“The HS2 rail project will be abandoned if Labour withdraws its support, David Cameron has warned. In an intervention that raises serious questions over the project’s future and piles pressure on the Opposition, the Prime Minister said it would be impossible to secure the necessary private investment for the £43 billion line without all-party backing.” – The Times (£)
“UK economic output rose by 0.8% between July and September, official GDP figures show. The Office for National Statistics said there had been a “fairly strong” performance across all sectors. The data builds on a 0.7% GDP rise in the April-June period and is the best quarterly performance since 2010.” – BBC
> Yesterday: ToryDiary: A day to acknowledge the good work of George Osborne
“Asked about Sir John’s comments, Mr Duncan Smith said “Well, as I say, I never really get too fussed about what people think about their own intellects. “I’m always happy to be in awe of someone whose own intellect delivered us the cones hotline, I must say.” – BBC
“Majorism, though, feels just as relevant to 2013 as it was to 1990. In a single sentence it is the belief that to survive as a modern mass national party, the Tories must shake off their association with a hidebound, class-bound and reactionary past, and become (and be seen as) a party of the common people. Who instituted the National Lottery? Who called in Ian McKellen and first reduced the age of homosexual consent? Who ended the divide between polytechnics and universities and expanded the number of young people in further education? This was Majorism.” – Matthew Parris The Times (£)
“David Cameron condemned ‘lah-dih-dah, airy-fairy’ criticism of the British and American intelligence services last night. The Prime Minister said his fellow EU leaders should stop complaining about snooping by GCHQ and the NSA because British spies have saved their citizens from terrorist attack. And in a clear assault on the Guardian, he accused whistleblower Edward Snowden and ‘newspapers helping him’, of giving assistance to terrorists ‘who want to blow up our families’.” – Daily Mail
“The government’s welfare changes for disabled people in England, Scotland and Wales have been delayed. People will move from Disability Living Allowance to the Personal Independence Payment next week in only certain areas instead of the whole of Great Britain. Work and pensions minister Mike Penning said the process of reassessing people was “taking longer than expected”.” – BBC
“Operator Ineos had announced on Wednesday that the plant was to shut, with the loss of 800 jobs, after union members rejected a survival plan. But the decision was reversed after the union agreed to Ineos’s conditions. Ineos founder and chairman Jim Ratcliffe said it was “a victory for common sense”.” – BBC
“David Cameron has won the backing of EU chief Jose Manuel Barroso for his push to limit the number of new regulations coming out of Brussels.” – BBC
“The salary bill for ministers’ special advisers has risen by £1m in the last year, according to official figures. So-called “Spads” are appointed by ministers to provide political advice over and above the impartial work carried out by civil servants. The Cabinet Office put the increase down to the “unusual” pressures caused by coalition government.” – BBC
“Police officers should be issued with body cameras to help to tackle domestic violence and abuse, according to the Policing Minister. Damian Green said that equipping officers in England and Wales with video cameras would also protect them from people who make false allegations. He said it would ensure that the police record of what happened at an incident was absolutely accurate.” – The Times(£)
“Coursework at A-level is set to be cut back in an effort to toughen up the exams and prevent cheating. In future, the qualifications should include coursework only if a particular skill cannot be assessed by exam, such as in geography fieldwork or art, exam regulator Ofqual said.” – Daily Mail
“More than £80,000 was misused at a free school previously lauded by David Cameron, with false invoices submitted to Whitehall and taxpayers’ money used to hold parties, buy furniture for staff and pay for first-class rail travel, according to a Department for Education report.” – The Independent
“He has already incurred the wrath of badger lovers, environmentalists and opponents of GM foods. However, Owen Paterson, the Environment Secretary, discovered that he has a new enemy – Morris dancers.” – Daily Telegraph
“Mass immigration happened for the obvious, boring reasons: business likes cheap labour, and Labour likes new votes. There’s no organised, malign conspiracy controlling society; no shadowy puppet-masters. No one planned that Islamist vigilantes would attempt to make east London a “gay-free zone”. But there is a conspiracy of sorts, none the less. It’s the conspiracy of silence, which we wished into being, all by ourselves.” – Graeme Archer Daily Telegraph
“The Conservative Party in the country, so distant, nowadays, from its leadership, had no muscle to defend a beleaguered individual. And the leadership itself, neurotic about the accusations of being too posh that were raised by the mega-word “pleb”, had the vapours. So one big libel from the people paid to guard him was enough to do for a senior minister.” – Charles Moore Daily Telegraph
“Ed Davey, the Liberal Democrat energy secretary, has promised to “fight like a tiger” against Conservative attempts to cut green levies on gas and electricity bills.” – The Guardian
“Jack Straw is to stand down as MP for Blackburn at the next general election. The former Labour home and foreign secretary, 67, was elected in Blackburn in 1979 and has stood in eight general elections in the constituency.” – BBC
“Peter Lilley was told that despite being Shadow Chancellor, only 2 per cent of the public recognised a picture of him. He replied: “Well that’s more than the number of members of the public I recognise.” – Lord Finkelstein The Times (£)