“Britain launched the largest security response since 7/7 last night as counter terrorism sources revealed up to 450 radicalised Britons have returned to the UK from Syria. Special forces were deployed on the streets to monitor stations, shopping centres and key public places amid fears the UK could be the next target for an Isil terror outrage.” – Sunday Telegraph
Comment:
Editorial:
“This was not just an attack on innocent life. It was an attack on our whole way of life. And so, when I look at the images from Paris, I feel not just grief and shock. I feel a deep and abiding sense of rage… They killed scores of people who were simply out for a night of fun and entertainment – and we are entitled to ask why. Why then? Why there?” – Mail on Sunday
>Today: ToryDiary: The end of Schengen, and six other consequences of the Paris horror
>Yesterday:
“Boris Johnson has thrown down the gauntlet on Europe, calling on David Cameron to give parliament an emergency veto over EU law. The mayor of London said Cameron should dramatically beef up his renegotiation of Britain’s relationship with Brussels by making a change in British law to give MPs the power to overturn new and old EU regulations.” – Sunday Times (£)
Comment:
“Make no mistake. Mr Cameron’s “moderate” British model would still mean the supremacy of European law and the European Court of Justice. It would still mean Britain being outvoted in the Council of Ministers and the European Parliament. We would still be bossed around by the European Commission. I would urge likeminded MPs and citizens who support our departure from the EU to study the government’s tactics and strategy very carefully.” – Sunday Times (£)
“The refusal by the Conservative Party Press Office to challenge the assertion by the No camp that Lord Feldman has been engaged in fundraising for the Yes camp invites some very important questions. As Tory Chairman, Lord Feldman possessed access to a confidential database containing the identities of Conservative Party donors. Has he been making use of this database to help out the Yes campaign? On the face of things, it would be completely contrary to the rules of the Conservative Party for paid employees such as Lord Feldman to raise funds for outside organisations.” – Peter Oborne, Mail on Sunday
“The Tories were rocked by a new scandal last night after a Cabinet Minister confessed to an affair after being told he faced a blackmail plot by a senior aide to David Cameron. The Minister informed No 10 he had been told Tory director Mark Clarke intended to film him and his female lover leaving a London club where they met for trysts. He ended the six-month affair in May, the same month in which his lover, who holds a high profile Conservative post, was tipped off about the alleged blackmail plot.” – Mail on Sunday
“Iain Duncan Smith has seen off an attempt by George Osborne to slash £2bn from the budget for the government’s flagship welfare programme, universal credit, after the work and pensions secretary let it be known that he was prepared to resign over the matter. The chancellor wanted the money to help alleviate the pain caused by his plan to slash £4.4bn from tax credits. But senior government sources say deeper cuts in housing benefit will now be found to help make up the difference.” – Sunday Times (£)
Comment:
“Cabinet Office Minister Oliver Letwin will be grilled by MPs this week over why he overruled civil servants to give £3 million of taxpayers’ cash to scandal-hit charity Kids Company. Letwin stands accused of showing favouritism to Kids Company by giving it the huge sum even though senior mandarins opposed it. Thanks to Letwin, the £3 million was handed over in July – just three months after his department had given the charity another grant of £4.3 million.” – Mail on Sunday
“Energy firms’ green subsidies will be axed under plans to lower heating bills. Ministers are to stop pouring taxpayers’ money into wind farms and solar panels and make cutting costs for families a priority. The change of direction comes two years after David Cameron vowed to bin the “green crap” that adds £68 a year to the average household bill.” – Sun on Sunday (£)
“Irish migrants moving to the UK will not be affected by tough new benefit rules which will impact people arriving in Britain from other parts of the EU. Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond has privately assured Irish Foreign Minister Charlie Flanagan that citizens from the republic will not be impacted by the clampdown.” – Mail on Sunday
“Junior doctors are being used as pawns in a political war waged by union militants, an MP claimed last night. Andrea Jenkyns questioned the motives of British Medical Association chiefs in calling a strike in a row about overtime pay. She hit out after a Sun on Sunday probe found senior members of the BMA’s ruling council have links to the hard left.” – Sun on Sunday (£)
>Yesterday:
“Supporters of the pro-Jeremy Corbyn grassroots movement Momentum are calling on Labour’s national executive committee to discipline two MPs for disloyalty in an attempt to tighten the left’s grip on the party, the Observer can reveal. In a sign of a power struggle between Corbyn’s backers and those on the centre and right of the party, Momentum members are urging Corbyn loyalists to sign up to demands for action against Frank Field and Simon Danczuk, as well as against a former parliamentary candidate, Emily Benn.” – The Observer
“A shoe-obsessed MP who complained about a shop’s customer service on Commons-headed notepaper is facing a probe by the Parliamentary watchdog… She claimed her use of Commons stationery was fine, and she could “vent anger as I wish”. The standards commissioner will decide if it was within the rules after receiving a complaint.” – Sun on Sunday (£)
“It was mercilessly mocked before being quickly hidden away as a national embarrassment to the Labour Party. But at long last, Ed Miliband’s infamous General Election ‘Ed stone’ may have found a home – the museum which also houses Michael Foot’s notorious donkey jacket. The People’s History Museum in Manchester, which boasts of being the ‘national museum of democracy’, wants to add the 8ft monolith to its collection.” – Mail on Sunday
“Nicola Sturgeon grew up with a passionate hatred of Mrs Thatcher, but Scotland’s First Minister will today admit she now draws inspiration from the former Tory Prime Minister. In an interview broadcast on BBC Radio 4’s Desert Island Discs, the SNP Leader says she entered politics because of her anger at the impact of Thatcher’s politics on Scotland. But she admits she can now learn from Thatcher’s leadership style.” – Mail on Sunday