“Britain will force a showdown with Europe to seize back sovereignty over human rights if the Tories win the election. … It will ignore verdicts by Euro judges it does not agree with under an explosive Tory plan to reinstate the primacy of the UK courts and Parliament. … If Strasbourg objects, the UK will resign from the European Court of Human Rights and ‘walk away’. … The promise to reinstate Parliamentary sovereignty and reduce the court to a mere ‘advisory’ role was made by Justice Secretary Chris Grayling.” – Daily Mail
And further comment:
> Today:
“The Tories have taken a narrow lead in a nationwide opinion poll for the first time since March 2012. … The dramatic turnaround after 30 months of Labour domination came after David Cameron’s barnstorming speech to close the Conservative conference on Wednesday. … The daily YouGov survey for The Sun is the first since the PM offered up £7billion of income tax cuts during the key Birmingham address – signalling the surprise move will be a big ballot box triumph. … Our latest YouGov poll put the Conservatives on 35%, Labour on 34%, and Ukip on 14%.” – The Sun (£)
And comment:
> Today: Iain Dale’s column – What I got up to at the Conservative Party Conference
> Yesterday:
“The row followed Home Secretary Theresa May’s bitter attack on the Lib Dem leader’s refusal to give police and intelligence services powers to monitor internet, email and phone use of terror suspects. … But the Prime Minister backed Mrs May last night and Mr Clegg’s complaint was ridiculed by senior Tories. One told the Daily Mail that Mr Clegg was a ‘w*****’, and claimed his request to see the Home Secretary’s conference speech in advance this week had been rejected. … Last night Lib Dem MP Duncan Hames called for an official investigation into the use of derogatory language to describe Mr Clegg.” – Daily Mail
And comment:
> Today: The Deep End’s Heresy of the week – Don’t let’s be beastly to the Lib Dems
“The frontline RAF Tornado squadron spearheading Britain’s air strikes on jihadist fighters in Iraq was saved from government defence cuts last night (TH) – for at least a year. … In a surprise visit to Cyprus, David Cameron announced that 102-year old No II Squadron, which had been due to be disbanded in April, would be reprieved. … He announced the two additional Tornados being sent to the base and confirmed: ‘We will also extend the lifetime of Number Two Squadron for a further year to April 2016 to ensure we can sustain this effort in the months ahead.’” – Daily Mail
And comment:
“David Cameron has arrived in Kabul to become the first world leader to meet the new but fragile Afghan government led jointly by Ashraf Ghani and his defeated opponent in the presidential race Abdullah Abdullah. … After arriving in the Afghan capital, he said Britain had paid a ‘very high price’ for its involvement in Afghanistan, but that the work had been vital and had left a country transformed.” – The Guardian
“The Tories want to stop Mark Reckless being elected as a UK Independence Party MP by fielding a ‘people’s candidate’ chosen by members of the public. … David Cameron, the Prime Minister, is keen to hold an ‘open primary’ in the Rochester and Strood constituency before by-election day. … This would mean that any adult who is registered to vote in the constituency can help to choose the candidate to fight the seat for the Conservatives.” – Daily Telegraph
“I’m sure there will continue to be talk of more defections, and it’s true, I have made no secret that I have been talking to politicians from both the Tories and the Labour Party. But I think that anyone considering making the leap will wait for the results of the three by-elections before they decide to do so.” – Nigel Farage, The Independent
“The exclusive Survation poll for The Sun on next week’s Heywood and Middleton vote reveals backing for the anti-EU party has surged to 31%, putting it in a firm second place. … At the 2010 general election, Ukip got just 3% and Labour held the Greater Manchester constituency comfortably with a majority of 5,971. … Labour chiefs are still on course to hold on to the northern constituency, retaining 50% of the support among those who have decided how they’ll vote so far.” – The Sun (£)
“John Manzoni, a former BP executive who recently joined the civil service, has been chosen as Whitehall’s first chief executive with a brief to improve efficiency in an age of budget cuts. … Announcing the appointment of Mr Manzoni, current head of the Major Projects Authority, Francis Maude, cabinet office minister, also said all jobs below permanent secretary level would in future be opened up to external competition. … Mr Maude said that after six months in government, Mr Manzoni had ‘passed the tissue rejection test’ that sometimes scuppers the careers of corporate figures who enter public service.” – Financial Times
“Boris Johnson is set to approve plans for ‘affordable’ flats that the Guardian understands could cost tenants up to £2,800 a month to rent. … The London mayor is expected to grant consent on Friday for the construction of 98 ‘affordable rent’ apartments on the site of the Royal Mail’s Mount Pleasant sorting office in central London in a deal that critics say makes a mockery of the idea that affordable housing is for the most needy.” – The Guardian
And comment:
