Peter Hoskin

What do you do when you've just taken a by-election battering?  Erm, wheel out Ed Balls to rally the faithful in an interview with the Telegraph.  It's a strange read - mainly because Balls seems to force a more caring, understanding tone, before slipping all too easily back into dividing line politics - and I've pulled out some of the key passages, with my own comments, below: The Milburn report.  The government have been tight-lipped about Alan Milburn's damning report on social mobility this week; a report that they commissioned themselves.  And Balls' comments on it here show why.

As a few CoffeeHousers' have pointed out, Ben Brogan's column today is useful not just for the single snippet which I mentioned earlier.  Amid a sharp analysis of what the two party leaders are looking to achieve over the next few weeks, Brogan also notes that Team Cameron are reading through Margaret Thatcher's speech to the 1978 Tory conference in prepation for Cameron's own pre-election conference address.  In which case, I've pasted Thatcher's speech below with a few comments on what Cameron may look to draw from it: Speech to Conservative Party conference, Margaret Thatcher, 13 October 1978 I must first thank you, Madame Chairman, for the wonderful heart-warming welcome. I confess that this is the biggest birthday party that I have ever had.

Fact of the day comes courtesy of the Standard's Paul Waugh, who reveals that Peter Mandelson sits on no fewer than 35 of the 43 Cabinet committees.  Paul provides a full list over at his blog, but summarises it thus: "The Empire of Mandelsonia now includes health, domestic policy, public spending, immigration, climate change, trade, the economy, Afghanistan, democratic renewal, Africa and 'life chances'". To put this into perspective: Alistair Darling sits on 27 committees, David Miliband on 23, and Gordon Brown on just 12.  Yes, it remains astonishing just how influential and, well, ubiquitous Mandy has become since his return to government last year.

As it's forty years since man first landed on the moon, I've trawled through the Speccie archives to see what we wrote about the event at the time.  There's one feature article in the issue dated 26 July, 1969, which I've reprinted below.  Oddly, the landing isn't mentioned on the magazine's cover - and nor is it the topic of that week's leader - but old hands around the office assure me that could have been a result of arcane printing practices, which saw the cover go to print days before the rest of the magazine.  Still, the article the magazine did contain is a neat tribute to human ingenuity and daring.  Here it is:    Success story John Graham Washington The Americans are simply an amazing people.

As the row over Afghanistan continues, the Observer has unearthed what could be one of the most damaging revelations for the Government so far: "Defence ministers spurned three separate deals to buy American Black Hawk helicopters which would have helped to plug the dangerous shortage facing British troops in Afghanistan. The most recent rejection came only days ago, the Observer can reveal. A letter sent last week by the defence equipment minister, Quentin Davies, to Sikorsky, the US manufacturer of the Black Hawk, appears to admit that snubbing its latest offer could delay the introduction of desperately needed helicopters into Afghanistan.

There's much to ponder in Lord Sainsbury's interview with the Times today.  Does the major Labour donor rate Gordon Brown, for instance?  There's enough ambiguity in some of his answers to suggest not.  And will he continue to give money to Labour ahead of the next election?  Again, there's no definite answer - and that could be enough to provoke nervous jitters in Labour HQ. But the most thought-provoking comments concern the relationship between politicians and the civil service.  Sainsbury is scathing about the "out of date" civil service, which he feels could learn from private sector practices.  Here are some of his key points: "Ministers and civil servants are, he believes, too locked into their departments.

So James Purnell has resurfaced after his resignation from the Cabinet last month, and he's done so with some aplomb.  He's interviewed in tomorrow's Guardian, but the paper are running a preview article on their website.  Among other things, the former work and pensions secretary attacks Labour for being backwards-looking and announces the starts of a new three-year project looking into the future of the party.  Here are some snippets: "In his first major interview since he quit as work and pensions secretary last month, Purnell likens that period in politics to the dynamism and excitement of the music scene generated around Oasis and Blur.

A great bit of quote-hunting from Paul Waugh, who's tracked down a source to back up Sue Cameron's Chancellor Balls story from yesterday. The testimony he's got is a peach, with the best bit coming right at the end. Here it is in full: Apparently, Balls did indeed clear his diary in those fateful last couple of weeks to sign off the white paper. My source tells me that the minister called his senior civil servants together and told them he was "leaving" [to become Chancellor]. "He didn't allow the faintest hint of doubt," the source says.  "His civil servants had been trying to get him to actually pay it his full attention for months and the list of things needing his attention had grown and grown.