Nick Assinder at the Beeb is claiming that Alan Milburn's speech makes him the "ultra-Blairite" candidate for the Labour leadership, but then goes on to say that Milburn wants

"[L]ocal income taxes, more individual choice in public services, [...] a directly-elected House of Lords and proportional representation for Westminster elections."

and that the main thrust of his speech was

"a call for redistribution of power away from the centre - Whitehall and government - to individuals and communities who might even take over budgets for running some of their own local services."

Now I don't know if it's just me, but I'm sure that that's a fairly complete list of the issues that the New Labour project has ducked - driven largely by an agenda of self-preservation. Indeed, there is only one party that has consistently supported all of these policies, and it isn't the Labour Party.

Has Alan Milburn defected to the Lib Dems and just not told anyone?