“The prime minister’s in-out referendum on Europe could be held as early as May next year under plans mapped out by Downing Street officials. … If the Tories keep the keys to Downing Street, one scenario being considered would see negotiations with EU governments continue this summer to get a new deal for Britain in Brussels. … The prime minister would outline his final demands at the Conservative party conference in October and announce a referendum date, either in the spring or autumn next year, setting the clock ticking on final talks with the other 27 EU countries.” – Sunday Times (£)
> Today: ToryDiary – The dangers of an early EU referendum
“Senior British military figures have expressed growing frustration with David Cameron’s failure to tackle the threat of Isis jihadists in Iraq. … One recently retired general accused him of ‘posturing’ while wielding ‘a tiny stick’ and another serving general said: ‘No one on the international stage takes the UK seriously any more.’ … General Sir Richard Shirreff, who until last year was Nato’s deputy supreme allied commander Europe, said the government’s limited commitment to Iraq demonstrated the ‘hollowness’ of the UK’s political leaders.” – Sunday Times (£)
And comment:
“Well-placed sources say that ‘approximately 30’ people have been sent letters by chairman Sir John Chilcot warning them that they will be criticised in his report into the 2003 invasion. … Sources close to the inquiry say its strongly worded criticisms of the way the war was handled make a nonsense of claims that it will be a ‘whitewash’. … Downing Street insiders expect the report to be a ‘devastating’ indictment of the Blair Government and large sections of the Whitehall establishment.” – Mail on Sunday
“1,000 patients a month are dying needlessly in NHS hospitals because of staff blunders, the Health Secretary has warned as he announces sweeping reforms to bring an end to a ‘cover-up culture’ which is risking lives. … On Wednesday, Sir Robert Francis, who led the public inquiry into the Mid Staffs scandal, will publish a report which lays bare the devastating treatment of NHS doctors and nurses who tried to warn of unsafe care. … Mr Hunt will respond with a package of reforms to improve safety in hospitals, starting with the national review of 2,000 deaths, to establish just how many lives might have been saved with the right care.” – Sunday Telegraph
“Trainee doctors and nurses will receive lessons on whistleblowing from this autumn, the health secretary Jeremy Hunt has revealed, ahead of a report this week that is set to criticise the NHS. … Hunt has drafted in Helene Donnelly, the A&E nurse whose warnings were ignored in the Mid Staffordshire scandal, to help teach junior clinical staff to expose wrongdoing by their bosses.” – Sunday Times (£)
“Greedy fuel giants are clobbering diesel drivers as pump prices continue to fall, a Sun on Sunday investigation has revealed. … Treasury Minister Priti Patel told The Sun on Sunday: ‘For both fuels we will continue to urge oil companies to pass on all maximum benefits from the price reductions in oil, so that consumers feel the benefit at the pumps.'” – Sun on Sunday (£)
“A senior Tory MP has criticised the Government’s refusal to release sixth-form colleges from having to pay VAT. … Graham Stuart, the Conservative chairman of the Commons Education Select Committee, is leading a cross-party campaign by 75 MPs to persuade the Education Secretary, Nicky Morgan, to exempt colleges. … At present, VAT payments are costing sixth-form colleges on average £335,000 a year – the equivalent of at least 10 teaching posts.” – Independent on Sunday
And comment:
“…now the BBC has come under fire over its adaptation of her novel The Casual Vacancy just weeks before the General Election. … Tory MP and former Foreign Secretary Sir Malcolm Rifkind said the timing of the broadcast struck him as being ‘very odd at least’. … He said: ‘In the run-up to a General Election, the Government quite rightly has to go into purdah and refrain from doing anything provocative. I think the BBC should have to apply the same criteria.’” – Mail on Sunday
“A Tory MP who is one of the government’s top law officers has invested in a film partnership scheme being investigated over tax avoidance. … Robert Buckland, the solicitor-general and MP for South Swindon, has been a member of the Invicta Film Partnership No 25 for nearly 10 years. … A circular sent to all members of the scheme, which has been obtained by The Sunday Times, warned in May last year that it was the ‘subject of an open HMRC [HM Revenue & Customs] inquiry’.” – Sunday Times (£)
