11.30pm MPsETC: UPDATED with list of Conservative MPs who voted against the Government on Second Reading. Sky News says 91 Conservative MP vote against Lords Reform Bill
6.30pm ToryDiary: Consider the courage of Jesse Norman, Nadhim Zahawi, Penny Mordaunt – and others
5.15pm: Columnist Andrew Lilico: Ten points to note on the Lords reform bill vote tonight (and, yes, they're still relevant, despite the withdrawal of the Programme Motion)
4.30pm MPsETC: GOVERNMENT DROPS LORDS BILL PROGRAMME MOTION. IT'S A BLOW TO COALITION AUTHORITY AND A HUMILIATION FOR NICK CLEGG
4pm Andrea Leadsom MP, Chris Heaton-Harris MP and George Eustice MP on Comment: Regional policy, employment law, energy policy…We want a fundamental renegotiation of the UK's relationship with the EU
3.15pm ToryDiary: Osborne is right about Balls. Tories must get behind him.
2pm Three Lords Reform Bill Comment pieces:
1.15pm WATCH: Lord Lamont: George Osborne "overplayed his hand" on Balls and Libor
11am Stephen Crabb MP on Comment: A growing number of Conservatives are dedicated to development work in Sierra Leone – a true reflection of Conservative values
10.15am ToryDiary: Nick Boles is right to put universal benefits on notice
The Lords Reform Bill vote takes place this evening. ConservativeHome says that Tory MPs should vote against it. One of them puts a different view.
Also on Tory Diary: Welcoming Peter Hoskin to the ConservativeHome team
New Columnist Peter Hoskin: Why the Right should claim Robin Hood for itself
Peter Walker on Local Government: The police complaints system helps the criminal not the victim
The Deep End: Adam Smith – One Nation Conservative
WATCH: Olympic torchbearer met by Cameron on home patch
Will Cameron change the programme motion? Pull the programme motion? Pull the bill altogether. Prime Minister considers his options after 70 rebels come out against the Lords Reform Bill and anti-bill Tories outnumber pro-bill ones by over four to one in yesterday's first day debate.
"Last night Mr Cameron was frantically weighing his options. They include altering the timetable in the hope Tories will compromise — or pulling the Bill altogether so whips have more time to talk rebels round. Deputy PM Mr Clegg yesterday opened two days of debate over his plans to elect 80 per cent of the peers and cut their numbers from 826 to 450." – The Sun
Cameron furious at Clegg tactics…
"The Prime Minister told his deputy that the Liberal Democrats had created "bad blood" and provoked a backlash among Conservative MPs by threatening to derail plans to bring in new constituency boundaries, which would benefit the Tories by up to 20 seats. Mr Cameron is said to be "incensed" by briefings from Mr Clegg's aides that tonight's vote is a test of the Prime Minister's leadership. He is believed to have told Mr Clegg when the two men met yesterday that the Liberal Democrats' public pressure was counterproductive." – The Independent
…But some Liberal Democrats suspect the Prime Minister didn't throw his weight behind the bill
"David Cameron will sit down with Mr Clegg tomorrow morning to try to plot a new phase of the coalition after an expected result that Lib Dems will regard as a breach of faith by Tories. Such rancour will be fuelled by their suspicions that Mr Cameron authorised a soft whipping operation that has effectively given the green light to rebels, although No 10 denies this. Both sides acknowledged that a government defeat tonight would place the coalition under severe strain." – The Times (£)
Clegg floats a referendum…but after the reform, not before it
"The deputy prime minister suggested the unusual move at the start of a stormy Commons debate over the changes, which would create an 80 per cent-elected upper chamber. Challenged by Conservative rebels on why he would not support holding a referendum on the bill, Mr Clegg replied there could be certain “trigger points” to look again at the reforms in future parliaments." – Financial Times (£)
PPS Conor Burns set to leave front bench. So is Angie Bray, Francis Maude's PPS
"‘When I asked the Prime Minister recently why on earth we were going to bring in this bill, he replied simply: “It’s the only thing Nick Clegg asked for in the Queen’s Speech”,’ Mr Burns said…Mr Burns, a ministerial aide to Northern Ireland Secretary Owen Paterson, said the proposal to abolish the Lords and replace it with a mainly elected second chamber was an act of ‘constitutional vandalism’." – Daily Mail
Comment:
Yesterday:
Cameron should rethink economic strategy, say IEA, CPS, TPA, Tim Montgomerie – Daily Telegraph
Grayling says welfare-to-work data is "encouraging"
