WATCH: Secret Ruler Of The World Ken Clarke Covers Up Bilderberg Conspiracy in Commons*
4.15pm Dr Samantha Callan of the Centre for Social Justice on ThinkTankCentral: The Prime Minister must deliver on his pledge to tackle family breakdown
3pm Peter Walker on Comment: "Clearing the net of every picture,
every site and every peer-to-peer file sharing site is not just a Herculean
task, it is more like the one poor Sisyphus had to undertake. As soon as one
image or site is removed, more will replace them." "Search term not permitted" – a better way for Google to combat paedophiles on the net.
12.30pm WATCH Esther McVey on the new Personal Independence Payment
11.30am ToryDiary: Seven ministries have gone to war with the EU in the last fortnight
10.30am James Barty of Policy Exchange on ThinkTankCentral: It's time to privatise RBS and Lloyds
ToryDiary: Boris – the moral of Prism is that nothing you do on the net is private
Also on ToryDiary: Can anyone think of a reason why Select Committee Chairmen shouldn't be barred from having outside interests?
Columnist Jesse Norman MP: It's time for the Co-op to ballot its members about its relationship with Labour
Syed Kamall MEP on Comment: How to get the banking system we want
Also on Comment: Donna Edmunds – An invitation from the Bow Group and a reply to Iain Dale
Local Government: King's College Maths School shows free schools are fostering innovation
The Deep End: How Birmingham was strangled by the state
Cameron says: Bloated welfare and poor schools are hobbling us in the global race…
"The Prime Minister will lay out three key goals – creating a world-class education system, reforming benefits and rebalancing the debt-fuelled economy – which he will describe as ‘national weaknesses’. In a bullish speech ahead of the G8 summit in Northern Ireland next week, he will set out ‘ruthless’ plans to ‘turn our country around and give all our people the best chance of success’." – Daily Mail
…And lines up with Ken Clarke in defending Britain's EU membership
"In a speech explaining Britain's standing in the world a week before he hosts the G8 summit in Northern Ireland, the prime minister will say that membership of the EU is crucial in guaranteeing Britain a seat at the "top table". Cameron's staunch defence of Britain's EU membership, a month after Michael Gove and Philip Hammond said they would vote to leave now, will be reinforced by Clarke who will warn that Britain will be "reduced to watching from the sidelines" if it leaves the EU." – The Guardian
Security v liberty 1) Internet giants could end up in the dock, says Claire Perry
"Mr Cameron, Mrs Perry and Culture Secretary Maria Miller are to tell internet giants that ‘enough is enough’ at a summit next week. Google, Microsoft, Facebook, Yahoo and other firms have been summoned to a Whitehall meeting where they will be told to consider urgent measures to limit access to harmful material. Phone companies, including Vodafone and O2, are also being asked to attend the talks because of the amount of harmful material being downloaded on mobiles." – Daily Mail
Security v liberty 2) Hague claims its "nonsense" that GCHQ has tried to break the law
"William Hague, foreign secretary, has dismissed as “nonsense” fears that the UK’s GCHQ eavesdropping service has been seeking to circumvent Britain’s spy laws by using data gathered by foreign intelligence systems. Mr Hague is to give a statement to parliament on Monday about allegations that GCHQ had been given access to the US National Intelligence Agency’s Prism programme, which apparently intercepted personal data held by internet companies such as Apple, Google and Facebook." – Financial Times
Boris: why on earth are we surprised at the Prism allegations?