“Boris Johnson will hold talks with Hillary Clinton, a fellow leader in waiting, on a whistle-stop tour of America this week. … The mayor of London will meet the former US secretary of state, the Democrat frontrunner to be the next president, in New York on Wednesday. … Johnson will also use the visit, which takes in Boston and Washington, to drum up business for Britain while burnishing his credentials as a potential prime minister.” – Sunday Times (£)
“As it is, many Lib Dems are having second thoughts about going back into government at all. There have always been those in the party who have wanted to return to opposition to lick their coalition-inflicted wounds, and this attitude is now taking hold among some senior figures who are actually in government. … While those closest to Nick Clegg remain convinced about the merits of another coalition, a growing number of Lib Dem Ministers are increasingly sceptical.” – James Forsyth, Mail on Sunday
And further comment:
> Yesterday: Lord Ashcroft on Comment – Sheffield Hallam, Doncaster North and Thanet South
“David Cameron has hailed Britain’s growing economic recovery as the ‘Great Revival’, as former Labour donors express their frustration at Ed Miliband’s “half baked” plans for business. … Writing for The Telegraph, Mr Cameron launched his strongest attack to date on Mr Miliband’s economic policies, warning that the Labour leader’s ‘sneering hatred of business’ would cost the country almost 100,000 jobs.” – Sunday Telegraph
Read Cameron’s Sunday Telegraph article in full
And comment:
> Yesterday: LeftWatch – Miliband is building a coalition to win, but not to govern
“Tories believe the industrial North can deliver them an election victory — claiming voters in the Labour heartland hate Ed Miliband. … David Cameron has set his sights on stealing seats in mining areas and industrial towns in Yorkshire and Manchester. … The top wish is to oust Shadow Chancellor Ed Balls in West Yorks. … Cabinet ministers claim voters in the region tell them they prefer Mr Cameron in No10.” – Sun on Sunday (£)
“Ed Miliband’s political turmoil intensified yesterday after Labour admitted it had been forced to stop using David Cameron as a ‘scare tactic’ in Scotland – because the Prime Minister is more popular with voters than Mr Miliband. … Scottish Labour leader Jim Murphy admitted that the party had ditched its mantra of ‘Vote SNP – get Cameron’ in favour of ‘Vote SNP – get Tory’, after strategists vetoed plans to portray the Election as a straight fight between Mr Miliband and Mr Cameron.” – Mail on Sunday
“It is the flagship Labour policy that has divided Ed Miliband’s party, and now his neighbours have come out in revolt over his controversial Mansion Tax. … Some residents living in the North London street – where Mr Miliband lives in a £2.6million home bought in his barrister wife’s name in 2009 for £1.6million – say they may not be able to afford the tax.” – Mail on Sunday
“Tony Blair has moved to end talk of a rift with Ed Miliband as he pledged to offer whatever support the Labour leader wants in the runup to the 7 May election. … The Observer understands that talks between Labour officials and Blair’s office have been going on for weeks about the role he might play in the election campaign. … Blair’s office said that regarding ‘his involvement in the party’s election campaign, he will do whatever the party wants’.” – The Observer
“A new election battleground has opened up as Labour pledges to save popular Sure Start children’s centres from further closures and double the number of childcare places they provide to more than 118,000. … The move would reverse a decision in 2010 by the coalition government, when Sure Start centres were freed from a previous requirement to provide childcare.” – The Observer
“People convicted of homophobic, transgender or disability hate crime would be put on a ‘blacklist’ to warn future employers of past misdemeanours under new proposals by Labour. … The shadow home secretary, Yvette Cooper, will on Monday unveil a strategy to tackle the UK’s soaring rise in antisemitism, Islamophobia, homophobia and abuse of people with disabilities.” – The Observer
“Scotland’s first minister, Nicola Sturgeon, has dismissed William Hague’s plans for English laws for English people, and committed to vote on English-only issues at ‘each and every opportunity’ when Scotland’s interests are affected. … In a move designed to undermine proposals unveiled by the leader of the Commons last week, the SNP leader said her MPs in Westminster would now vote on budgetary changes nominally focused on England if they felt there would be an impact in Scotland.” – The Observer
