“David Cameron today warns Angela Merkel her controversial candidate to head the European Commission would be ‘deeply damaging’. … In a hard-hitting article placed in leading European newspapers, the Prime Minister makes public for the first time his opposition to arch-federalist Jean-Claude Juncker. … Mr Cameron says he has no legitimacy – and warns that his selection would be a slap in the face for millions who voted for Eurosceptic parties in last month’s European elections.” – Daily Mail
And comment:
> Today: Iain Dale’s column – Let’s send pro-reform, bone-dry Theresa Villiers to Brussels
“David Cameron’s hopes of renegotiating Britain’s role in the EU suffered a major blow yesterday as Tory MEPs teamed up with Germany’s answer to Ukip. … In a snub to German Chancellor Angela Merkel, they agreed to form a group in the European Parliament with Alternativ fur Deutschland (AfD), Eurosceptics who are implacably opposed to Mrs Merkel. … Alienating Mrs Merkel, whose power in Europe is almost unrivalled, could seriously damage the Prime Minister’s chance of bringing about change.” – Daily Mail
> Today: The Deep End’s Heresy of the week – Europhiles should welcome the AfD’s membership of the ECR > Yesterday:
“David Cameron’s promise to give Britain a referendum on EU membership in 2017 could be put into law before the election, after a Conservative MP won a place in a ballot that allows backbenchers to put forward legislation. … Bob Neill, a vice-chairman of the Conservative party, pledged to put forward the legislation after coming third in an annual private member’s bill ballot behind two Liberal Democrat MPs.” – Financial Times
> Yesterday:
“David Cameron finally said ‘sorry’ for the passport shambles last night as emergency measures were brought in to tackle the backlog. … After days of denials, the Government finally admitted that urgent action was needed to deal with the crisis. … In the face of mounting public anger, Mr Cameron caved in and apologised. ‘If people’s passports have been delayed and people have been inconvenienced, of course the Government is sorry for that,’ a Downing Street spokesman said.” – Daily Mail
And comment:
“Criminals caught carrying a knife for the second time will face automatic jail sentences under plans to be backed by Conservative MPs in defiance of their Liberal Democrat colleagues. … In a significant fracturing of the coalition, David Cameron will next week urge Tories to vote for a toughening of punishments for repeat offences despite Nick Clegg’s refusal to support the move. … Because of the Government split, ministers will abstain, but backbenchers and Parliamentary private secretaries, who are junior members of the Government, are being encouraged to back the change.” – Daily Mail
“The disaster unfolding in Iraq was branded ‘Tony Blair’s legacy’ last night as Britain ruled out military intervention. … Though Islamist extremists are threatening to seize Baghdad, Foreign Secretary William Hague said Britain was ‘not contemplating’ any form of action, and Nato chief Anders Fogh Rasmussen said there was no role for the alliance. … US President Barack Obama insisted his country had an interest in stopping jihadists taking control and said he was looking at ‘all options’, including drone strikes.” – Daily Mail
And comment:
“Russia was accused of sending tanks into Ukraine for the first time yesterday while the West’s attention was diverted by the chaos in Iraq. … The development threatens to destroy the tentative peace process just when the US and EU had hoped Vladimir Putin had agreed to ease tension. … Three T-72 tanks were in Snizhne, some 13 miles inside Ukraine, backed up by armoured personnel carriers, claimed Kiev. It was initially not clear if the tanks were Russian or under the control of separatist forces sympathetic to Moscow.” – Daily Mail
And comment:
“Mr Osborne wants to give the BoE political cover to carry out sensitive operations in the housing market, including possibly limiting the amount of money people can borrow to buy a new home. … The chancellor’s move, which was announced in his annual Mansion House speech to the City on Thursday, is intended as signal that he expects Mark Carney, BoE governor, and his colleagues to do whatever is necessary to prevent a housing bubble.” – Financial Times
> Yesterday: Andrew Gimson’s profile – Team Osborne: feared, admired, and sometimes enraging for other Conservatives
“Mark Carney has warned households, companies and financial markets to prepare for an interest rate rise, saying the first increase ‘could happen sooner than markets currently expect’. … In his first hawkish comments since becoming governor of the Bank of England almost a year ago, Mr Carney stressed on Thursday evening that the widely anticipated action by the central bank this month to cool the housing market will not be a substitute for gradual interest rate rises.” – Financial Times
“Both sides have sought to persuade the undecided and the wavering through economic arguments. We point out that an independent Scotland could not share the pound; that welfare and pensions would cost Scottish taxpayers more; and that Scottish businesses worry about remaining competitive. … All critical facts, yet it strikes me that come September 18, many people will vote not just with their heads, but also with their hearts. To them I say there is also a case for our family of nations, less often stated but no less powerful: it is the enormous human and emotional bond between us, shared for so long that we are guilty of taking it for granted.” – Iain Duncan Smith, Daily Telegraph