“On the day she was due to address colleagues at the Brighton Centre, her hotel, the Grand, was hit by an IRA bomb. … As the nation reeled at such an attack on the heart of Government, the Prime Minister famously insisted on continuing with the party conference agenda, but with a radically revised speech to declare Britain’s defiance in the face of terror. … Now the original text, which historians believe would have eclipsed her address branding miners the ‘enemy within’ a few months earlier – has been revealed in her personal papers from 1984, released today by the Margaret Thatcher Archive Trust.” – Daily Mail
“A radical change to the voting system at Westminster, entailing parliamentary bills being passed in a more proportional way, should be introduced to resolve the row over English-only laws, the Liberal Democrats will say on Friday. … In a Guardian article, the Lib Dem minister David Laws calls on the Tories to follow the example of the Labour party in setting aside ‘narrow partisan interest’ to resolve the matter.” – The Guardian
“Schoolchildren would learn about the risks of sexting, cyber bullying and pro-anorexia websites under Liberal Democrat plans to educate young people about the realities of mental illness. … The junior coalition party wants an overhaul of the national curriculum in England to make personal, social and health education (PSHE) lessons mandatory, including lessons about conditions such as anxiety and depression. … They want schools to reflect the NHS’s goal of ‘parity of esteem’ between physical and mental illness.” – The Guardian
“Serving in the House of Lords is ‘unaffordable’ for normal people because peers only get a tax-free allowance of £300 a day, a senior Liberal Democrat said last night. … Olly Grender, deputy chairman of Nick Clegg’s General Election team, said the lavish expenses paid to peers were too low to allow people to give up their jobs. … Critics last night said her comments would be ‘deeply offensive’ to millions of people earning far less.” – Daily Mail
“…a Freedom of Information request has shown that the ‘harassment hotline’ has received a mere 31 calls since launch. … But the real number of people who experience bullying or harassment is likely much, much higher. And, as a former Parliamentary researcher, I should know. … I have witnessed a researcher being told repeatedly to ‘f*** off’ when raising a legitimate concern. Others have confided in me about being shouted at when things get too much.” – Harriet Maltby, Daily Telegraph
“In a damning report, the Public Accounts Committee said contracts worth up to £16.6billion were awarded without checks that it was value for money. … The eight deals, for renewable electricity generation projects including offshore wind farms, were agreed by the Department of Energy and Climate Change. … But ministers failed to ensure they would lead to lower bills for hard-pressed Brits, the report said.” – The Sun (£)
“Alex Salmond has been accused of unveiling a ‘tax dodgers’ charter’ by banning councils from chasing hundreds of millions of pounds they are owed in historic debts from unpaid Poll Tax. … The First Minister said new laws will prevent local authorities using the pre-independence referendum surge in Scots joining the electoral register to track down those who failed to pay the Community Charge. … But Scotland’s councils reacted with fury after it emerged that Mr Salmond only plans to recompense them with a tiny proportion of the £425 million they are still owed.” – Daily Telegraph
“Ofcom chief executive Ed Richards will step down from his £393,000-a-year job at the end of the year, he announced yesterday. … The former adviser to Tony Blair, who applied unsuccessfully to lead the BBC in 2012, said it was ‘the right time to move on’ after eight years at the helm of the broadcasting regulator. … During Mr Richards’ tenure, Ofcom has repeatedly been accused of being too lenient on broadcasters who upset viewers with lewd or violent programmes.” – Daily Mail
“Hospitals will be urged to open up in-house GP surgeries to make it easier for patients to get appointments. … Simon Stevens, the head of the NHS, says the move could ease the strain for practices where there are too few doctors and rising numbers of patients. … The surgeries would be different from the walk-in centres and urgent care units that already exist in some hospitals alongside A&E units. … They would operate as a normal surgery with their own list of patients.” – Daily Mail
And comment:
“A rising Tory star had to issue an embarrassing apology after he shared a limerick on twitter which said the Labour Party is ‘full of queers’. … Matt Hancock, the Business minister, had tweeted his own five-line verse about the opposition to mark National Poetry Day – and some of his 17,300 followers responded with own poems. … The minister retweeted several of the replies, including one deriding Labour as ‘quite full of queers’.” – The Independent
“Cherie Blair and her eldest son have become landlords of a £650,000 block of flats — with a stinking rubbish dump out back. … The wife of ex-Labour PM Tony and son Euan, 30, are set to earn £55,000 a year from the ten flats. … [One tenant said:] ‘There’s a rubbish dump at the back which hasn’t been cleared since I moved in — it’s such an eyesore and it stinks. It could attract vermin.'” – The Sun (£)