“At least 1,400 girls were left to be abused by Asian men because the authorities were too scared to admit there was a race issue, a report said yesterday. … Over a 16-year period, children as young as 11 were sexually exploited by gangs of men – most of them of Pakistani origin. … But police and council officials suppressed evidence of the crimes because they feared being labelled racist. … MPs and charities said the scale of the abuse was almost ‘incomprehensible’ and called for a criminal investigation into those who helped cover it up.” – Daily Mail
“Boris Johnson has applied to become the Conservative candidate for Uxbridge and South Ruislip at the 2015 General Election, his spokesman has confirmed. … The London Mayor submitted his name to Conservative Campaign Headquarters this morning – just 48 hours before the deadline. … Uxbridge is a safe Tory seat set to be vacated by Sir John Randall, the veteran Conservative MP, who held it last general election with an 11,000 majority.” – Daily Mail
“UKIP leader Nigel Farage was tonight selected to run for the party in the South Thanet constituency in next year’s general election. … Mr Farage was selected ahead of three other shortlisted candidates as the party’s prospective candidate for the Kent seat. … Delegates backed Mr Farage after a hustings session at Old Fellows Hall in Ramsgate. … The seat is currently held by Conservative Laura Sandys, who is standing down at the next election. … She had a majority of 7,617 in 2010.” – Daily Mail
And comment:
> Yesterday: ToryDiary – What we can learn from the list of UKIP target seats
“Brussels chief Jean-Claude Juncker was accused of behaving like a dictator last night after warning he would snub David Cameron for not sending a woman to represent Britain in the EU. … Mr Juncker indicated Britain could expect a lowly European Commission post because of the Prime Minister’s nomination of Lord Hill of Oareford. … Downing Street yesterday rejected the call, saying Lord Hill would be an ‘excellent commissioner’.” – Daily Mail
“Government sources said the Prime Minister was effectively sitting on Mr Bercow’s decision to appoint Australian catering manager Carol Mills to the £200,000-a-year post of Clerk of the Commons, in charge of running Parliament. … No 10 yesterday confirmed the Prime Minister had not forwarded the nomination to the Queen for approval, despite having had it for at least ten days. … A spokesman said: ‘It is an important role and for the individual to be able to carry it out successfully, they need support from MPs across the Commons.’” – Daily Mail
“As the former Labour home secretary David Blunkett moved to calm tensions, the Speaker let it be known at Westminster that he was willing to split the two roles and effectively hand the senior position to the clerk. … The move means that Carol Mills, a senior official in the Australian parliament who has been approved by a six-strong panel to succeed Sir Robert Rogers as chief executive and clerk, would have a more limited position. Mills would be chief executive but she would not be clerk.” – The Guardian
“George Osborne is facing calls to apologise in Parliament after the official statistics body ruled he used ‘inappropriate’ figures to trumpet the Government’s success in cracking down on tax avoidance in the last Budget. … Will Moy, director of independent factchecking organisation Full Fact – which made the initial referral to Sir Andrew Dilnot – said: ‘This intervention shows how badly we need independent official statistics on tax avoidance.'” – The Independent
“The country’s biggest IT contract is heading for disaster under plans to split it into 100 parts, putting billions of pounds of taxpayers’ money at risk, experts have warned. … Leading industry specialists have told The Times that splintering the £10 billion Aspire contract, which holds the tax records of 50 million Britons, will end in chaos, with higher costs and a substantial risk to the economy.” – The Times (£)
And comment:
“Labour’s plans to regionalise the benefits cap could hand London claimants as much as £54,000 a year, a top Tory warns today. … In a searing attack, Culture Secretary Sajid Javid said Labour was prepared to ‘slap taxpayers in the face’ with its welfare changes. … Mr Javid told The Sun: ‘Labour still stand for dependency and benefits as a lifestyle choice. … We will do everything we can to prevent Labour turning the clock back.'” – The Sun (£)
“Put that all together with Labour’s current lead and what do you get? Steve Fisher and Jonathan Jones and their excellent Elections Etc website suggest a 27 per cent chance of a Tory majority, 22 per cent of a Labour majority, 26 per cent of the Tories being the largest party in a hung parliament and a 25 per cent chance of that being Labour. … That sounds about right to me. But what do I know? I think I’m an expert.” – Daniel Finkelstein, The Times (£)
“A mass NHS strike over pay has moved closer as hundreds of thousands of workers begin voting on whether to walk out. … It comes after Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt rejected independent advice for a one per cent rise for staff on the grounds they already get automatic hikes worth an average three per cent. … Almost 100,000 NHS members of the Unite union started voting yesterday and 350,000 members of Unison will be balloted from tomorrow.” – The Sun (£)