And news stories:
> Yesterday: ToryDiary – “No, thanks”: Better Together deploys politeness to save the Union
“…on Friday the government was trumpeting the shrinking of the estate, as it announced that it has quit land “26 times the size of Buckingham Palace” since the coalition came to power in 2010. Francis Maude, Cabinet Office minister, said taxpayers had been saved ‘a cumulative £1.2bn between the last general election and March 2013 by getting out of or selling unnecessary and underused properties’.” – Financial Times
“Anti-GM campaigners reacted with fury last night after the Government backed an EU vote that could lead to weedkiller-resistant maize being sowed in England next year. … Other European countries can ban the so-called Frankenstein food after EU ministers said members could opt out of GM planting. … Critics said England’s first commercial GM crops would spell disaster for wildlife and contaminate conventional and organic crops, with ‘catastrophic’ consequences for farmers.” – Daily Mail
“Benefits will be docked from feckless parents who refuse to take classes on how to improve their children’s discipline, diet and exercise under plans being discussed by senior Tories. … A secret party document photographed in Downing Street reveals MPs preparing the Conservative election manifesto are considering attaching new conditions to welfare. … Carried by MP Margot James, who sits on a policy advisory board which is drawing up proposals for Prime Minister David Cameron, it reads: ‘Apply conditions for parents on benefits (training or parenting classes)’.” – Daily Mail
And comment:
“Pensions minister Steve Webb said the older generation of workers are a ‘vast untapped talent’ and must be encouraged to stay in employment for longer, or lured back if they have retired early. … The ‘Fuller Working Lives’ programme announced today will extend flexible working to all employees straight away so older workers can combine employment with caring for relatives.” – Daily Mail
And comment:
“Nick Clegg will move to distance the Liberal Democrats from the Tories over Michael Gove’s free schools programme by pledging in the party’s general election manifesto to introduce a ‘core curriculum’ for all schools in England. … In a marked departure from the changes introduced by the coalition, which exempted academies and free schools from the national curriculum, the deputy prime minister will describe the proposed core curriculum as a ‘basic safeguard’. He will also pledge to ban unqualified teachers.” – The Guardian
“Fears were raised yesterday of more ‘Trojan Horse’ Islamist plots to infiltrate schools across the country. … Ofsted is carrying out ‘lightning’ inspections at schools in the north and south-east of England amid concerns over governors abusing their position and narrowing the curriculum. … Snap visits have already been made to schools in Bradford, Luton and Tower Hamlets in East London, and more are expected to follow.” – Daily Mail
And comment:
“Ed Miliband has been warned by two former Labour ministers that he is alienating business leaders by speaking a language they do not understand, failing to listen and giving the impression he wants to harm big British companies. … Lord Myners and Lord Mandelson fear Mr Miliband’s attack on ‘predatory’ capitalism is damaging business relations and the party’s prospects at the next election.” – Financial Times
“The number of people waiting for NHS treatment has hit three million for the first time in six years, amid warnings that the growing demand for care means it could soon start routinely missing key targets. … Andy Burnham, the shadow health secretary, said: ‘After a decade of progress by Labour, NHS waiting lists are getting longer by the day.'” – The Guardian
“A plum Labour seat linked with Tony Blair’s eldest son has become available after its MP said that he would step down at the next election. … Jo Benton, the 80-year-old MP for Bootle, had come under pressure from his local party to retire from the constituency he has represented for 24 years. Euan Blair has been mentioned by some locals as a replacement who could help to ‘put Bootle on the map’.” – The Times (£)
“Nigel Farage broke electoral law in failing to declare donations worth £200,000 during a period of 14 years, the independent politics watchdog said yesterday. … The Ukip leader faces a maximum fine of £20,000 or up to a year in jail if the Electoral Commission decides to refer the case for criminal prosecution and Mr Farage is convicted. … The commission said that it was considering what disciplinary action to take against Mr Farage for breaching electoral law.” – The Times (£)
And Farage writes:
“Poker players would call it a ‘tell’: an unconscious movement or gesture which betrays someone’s mood. At the card table this can take the form of a twitchy eyebrow or a pinkening of the cheek or a tendency to bite the lip. … Bercow’s ‘tell’ is his thumb. The left thumb. And it twitched like the clappers yesterday during Business Questions when the Speaker’s old enemy, Simon Burns, asked about headhunters.” – Quentin Letts, Daily Mail