10.45pm Ruth Lea on CentreRight: "Back in 1992 after the pound’s welcome departure from the ERM, [Gordon Brown] said “a weak currency arises from a weak economy which in turn is the result of a weak Government.” There is simply no better way to encapsulate our current economic woes."
9pm ToryDiary: Police entered ANOTHER Tory MP’s office
7pm AmericaInTheWorld.com: The ‘special US-UK relationship’ will survive early tests
6.15pm ToryDiary: Tories will get more pro-European in office, says Ken Clarke
5.30pm Local Government: Bin Tax binned
1.45pm Parliament: Oral answers round-up from Wales
12.45pm Parliament: Lord Blaker says Southern African Development Community is feeble on Zimbabwe
Noon ToryDiary: £1m is just "small beer" for Labour
ToryDiary: David Cameron captures the national change of mood on the economy at PMQs
11.30am WATCH: A four minute video attacking Labour’s nannying, "Orwellian" Britain
11am Parliament: Caroline Spelman says business rates are too high
10am Latest on CentreRight:
Dominic Raab on Platform: Exposing this Government’s assault on our historic liberties
Seats and candidates: Search for 100 Peers: Professor Karol Sikora
Andrew Lilico on CentreRight: What Gregory House has to teach us about the banking crisis
The Financial Times welcomes Ken Clarke’s return
"George Osborne, shadow chancellor, has not had a good war. Mr Clarke, by contrast, has sounded less shrill and more weighty. Of course his title cannot be “shadow shadow chancellor”, but he will surely make his presence felt well beyond his formal responsibilities. Already he has warned that standing on a platform of tax cuts would be asking for trouble. This is a bracing dose of realism." – FT leader
Unemployment increase today will take total close to two million – Sky
Treasury minister warns that banking crisis could last for ten years – The Sun
…but the Commons fails to debate the economic crisis: "The last time MPs debated the state of the economy was on November 26, when the Conservatives forced an emergency three-hour debate on Alistair Darling’s pre-Budget report. In the intervening two months, the value of the pound has plunged, tens of thousands of jobs have been lost, Woolworths has gone bust and the Government has been forced into a second, colossally expensive bail-out of a crippled banking system. Voters are rightly furious at the behaviour of the banks and the billions in taxpayers’ money being poured into them. Yet the people who are paid to give voice to that anger, Members of Parliament, have been largely silent. The failure of the House of Commons to rise to the challenge of our most serious post-war economic crisis has been shameful." – Telegraph leader
Simon Heffer warns Gordon Brown that voters’ rage is coming
"The public has rumbled Mr Brown, and he is the focus of their anger. As worse horrors occur in the months ahead voters will have more yet to remember him by. He can, in his dishonourable way, avoid accountability for another 16 months if he wishes. Yet the longer he waits to take his punishment, the worse it will be. If he doubts that, let him ask John Major." – Simon Heffer in The Telegraph
Nick Clegg: Prepare to scrap the pound – FT
"In an interview with the Financial Times, he said public opinion could “turn on its head” and swing against the pound as the “sheer brutality” of the crisis prompted the public to yearn for the stability offered by the eurozone."
Labour MPs blame Tories for Commons vote that interrupted Obama’s big speech – Guardian
Gordon Brown’s hope of early summit with Obama fade – FT | John Kampfner
"He may be the President who contains America’s overseas adventures to ensure that what it starts, it can finish, who manages its transition from sole superpower to the sharing of world leadership, who understands the constaints imposed on the state and public purse by the colossal financial crisis that is engulfing us, who prefers moderation to the enumeration of a new doctrine. Mr Obama’s election has widely been seen as ushering in a new era of ambition and optimism. Prepare for quite the opposite." – Daniel Finkelstein in The Times
Home Office distances itself further from Damian Green raid
"The top Home Office civil servant warned the Metropolitan police they had better have sufficient evidence when officers told him they intended to search the offices and homes of Conservative MP Damien Green as part of a Whitehall leak inquiry. Sir David Normington told MPs at the Commons home affairs committee yesterday he was "extremely surprised" when Scotland Yard rang to tell him the search of the shadow immigration minister’s parliamentary office was under way and in a second phone call that he had been arrested." – Guardian
Public Accounts Committee seeks transparent criteria for selecting peers – BBC
Tessa Jowell’s estranged husband ‘took $600,000 bribe from Silvio Berlusconi’ – Times
Please use this thread to highlight other interesting news and commentary and visit PoliticsHome.com for breaking political news and views throughout the day.