“David Cameron has been challenged to get off the beach and campaign to keep Scotland in the United Kingdom – by Alex Salmond. … Mr Salmond laid down the challenge after it emerged the Prime Minister did not interrupt his summer holiday in Cornwall to watch last night’s live TV debate on Scottish independence. … The Prime Minister also failed to tune in to the first clash between Mr Salmond and Alistair Darling – despite claiming it would ‘break my heart’ to see the United Kingdom broken up.” – Daily Mail
And comment:
> Today: Henry Hill’s column – Independence will end SNP’s student discrimination
> Yesterday: ToryDiary – Last night’s scrap between Darling and Salmond showed how unsatisfactory this kind of debate tends to be
“Gordon Brown and Alistair Darling are to put aside their differences to unite in the fight against Scottish independence as the pro-UK referendum campaign attempts to bounce back from Alex Salmond’s bruising victory in Monday’s TV debate. … In a symbolically significant moment, the former Prime Minister and his former Chancellor will share the same stage for the first time tomorrow during the marathon contest at a Better Together campaign rally in Dundee.” – Daily Telegraph
“More than 130 business people in sectors ranging from finance to whisky have signed an open letter arguing that the business case for Scottish independence ‘has not been made’. … The letter, organised by Keith Cochrane, chief executive of Weir Group and signed by figures included Ian Marchant, former chief executive of the utility SSE and Andrew Mackenzie, chief executive of miner BHP Billiton, is the biggest business intervention in the referendum debate so far.” – Financial Times
“The UK’s top anti-terror police officer has said today that ‘significant progress’ has been made in the hunt for the UK jihadist who murdered American journalist James Foley. … Assistant Commissioner Mark Rowley appealed for help in rooting out aspiring home-grown terrorists as he decried the 41-year-old’s ‘pitiless’ death at the hands of Islamic extremists in Iraq. … Islamic State terrorists posted a video online last week of the horrifying murder of hostage Mr Foley at the hands of a killer who spoke with a British accent.” – Daily Mail
And comment:
> Today: ToryDiary – How should Britain counter the Islamic State group? Take our latest monthy survey
“Almost 100 police officers are suspended on suspicion of corruption every year, MailOnline can reveal. … In the past five years, a total of 460 officers have faced investigation over allegations including selling information, hacking into police computers and interfering with criminal probes. … Officials expressed concern at the scale of the problem, while one MP said the data proves that police corruption is not just limited to ‘a few rotten apples’.” – Daily Mail
“A new black hole will open up in Britain’s military budget after 2015, according to independent research commissioned by the military and seen by the Financial Times, which suggests the next government may have to make further swingeing defence cuts. … The analysis, undertaken by a think-tank, shows that whichever government is elected in 2015 will have to find savings of up to £1.5bn per year until at least 2020 if current spending plans are maintained.” – Financial Times
“The bloody seven-week Gaza conflict halted last night after Israel and Hamas agreed what it was hoped would be a long-term truce. … Both sides were claiming victory under the deal, brokered by Egypt. Bursts of celebratory gunfire erupted in the Gaza Strip and children held guns aloft as crowds cheered in the streets. … Under the agreement, Israel is to ease imports into Gaza, including aid and material for reconstruction. It will also allow Palestinians to fish six nautical miles offshore, up from three nautical miles.” – Daily Mail
“Kiev published videos on Tuesday of what it said were 10 Russian paratroopers captured inside Ukraine, in the strongest evidence yet of the increasingly overt presence of Russian forces in the east of the country. … The videos emerged hours before Russian president Vladimir Putin and his Ukrainian counterpart, Petro Poroshenko, began what were set to be difficult talks with EU representatives in Minsk, Belarus, aimed at plotting a diplomatic route out of the crisis.” – Financial Times
And comment:
“The Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) has spent more than £92,000 on social media training for its diplomats and staff, including Twitter and Facebook. … The lessons may have been lost on staff at the British Embassy in the US, who enraged Americans with a misjudged joke to mark the 200th anniversary of the Burning of Washington.” – The Independent
“They are renowned for their stony expressions, and ability to remain entirely focused on their job, even in the face of hoards of tourists armed with cameras. … But this Queen’s Guard apparently did not get the memo – as he pulls faces and sticks out his tongue on camera. … The video, apparently showing the soldier grinning, shaking his bearskin and sticking out his tongue from a guard’s box out was apparently taken by a visitor to Buckingham Palace.” – Daily Mail