Morning Report – July 4th

Another week in Westminster begins with another tome being added to the groaning bookshelf of Blair/Brown era biographies. This time it’s Alastair Campbell’s latest, and includes the eye catching suggestion that Ed Ball plotted to oust Tony Blair. This is something that Balls has always denied, but if it were true, it would, like the Telegraph “Balls files” story a few weeks ago, hardly be earth shattering.

Lord Goldsmith has hit out at Ed Miliband, arguing that he doesn’t know what the Labour leader stands for. He’s also suggesting that James Purnell has been “excluded” by Ed Miliband. Yet Purnell left parliament last year and stood back from front line politics. Indeed there were even rumours last year that Purnell had been approached to be Miliband’s chief of staff. So is this a new development? Does Purnell wish to return? Or is this just Westminster chatter writ-large? That remains to be seen. Yvette Cooper was quick to respond, and argued that Miliband is doing “a good job”.

The results of the Dilnot enquiey into care for the elderly are released today, and will present a significant funding challenge for the government – his suggestions are, understandably, expensive. Ed Miliband has already been on teh Daybreak sofa urging a cross-party solution. As David Lipsey argues in The Times(£) this morning, we can’t stick Dilnot in the “too difficult”box. In response, Cameron has argued that taxes will need to rise, or cuts will need to be deeper if we are to pay for care for the elderly. That’s not a surprising conclusion, but that the Telegraph have concentrated on the tax rise element will be worrying for the PM.

And Frank Field – not always the most popular Labour MP – is seeking to close a government loophole, and secure a £250 payrise for a million public sector workers. The Morning Report hasn’t always had great things to say about Field, but on this issue we can confidently say, good for you Frank.