"My only question is: what on earth did you expect? I have never trusted the security of the internet, or emails, or indeed texts – because it was obvious from the very dawn of what was once called the information superhighway that any data you sent to some server or database or gizmo could no longer be in any sense private. It was no longer shared between you and one recipient. It was stored in the memory of some vast global intermediary. It was out there, in the ether, just waiting to be hacked or lost or stolen or accidentally blurted to your enemies." – Daily Telegraph
> Today: ToryDiary – Boris – the moral of Prism is that nothing you do on the net is private
Hammond plans procurement savings and reaches Treasury settlement
"A new independent watchdog will be established to ensure that the taxpayer receives value for money from sensitive defence contracts which are currently not put out to tender. Almost half of all contracts for major defence projects are awarded in this way and Mr Hammond is concerned that the lack of competitive pressure is keeping costs unnecessarily high. Mr Hammond will on Monday publish a Defence Procurement White Paper which will set out the plan, along with proposals to bring in a private sector partner to run other defence projects for the Government." – Daily Telegraph
Policy Exchange to Osborne: privatise RBS and Lloyds before the next election
"A report by the influential thinktank Policy Exchange says the chancellor should ignore calls from Tory peer Lord Lawson, the outgoing Bank of England governor, Sir Mervyn King, and the archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby, to break up Royal Bank of Scotland. Instead, he should press on with a scheme to distribute shares to voters, who would buy them at a later date, alongside a sale to big City investors that could raise new capital." – The Guardian
> Today: Syed Kamall MEP on Comment: How to get the banking system we want
Centre for Social Justice to government: a million children are growing up without a father at home
"The report described the impact of family breakdown as an ‘emergency’ and said that the response of politicians of both Left and Right has been ‘feeble’. It urged David Cameron to ‘get a grip’. The findings are potentially embarrassing for the Prime Minister because the Centre for Social Justice is the brainchild of Work and Pensions Secretary Iain Duncan Smith, who launched it in 2004 shortly after being deposed as Tory leader." – Daily Mail
Personal independence payments go live today
"Ministers said the new benefit is designed to support disabled people to live independent lives and includes a new face-to-face assessment and regular reviews. Esther McVey, Minister for Disabled People, said: "Disability Living Allowance is an outdated benefit introduced over 20 years ago and was very much a product of its time. "The Personal Independence Payment has been designed to better reflect today's understanding of disability, particularly to update our thinking on mental health and fluctuating conditions." – Daily Express
Did the Whips Office leak Andrew Bridgen's name?
"The Whips’ Office was accused of leaking the name of Andrew Bridgen as one of the estimated two dozen MPs who have demanded a no-confidence motion in Mr Cameron. MPs said Mr Bridgen was “outed” in retaliation for his role in drafting a letter signed by 80 Tory MPs that has forced a reluctant Downing Street into granting a Commons vote on the Prime Minister’s readiness to arm Syrian rebels. The disclosure comes as the Prime Minister seeks to move on from the divisions with his backbenchers that have dominated the news agenda in recent weeks." – The Times (£)
Yeo: Margot James is less than impressed
"Tory MP Margot James wrote on Twitter that the allegations were ‘damning’. She said ‘paid consultancy and directorships relevant to committee work surely incompatible with chairing [a] committee’. Matthew Sinclair, of the TaxPayers’ Alliance, said: ‘Tim Yeo appears to have been caught red-handed in a disgusting attempt to bend the rules." – Daily Mail
> Today: ToryDiary – Can anyone think of a reason why Select Committee Chairmen shouldn't be barred from having outside interests?
> Yesterday: ToryDiary – Select Committee Chairmen should be barred from having outside interests
Some Pakistani men do sexually exploit young white girls – and the police mustn't shy away from the problems, says Vaz's Home Affairs Select Committee
"The committee’s report said: “Evidence presented suggests that there is a model of localised grooming of Pakistani men targeting young white girls. “This must be acknowledged by official agencies, who in some areas of particular community tension had reportedly been slow to draw attention to the issue for fear of affecting community cohesion. “The condemnation from those communities of this vile crime should demonstrate that there is no excuse for tip-toeing around this issue.” – Daily Express
Balls, Sunday morning: Labour will cap the state pension. Balls, Sunday afternoon: Labour won't cap the state pension
"As for pensions, I think this is a real question,” the shadow chancellor said. “George Osborne is going to announce his cap in two weeks’ time. “I do not know whether he would exclude pension spending or include it. At the moment our plan is to include it.’’ However, Mr Balls appeared to change his position later in the day when confronted by Conservative accusations that Labour was planning a raid on pensioners." – Financial Times
Tim Montgomerie: Religious liberty in Britain is under threat
"In the not too distant future, will mosques that teach their members that homosexuality is wrong be denied charitable status? Will teachers who believe abortion is wrong be interviewed for headteacher posts? Will church schools that teach that other religions are false be barred from local authority funding? A big opportunity to address these questions will come if and when the Conservative Party drafts a replacement for European human rights laws. For me the ideal model is the nation’s abortion laws rather than the laws governing gay adoption." – The Times (£)
News in Brief
* Or, more prosaically, Michael Meacher suggests Clarke is shape-shifting lizard.
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