"Almost one in four participants on the government’s flagship welfare-to-work programme have completed three successive months off benefits, the government said yesterday, in its first official release of data on the scheme. The data reveal only that people have left the benefit rolls rather than that they have found jobs, but Chris Grayling, employment minister, said he was confident that most would have done so." – Financial Times (£)
Independence threat to military – Herald Scotland
Burstow: we will tailor help for pensioners' needs
"Regulations, to be unveiled tomorrow, will aim to stop councils commissioning elderly care ‘by the minute’ from private care providers. Instead, councils will be told to commission care on the basis of pensioners’ individual needs – giving them enough time to complete essential tasks such as washing, dressing and heating up food…Care services minister Paul Burstow said: ‘We want to put an end to contracts that turn care givers into clock watchers." – Daily Mail
> Yesterday: Chris Skidmore MP on Comment – Labour’s Social Care failure – 13 years in the long grass
Terror charges for three Birmingham men – BBC
Boles the Outrider: MP on the inside track floats removing benefits from richer pensioners for the Government
"Free bus passes and prescriptions must be axed for better-off pensioners, an ally of David Cameron will urge today. Nick Boles also wants other universal benefits, such as free television licences for over-75s and winter fuel payments, to be means tested from 2015, so that older people bear their fair share of spending cuts. The MP, who is said to be part of the Prime Minister’s inner circle, concedes it will be politically difficult but insists the Government must admit it cannot continue to protect the payments after the next election." – Daily Express
IRA killer whose licence was revoked must be freed: judge – Belfast Telegraph
Cameron to warn Hollande today that he will block eurozone governance plans if the EU refuses to allow a renegotiation…
"David Cameron will warn François Hollande that he will block new governance arrangements for the eurozone if the EU refuses to allow a renegotiation of Britain's relationship with Brussels. In his first meeting with the new French president in Downing Street, Cameron will also ask Hollande to uphold an informal deal with his predecessor on Britain's EU rebate. Cameron agreed not to demand major changes to the Common Agricultural Policy, which benefits French farmers, in exchange from an undertaking from Sarkozy to leave alone Britain's £2.7bn annual EU rebate." – The Guardian
….while Hague attends launch of Fresh Start pamphlet demanding repatriation of border control, criminal justice, employment law, agriculture and fishing
"The Fresh Start group report will receive the tacit support of the Tory high command today when Foreign Secretary William Hague attends the launch. No 10 sources say Mr Cameron will spell out his approach to Europe when he holds his first substantive talks with his French counterpart, after the two shared a brief meeting at a summit in Washington in May." – Daily Mail
Bosses at scrapped agencies took pay-offs of up to £400,000 – then walked into new public sector jobs – Daily Mail
Bank Deputy Governor says he spoke to civil servants and not Ministers about Libor
"Mr Tucker stated “absolutely” that he had not been pressurised by Mr Balls or Baroness Vadera, the former minister. He said that it was Sir Jeremy Heywood, the Cabinet Secretary who was then the chief of staff in Downing Street, who was among those worried about the rates. Mr Balls called for an apology from the Chancellor. “It is now absolutely clear that the Chancellor’s allegations last week were totally false and completely without foundation,” he said." – The Times (£) (£)
> Yesterday:
Applications fall at English Universities – Financial Times (£)
Pressure on May over immigration delays
"Theresa May, the home secretary, has come under more pressure on immigration delays ahead of the Olympics, after opposition MPs suggested air passengers at Heathrow were still facing long queues. Keith Vaz, the Labour chair of the home affairs committee, reported after a trip to the west London airport that he was “appalled” by the length of queues at Terminal 4. “The worst aspect was that half of the immigration desks were simply not open even though the Border Force had prior knowledge of all flight arrivals,” Mr Vaz said." – Financial Times (£)
Families need over £38,000 to live acceptably – BBC
Abu Hamza in fresh bid to stay in Britain – Daily Express
Another soldiers-in-classrooms proposal, this time Labour's – The Sun
Demonstrators disrupt Blair's comeback plan – The Independent