6pm Elizabeth Truss MP on Comment: Tackling the toddler achievement gap
6pm MPsETC update: Decision on Nadine Dorries delayed for at least one week
4.15pm Local government: Local authorities with the worst schools named and shamed
2pm WATCH: A welfare double-bill…
1.30pm ToryDiary: It’s too early to judge the Work Programme, but it isn't too early to worry
11.30am ToryDiary: "Goldfinger" Cameron V "007" Gove
10.45am: LeftWatch: Be careful what you wish for, Conservative MPs who want statutory press regulation
ToryDiary: Grassroots message to Cameron — Don't offer Farage a pact. Offer voters an In/Out referendum
Also on ToryDiary: George Osborne's economic narrative is taking shape
In the first of ConHome's Weekly Letters from a Treasury Minister, Greg Clark MP celebrates the recruitment of Mark Carney: "That’s why it’s important that for a position as important as Governor of the Bank of England, the very best person for the job is found. Right now, and even with the depth of talent within this country and within the Bank of England, that person is Mark Carney. To get 'the best for Britain', to use George Osborne’s phrase, we got the best in the world."
Neil Parish MP on Comment: Nothing is getting easier in Zimbabwe yet the world is getting easier for Robert Mugabe
MPsETC: Most Tory members do not see Nadine Dorries as asset to party but view expulsion as overkill
Peter Cuthbertson on Local Government: Leveson must not reverse the trend towards localism
The Deep End: Social liberalism is ruining the life chances of white working class boys
WATCH: Mark Carney explains his decision to take the Bank of England job
George Osborne bags Mark Carney for the Bank
"George Osborne brushed convention aside on Monday installing a foreigner, Mark Carney, governor of the Bank of Canada, as governor of the Bank of England with a mission to shake it up as it assumes sweeping new powers." – Financial Times (£)
> Today's on ConservativeHome:
> From yesterday:
The newspapers respond to the Carney news in their editorials…
…and on their comment pages
Quentin Letts: David Cameron's European crisis has passed
"'The EU institutions have got to adjust to the real world,' said our sleek man of foreign affairs. Mr Cameron enjoyed yesterday. He took questions from more than 50 MPs. Not one of them discombobulated him. His immediate European crisis has passed." – Quentin Letts, Daily Mail
> From yesterday:
54 per cent of people want to leave the EU, according to a new ComRes poll - Independent
Tory-UKIP rumblings 1): The PM isn't up for a pact
"David Cameron stood by his old denunciation that the UK Independence Party is mainly comprised of 'loonies, fruitcakes and closet racists; last night, after its leader said he would never form a pact with the Tories while the Prime Minister remained in charge." – The Times (£)
> Today on ToryDiary: Grassroots message to Cameron — Don't offer Farage a pact. Offer voters an In/Out referendum
> Yesterday:
Tory-UKIP rumblings 2): Nigel Farage sets out his party's position
"Until recently, anyone who dared raise the issue of mass migration was denigrated as a racist. And we have been accused of this time and time again, not least by the Prime Minister. It is not racist to ask questions of policy. We have taken these insults on the chin, but it is those who throw them that are prejudiced. Ukip is not." – Nigel Farage, Daily Telegraph
> Yesterday:
Tory-UKIP rumblings 3): UKIP's Treasuer Stuart Wheeler has held talks with EIGHT Tory MPs to see whether they might defect
"Mr Wheeler admitted that he had been privately courting disaffected Tory MPs to see if they might be tempted into switching sides. … He told The Daily Telegraph: “I have had lunch secretly if you like, in a completely confidential way, with eight different Tory MPs.” … The figure is twice as many as were previously thought to have to be in talks with Ukip about defecting." – Daily Telegraph
Mr Cameron is set to finalise the timetable for pulling out of Afghanistan
"One scenario with widespread military support involves keeping troop numbers stable at 9,000 until September next year, the end of the next 'fighting season', and then withdrawing 8,000 personnel over the following 12 months. … That would leave about 1,000 troops in Afghanistan by the end of 2014 for training, logistical support and protecting supply lines." – Guardian
Rachel Sylvester: We're about the see the true face of Cameron's Britain
"From press regulation to banker’s remuneration, wind farms to women bishops, the decisions being made at the moment will determine what sort of country Britain becomes over the next few years." – Rachel Sylvster, The Times (£)
Boris urges Dave to rethink his student visa curbs
"Boris Johnson stepped up his criticism during a visit to India: there has been a sharp fall in the number of Indian students applying to British higher education bodies. He said the Government 'needs to think what they are doing' or risk losing increasingly lucrative business to other countries." - The Times (£)