Read Sturgeon’s Observer article in full
“Nigel Farage promised that Ukip would mount a positive and clean general election campaign, only to call Rotherham’s Labour MP a ‘disgraceful woman’ after she accused him of rubber-necking at child abuse victims. … The Ukip leader said negative campaigning did not work: ‘We have quite deliberately got some positive messages coming up in this election campaign.'” – The Observer
“Are you a Harassed Hipster or a Squeezed Semi? Perhaps you are Aldi Woman or Glass Ceiling Woman – or both. Or maybe you are a Settled Silver, living comfortably in old age, resented by the Neo-Greens who feel their generation has been hard done by. … While this general election is impossible to call, the people whose votes the political parties are hunting are becoming easier to identify by the day.” – Jane Merrick, Independent on Sunday
“Social media experts criticised the tactics, arguing that they defeated the purpose of Twitter, as users were not following and listening to genuine people. However, with social media playing a big role in campaigning for the coming general election, candidates are under pressure to develop an impressive online profile.” – Sunday Times (£)
“A council has been accused of ‘intimidating’ whistleblowers at the taxpayer’s expense after hiring a top legal firm to investigate how allegations of sexual abuse at one of its care homes were leaked to the press. … In November last year The Sunday Times revealed how a member of staff at Somerset county council was being investigated by police for having sex with a vulnerable teenage girl in his care.” – Sunday Times (£)
“Yet there is growing concern that Mrs Saunders is more interested in pursuing campaign agendas rather than serving the interests of the public at large. The decision to prosecute Dr Dharmasena contrasts noticeably with the DPP’s refusal to take action against two doctors accused of offering to carry out gender-specific abortions. It would not, she said, have been in the public interest to do so. So why take a different line with FGM?” – Philip Johnston, Sunday Telegraph
“Prince Charles risked provoking a new political and religious storm yesterday when he said Muslims living in the UK should follow British values. … In a staunch defence of Britain’s ‘Christian standpoint,’ he denounced the radicalisation of young Britons by Islamic fanatics and said they should show more respect to ‘the values we hold dear’. … People who had ‘come here, were born here or go to school here’ should ‘abide by our values,’ he said.” – Mail on Sunday
Read a transcript of Prince Charles’s comments
And comment:
> Yesterday: Lady Berridge on Comment – We must champion the freedom to change one’s beliefs about religion
“The Bank of England governor Mark Carney will this week raise the prospect of inflation falling below zero for the first time since the Bank started forecasts more than two decades ago. … Simon Wells, chief UK economist at HSBC, predicted the Bank would make its first central forecast of outright deflation by the summer. The quarterly inflation report is out on Thursday.” – Sunday Times (£)
“A last-ditch attempt to bring peace to eastern Ukraine will be put to the country’s leaders today amid warnings that failure to reach a settlement could lead to all-out war. … In a dramatic intervention last night, Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko said the crisis in his country would remain unresolved unless it received political, economic and military support from allies in Europe and beyond.” – Mail on Sunday
> Yesterday: ToryDiary – Our duty to protect the Baltic states
“Yak farmers in remote Nepal have now joined in the joke of Ed Miliband’s bacon sarnie shame — after The Sun on Sunday got the images to them. … We couldn’t resist showing them the photos after the Labour leader said the images had gone viral but ‘apparently haven’t reached some yak farmers in Nepal’. … After a three-hour each-way trek into the mountainous region, that has now been put right.” – Sun on Sunday (£)
“Parents have poured scorn on a Labour MP after she claimed children are no longer interested in Lego. … Stella Creasy, 37, said that at Christmas her young nieces and a nephew refused to build a Lego toy of the Death Star from the Star Wars films. … Last year Lego overtook Mattel to become the world’s largest toy manufacturer as the Danish company’s UK sales hit a record £226 million.” – Mail on Sunday