‘President Obama launched an extraordinary attack on David Cameron last night for allowing Libya to deteriorate into lawlessness and become a haven for Islamic State. In highly unusual criticism of a serving British prime minister from his American ally, Mr Obama claimed that Mr Cameron stopped paying attention soon after the 2011 military operation because he was “distracted by a range of other things”. Mr Obama also made clear that he forced Mr Cameron to sign up to Nato’s benchmark of spending 2 per cent of GDP on defence. “Free riders aggravate me,” Mr Obama told The Atlantic magazine.’ – The Times (£)
‘David Cameron intends to stand for election as a MP in 2020 although Downing Street insists he will honour his commitment to step down as prime minister. Mr Cameron, 49, told BBC Radio Oxford on Thursday that a further term as MP for Witney was “very much my intention”. He said: “I love being MP for Witney and am very keen to continue. I draw huge strength from being a member of parliament in Oxfordshire.” Downing Street said the remarks were not a sign he was intending to reverse his decision to leave No 10 by 2020.’ – FT
‘The prime minister will warn that Britain’s exit from Europe would harm lamb and beef farmers, costing them an extra £330m a year to export their goods. “If we left this single market and, as some suggest, relied on World Trade Organisation rules, the extra costs of exporting British beef would be £240m a year. An extra £90m would be added to the cost of British lamb exports,” he will say on Friday. British agriculture, British farmers and British jobs could suffer enormously if we were to leave the single market.”’ – The Guardian
Editorials
>Yesterday:
‘You can look in vain across European referendums campaigns for any example where the intelligentsia or celebrities persuaded anyone to vote with the government in a referendum. If anything, the reverse is true. The Cameron strategy of lining up everyone he possibly can behind a pro-Euro vote was tried in Sweden in 2003. The glitterati, every trade union, every employers’ union all urged Swedes to adopt the single currency while the “No” campaign was reduced to a few cranks and fringe parties. But they still triumphed. And for a simple reason: the “Yes” side had used endorsements as a substitute for proper arguments.’ – Fraser Nelson, Daily Telegraph
‘An increase in fuel duty of up to 2p a litre is justified in the wake of the collapse in world oil prices, George Osborne has warned MPs. The Chancellor told a private meeting of Conservative MPs that he could not be expected to extend the five-year freeze on fuel duty if oil prices remain below $50 a barrel. With oil now trading at just $40, Tory MPs expect Mr Osborne to impose a 2p hike in fuel duty in next week’s Budget, to help compensate for a sharp drop in revenues from the North Sea.’ – Daily Mail
>Today: ToryDiary: Ten things to look out for in next week’s Budget
‘An investigation by the Daily Mail and Channel 4 News has uncovered what appears to be significant undeclared expenditure by the Tories in key constituency battles; tens of thousands of pounds spent almost exclusively on hotel rooms for electioneering experts parachuted in by Conservative Party headquarters in London. Crucially, had that expenditure been fully declared, it would have taken the local candidates’ spending way beyond the legal limit.’ – Daily Mail
‘The French state auditor has raised fresh doubts about plans to build the world’s most expensive nuclear power plant in Somerset by urging EDF, the energy company, to ask “serious questions” before going ahead. The Cour des Comptes rang alarm bells over the complexity of both funding and carrying out the £18 billion project at Hinkley Point. It urged Paris and EDF, which is 85 per cent owned by the French state, to think hard about whether it should proceed, citing “financial stress”.’ – The Times (£)
‘Labour will borrow more to fund public investment projects, John McDonnell will say today as he tries to restore its reputation for economic competence. The party will not add to the nation’s debt pile by borrowing to fund day-to-day expenditure, the shadow chancellor says. However, he is likely to loosen the definition of what counts as investment spending that can be funded with borrowed cash.’ – The Times (£)
>Today: Lewis Baston’s column: The 1966 election – Labour’s big win, 50 years ago this month
‘Voters have rejected plans for an elected mayor in Bath and North East Somerset with a 79% no vote. Thursday’s referendum saw 30,557 votes to retain the cabinet system and 8,054 in favour of a directly-elected mayor. The turnout was 29%. Council leader Tim Warren said the result showed people were “happy-ish with what they have “. Philip Raby, who campaigned for a mayor, said it had been a “David and Goliath” fight.’ – BBC News
>Yesterday: To The Point: From public to private sector jobs – how are the regions doing?
‘England’s largest academy chains have “serious weaknesses” as bad as the local authorities they were intended to replace, Sir Michael Wilshaw has told the education secretary, Nicky Morgan, in strong criticism of the government’s flagship school improvement programme. In a memo to Morgan published on Thursday, the Ofsted chief inspector singled out seven of the worst-performing multi-academy trust (MAT) chains, citing weak leadership, poor performance and lack of oversight as among the concerns found by his inspectors.’ – The Guardian