Talk about bad timing: five days before the scheduled release of the long-awaited Digital Britain report, The Times reports that its principle author, communications minister Lord (Stephen) Carter is to stand down from his post and return to the private sector. There’s no confirmation of this from the Department of Culture Media and Sport so far—we’re told a statement is expected this morning (see below)—but Carter himself tellingly hasn’t denied the report and simply told The Times‘s reporter he is busy “beavering away” with his report.

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It would mark the end of a turbulent political career for Carter who was first brought into Gordon Brown’s government 18 months ago as senior advisor and chief of strategy to give Brown’s PR profile a boost. After reports of internal disagreements at Number 10 he was shifted to the Digital Britain review to tackle problems such as creating universal broadband access and how to protect the UK’s entertainment industries from rampant online piracy. A former CEO of both City PR firm Brunswick and Ofcom, the influential Carter certainly has the credentials to bag himself a top media industry job but he denies he already has one lined up. Media whispers—unattributed reports, in other words—say he is lined up to succeed Michael Grade at ITV.

UPDATE: The government has now confirmed Carter’s departure this summer. A statement (via Guardian.co.uk) says he was given “the specific task of commissioning and producing the Digital Britain report and its follow-up recommendations… This was agreed at the time.” The statement adds that Carter will first present his report to the cabinet on Tuesday before the rest of us see it “later next week”, meaning a slight delay in publication.