Shadow ministers step up preparations by holding informal meals to pick the brains of senior political figures

Government-commissioned study by Patricia Hewitt also calls for a shift in focus towards preventing ill health

Sir Michael Barber will help with skills programme while Patricia Hewitt will work on NHS administration

Originally published in the Guardian on 24 April 1978: "If the public feels that every piece of gossip made within earshot of a police officer might find its way into a Home Office computer they will cease to trust."