Report – June 9th

Blair’s back. To coincide with the paperback release of his memoirs, the former PM has been interviewed by The Times, as well as appearing on the BBC Breakfast sofa, and Today (so far). In his Times interview (£) he takes the opportunity to stress his concerns about the “nostalgia” of Blue Labour – which is a fairly clear one in the eye for anyone who has made the “Blue=New” comparison, at least as far as Blair is concerned. Blair says:

“The attraction of a concept like Blue Labour is it allows you to say that there’s a group of voters out there we can’t reach at the moment, so what we should do is really empathise with their plight. But I think you should always offer a way forward for the future. The way the Labour Party wins, is if it’s at the cutting edge of the future, is if it’s modernising. It won’t win by a Labour equivalent of warm beer and old maids bicycling.”

In a wide ranging interview, Blair also takes the opportunity to back AC Grayling’s £18k per year “New College”, attacks the 50p top rate of income tax and backs a directly elected EU President – all potentially divisive issues within the party. On Ed, he says:

“First of all let me say by the way, just for the avoidance of any doubt, I will give him 100 per cent support, and I will always do that for the leader of the Labour party. But look, my advice in a sense is obvious. I believe Labour wins from a centre-left position and I hope he will push forward that position.”

Say what you like about Tony Blair, he dominates a news agenda like no-one else. Nevermind eclipsing Ed Miliband, he’ll comfortably eclipse Cameron in today’s press coverage too…

Perhaps that’s good news for Cameron though, as MPs have described his localism bill as incoherent, which follows recent comments from a Tory MP, who said the localism agenda was in “tatters”. It’s Eric Pickles against the world – he’d have it no other way.

Also on his own against the world today is under-pressure Ken Clarke. The Sun have gone for him in a big (and vicious and unpleasant) way this morning, with their headline “Time for Tubby Bye Bye“. He has been undermined by the PM, attacked by the right of his party and now lambastred as a TellyTubby by The Sun. How much longer will he take this abuse?