My favourite news story this week is, unusually, not an MJ scoop. Keep that quiet, naturally! Instead, it was reports of former Number 10 policy guru, Steve Hilton, talking to Stanford students in the US.

Hilton revealed that he often learned of government announcements through the media – as did the prime minister. Worse still, he claimed the annoucements often didn't fit neatly with government policy. He blamed civil servants, running amok, for the confusion, and revealed that the Government – or this one, at least – has control over a very small proportion of its own policies.