> Yesterday on ToryDiary: Boris attacks the Government's immigration policy (again)
Another Cabinet minister warns against statutory regulation of the press; this time it's Owen Paterson
"Mr Paterson said: ‘I’m reminded of the words of Thomas Jefferson, the third president of the United States, who said: “Were it left to me to decide whether we should have a government without newspapers or newspapers without a government, I should not hesitate a moment to prefer the latter.” I go along with that wholeheartedly.’" - Daily Mail
> Today, by Peter Cuthbertson on Local Government: Leveson must not reverse the trend towards localism
> Yesterday on ToryDiary: If anyone believes that it can be business as usual in Fleet Street, there's shurely shome mishtake
BBC chairman Lord Patten criticises the corporation
"He said: ‘The tendency towards over-management comes from the sheer weight and numbers of senior people, their pay, their titles, their jargon. … ‘I worry that this means those at the top of the organisation can become distracted – diverted from the job in hand and the central question of whether the programmes are good enough." - Daily Mail
The Indpendent News and Media group apologises to Lord Ashcroft – MSN News
The Government's Work Programme is off-target
"Unofficial figures released ahead of the government’s own results showed 71 per cent of those who joined the £5 billion Work Programme when it started in June 2011 had not found employment by September this year." – Daily Telegraph
More will be done to rate hospitals and care homes, pledges Jeremy Hunt
"Under the plans, there will be separate ratings for each individual care home, and probably for individual hospital departments rather than the whole institution. This will enable patients to know that while a hospital’s cardiology unit may be good, its maternity wards may be poor." – Daily Mail
> Yesterday, by Jeremy Hunt on Comment: The four improvements I want to see in the NHS by 2015
And the Health Minister is "concerned" at an NHS edict that could mean free treatment for illegal immigrants
"All foreigners must be treated by GPs for FREE after an order slipped through by the Government, The Sun can reveal. … Jeremy Hunt last night pledged to review the directive. … He said: 'It clearly isn’t right that illegal immigrants could get free treatment on the NHS. We will do all we can to fix this abuse of the system.'" – The Sun
Michael Gove's free schools are "problematic", says Catholic educationalist
"Education Secretary Michael Gove’s flagship free school programme was rejected as ‘problematic’ by the Catholic Church yesterday. … Greg Pope, deputy director of the Catholic Education Service (CES) for England and Wales, said there was a ‘perverse disincentive’ for the church to launch free schools." – Daily Mail
Nick Herbert (again) calls for Britain to quit the ECHR
"For their part, apologists for the European Court say that if Britain pulls out, we will be an international pariah, having turned our back on human rights. … But that’s nonsense. We will still apply the principles of the Convention on Human Rights, but through our own UK Bill of Rights, allowing for sensible interpretation that respects our democracy." – Nick Herbert, Daily Mail
Norman Lamb orders an independent investigation into the Liverpool Care Pathway - Daily Mail
Vince Cable responds to a Guardian investigation into "secret property deals"
"'We are not complacent or naive. We recognise there are individuals who will seek to abuse or evade,' he said. 'We will investigate fully any specific allegations and ensure appropriate action is taken … If we identify a need for further action as a result of that review, we will not be afraid to take it.'" – Guardian
Labour attacks the Government over flood defence cuts - Guardian
Two-thirds of first-time buyers are relying on parental assistance – Daily Mail
And finally 1)… Michael White reviews the new Yes, Prime Minister TV series
"The oldies will certainly be satisfied; younger viewers accustomed to the savagery of social media less so. Humour that relies more on manipulation of constitutional niceties and verbal dexterity is more demanding than the pyrotechnic effing and blinding of Peter Capaldi's Malcolm Tucker." – Michael White, Guardian
And finally 2)… Nadine Dorries fights back
"Arriving back in Britain on Monday after her stint in the Australian jungle, the Tory MP defended her decision saying she would 'do it again tomorrow', claiming she had missed only a few sitting days in Parliament. … Ms Dorries said at Heathrow: 'I’ve had three sitting days away from Parliament. The rest has been over half-term. There are still MPs who have been away for two weeks.'" – The Times (£)
> Today on MPsETC: Most Tory members do not see Nadine Dorries as asset to party but view expulsion as overkill
> Yesterday, by columnist Bruce Anderson: Should Nadine have gone to Australia – or should that be: "should she have been allowed back"?
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