“Hacked Off have today been branded ‘rank hypocrites’ after a cabinet minister was forced to admit he unknowingly had a relationship with a prostitute he met through online dating. The BBC has also been accused of pursuing its own agenda against Culture Secretary John Whittingdale, who is currently pushing to reform the corporation and its licence fee. News of the MP’s 2014 relationship was made public last night by Newsnight in an interview with Hacked Off founder Brain Cathcart.” – Daily Mail
Comment:
Editorial:
>Yesterday: LeftWatch: Hacked Off’s hypocrisy reveals their true nature
“Rival Brexit campaigners erupted into open feuding after the mainstream Vote Leave was designated as the official Out grouping for the June referendum on Britain’s EU membership. Insurance millionaire Arron Banks, a close ally of UK Independence party leader Nigel Farage and backer of Grassroots Out, said that Vote Leave’s application was “full of lies and misrepresentations” and that he was likely to seek a judicial review of its selection by the Electoral Commission.” – FT
Europe:
Comment:
Labour:
>Today:
>Yesterday:
“David Cameron has ridiculed ‘chaotic’ Jeremy Corbyn’s tax return blunders as the leaders faced off in the Commons for the first time since the Panama Papers row. The Prime Minister seized on the Labour leader’s failure to list thousands of pounds of pension income on his return and his £100 fine for filing the document late.” – Daily Mail
Comment:
Sketches:
“The past year has shown me that Westminster too often feels a world apart from reality. It has also reinforced the belief that the state, and the people who work for it – in the NHS, in local councils and elsewhere – remains a tremendous force for good, that can touch vulnerable lives for the better.” – The Guardian
“Tory MPs lined up to savage plans to force all schools in England to become academies yesterday in the clearest sign yet of a looming rebellion against David Cameron’s reform. The prime minister defended proposals that will effectively end council responsibility for schools, insisting that the move would drive up standards. The scale of Tory unease became clear as Conservative backbenchers used a Commons debate to question why successful schools, particularly small rural primaries, should be forced to change status.” – The Times (£)
>Today: John Bald in Local Government: Councils can launch their own academy chains
“Ministers will be forced to seek parliamentary approval before they can make any changes to rules forcing local authorities to hand over the proceeds of council house sales to the Treasury, after peers inflicted a third defeat on Wednesday night to the government’s controversial housing bill.” – The Guardian
“MPs have attacked the Foreign Secretary for being “less than candid” over Britain’s plans to send troops to Libya and accused him of being “wholly and deliberately misleading”. The Commons foreign affairs committee has angrily rejected Philip Hammond’s assurances that there is no imminent deployment to the turbulent north African state.” – Daily Telegraph
“Zac Goldsmith was today condemned for turning his London mayor campaign into a ‘racist scream’ against his Labour rival Sadiq Khan. Yvette Cooper, the former Labour leadership contender, slammed the Tory campaign for escalating his attacks from ‘dog whistles’ as polls show Mr Khan growing a lead in the race. Mr Goldsmith today insisted accusations of racism against him and his campaign were ‘absurd’ and ‘irresponsible’.” – Daily Mail
“Yvette Cooper, the former shadow home secretary, threw the left-wing thesaurus at Zac Goldsmith in an article for Tuesday’s Times Red Box. Yet Ms Cooper did not find any room to rebut the serious charges that senior Conservatives have made against Sadiq Khan, Mr Goldsmith’s Labour rival to be the next mayor of London.” – The Times (£)
“Ministers must ‘honour’ Britain’s Iraq war dead by publishing the long-awaited inquiry into the controversial conflict by the middle of next month. In a Commons debate to be held tomorrow former shadow home secretary David Davis will say it would be ‘unconscionable’ to delay the report further and pile agony on the bereaved families.” – Daily Mail
“Ruth Davidson has pledged to start a new campaign highlighting the benefits of the Union as she set out a ten-point “programme for opposition” to the SNP instead of “pretending” that the Tories can win next month’s Holyrood election. Unveiling her party’s manifesto in Glasgow, the Scottish Tory leader promised to make the positive “counter case” for the United Kingdom after Nicola Sturgeon announced that the SNP plans to start a new campaign for independence this summer.” – Daily Telegraph
>Yesterday: Henry Hill’s Red, White, and Blue column: Voters prefer Davidson to lead Scottish opposition
“A flagship scheme to insulate homes cost taxpayers £240million but failed to deliver energy and carbon emissions savings and actually put bills up, a damning report has found. Ministers set up the Green Deal four years ago to encourage homeowners to save energy by installing loft and wall insulation and more efficient boilers at no up-front cost. But the National Audit Office said that while the ‘ambitious’ aim ‘looked good on paper’, it failed to deliver any meaningful benefit.” – Daily Mail