Though publicly he is staying out of the race to succeed him, news is allegedly trickling out of the Brown camp. Apparently he has realised what everyone else knew for a long time – that Ed Balls doesn’t have a hope of winning. If only he had displayed such foresight while in Number 10…

Apparently he thinks Ed Miliband is the best man for the job and is in the best position for victory…

Uh oh, Guido is sure that was appreciated… if this is true, then there goes The Younger’s campaign hopes.

In some shocking news, Ed Balls has said one thing and done another. As Guido reported earlier in the week, Balls made a bit of a blunder by promising to pay “interns and volunteers” the national minimum wage, whilst turning a blind eye to the fact that his campaign staffers are, err, unpaid interns and volunteers:

Leaving aside his unpaid brunette bag-carrying Bevanite, Balls has today even had the cheek to advertise on W4MP for unpaid stuff:

Idiocy and hypocrisy is always a toxic mix.

This whole campaign has been an utter write-off for Balls, and now YouGov reckon he will be the first knocked out of the race. If the idea all along was to secure his place as Chancellor, how is coming last going help? Political betting specialists Smarkets are running a book on who will be the humiliated loser..

Looks like it’s going to be a tight run off between Burnham and Balls.

George Osborne says…

“I don’t think there is anything particularly unique about the Ministry of Defence”.

The three former Labour MPs Elliott Morley, David Chaytor, Jim Devine and an ex-Tory peer Lord Hanningfield facing expenses fraud charges have lost their High Court appeals after a ruling by the Lord Chief Justice this morning that they are not protected from prosecution by parliamentary privilege.

They will be treated just like any other suspected common criminal would be…

The Court Of Appeal
Criminal Division

COURT 4

IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUSTICE, QUEEN’S BENCH DIVISIONAL COURT

FRIDAY 30th JULY 2010 IN COURT 4 AT 09:15 AM

BEFORE
LORD CHIEF JUSTICE OF ENGLAND AND WALES

PRACTICE DIRECTION: AMENDMENT NO 25 TO THE CONSOLIDATED CRIMINAL PRACTICE DIRECTION (CRIMINAL PROCEEDINGS: LISTING CASE MANGEMENT: COSTS IN CRIMINAL PROCEEDINGS)

TO FOLLOW FOR HAND DOWN JUDGMENT AT 9:30AM

Before
LORD CHIEF JUSTICE OF ENGLAND AND WALES
MASTER OF THE ROLLS
SIR ANTHONY MAY PRESIDENT OF THE QUEENS BENCH DIVISION

201003220 B5 Paul Edward Winston White (Lord Hanningfield)
201003279 B5 James Devine
201003276 B5 David Chaytor
201003274 B5 Elliot Morley

They are appealing on the basis of parliamentary privilege – claiming that only parliament and not the Courts should deal with their case. They object to being treated like common criminals…