10pm ToryDiary: The defections have started
6.30pm ToryDiary: Labour slump to 25% but voters unsure of Tories on economy
4.30pm Seats and candidates: Victoria Ayling adopted for Great Grimsby
4.15pm Statement: Liberaltarianism
4.15pm WATCH: House Republican Leader John Boehner says not one Congressman has read the 1,100 page, $787bn stimulus
12.15pm ToryDiary: Tory members sceptical about Boris’ Prime Ministerial prospects
11.45am AmericaInTheWorld: Final US stimulus bill retains ‘buy American’ language
ToryDiary: Ken Clarke gets high rating in shadow cabinet league table
Steve Barclay on Platform: Financial Regulation – enforcement not new policy should be the way forward
Local government: Most Scottish Councils freeze Council Tax
On CentreRight:
Seats and candidates: Search for 100 peers: Sir Robert Balchin
WATCH:
Prime Minister Gordon Brown has ordered a review of MPs’ pensions – BBC
CCHQ statement: "We are pleased that the Prime Minister has finally caught up with the importance of this issue. However on the specific matter of final salary schemes what is needed is a decision – not another review. David Cameron has been saying for many months that final salary schemes must end."
"The country’s top civil servants are to waive their bonuses this year to try and show solidarity with those suffering in the recession" – Telegraph
Lloyds Banking Group rocked by shock losses in HBOS
"George Osborne, the Shadow Chancellor, suggested that the cash pumped in for the first bailout in October was “all but wiped out” by these losses. He said: “HBOS bankers like James Crosby bear a heavy responsibility, but so too does his ally Gordon Brown who created the system of bank regulation that allowed this reckless risk-taking to run amok.”" – Times
Labour Cabinet divided on bank bonuses – Andrew Grice in The Independent
David Cameron’s empty homes initiative
"Mr Cameron urged new “special temporary arrangements” to put thousands of empty homes into use. These could include the suspension of rules which mean all dwellings must meet sustainability and design codes. The Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors backed the drift of the proposals, saying ministers should introduce incentives such as a cut in VAT on the renovation and repair of buildings." – FT
> Yesterday’s ToryDiary: David Cameron wants those without homes to be offered empty homes
Damian Green still has two months to wait until leak inquiry concludes – Scotsman
Babyfather’s local MP Nigel Waterson says case raises questions about oversexualisation of society – Guardian
"We’ve got to restore the value of responsibility, so that instead of just teaching sex education, we teach children about relationships too — and make sure they understand that actions have consequences." – David Cameron writing in The Sun
Amanda Platell in The Daily Mail blames establishment values, defined as: "Marriage and the nuclear family are dead, commitment is irrelevant, individual responsibility counts for nothing, the State will always pick up the tab and the only sin is to be judgmental."
> Yesterday’s ToryDiary: IDS blames "collapse of right and wrong" for the babyfather
And finally…
"Oliver Letwin, the Conservative MP, told me a story about a meeting at Rothschild’s when the board was given a pitch about some new kind of bonds. As the members couldn’t understand how they worked, they decided against buying them. I suppose it’s all about having the confidence to say that you don’t understand. One friend with experience of the City said I should ask anyone who affects to understand the crisis what this statement means: "I use CFDs in my SIVs to buy CDIs in the CDS market". Yes, yes, not all at once." – Martha Kearney in the FT
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