The council is currently a shambles.

The Audit Commission is a well run and secure organisation and does not “leak” drafts of its reports, and, although Lambeth Council leaks like a straw bucket, only a handful of Members and officers would have had access to this draft and none of these would have anything to gain from making public such severe and comprehensive criticism of Lambeth Living in every area of its operation. Because of its limited circulation, discovery of the source of the leak would not be difficult, and the person responsible would surely face instant dismissal and would have little prospect of future employment in local government. Furthermore, the Audit Commission is not notable for producing hard-hitting, critical reports on the activities of high profile local authorities pursuing policies favoured by the government in power.

Also, Audit Commission assessment is not gauged against fixed benchmarks but on “potential for improvement”. All this suggests to me that this damning draft has been released so that when the Commission next inspects it will be able to report such dramatic improvements that it can be awarded a second star, allowing it to draw down funding under the ALMO scheme.

Or would that undermine your blogpost?