9.45pm The News of the World is connecting the General Secretary of the Labour Party with Damian McBride's smeargate operation
9pm ToryDiary: BPIX gives Tories 19% lead
8pm ToryDiary: 17% lead for Conservatives in first post-McBride poll
5.45pm Tim Montgomerie on CentreRight: Brown humiliated in grassroots Labour poll
5.45pm WATCH: Former Labour MP Alice Mahon quits party
4.30pm ToryDiary: Eddie George has died
4pm ToryDiary: Theme of Spring Forum will be 'Routemap to Recovery'
10am WATCH: Greg Clark and George Osborne explain Tory plans to make Britain a global green leader
ToryDiary: Sir Malcolm Rifkind makes the case against his own hope for a nuclear free world
Seats and candidates: Ann Widdecombe deserves a seat in the House of Lords
James Cleverly on Platform: Cutting the budget for the armed forces reserves is short-sighted and cowardly
Dr Crippen on CentreRight: Must we threaten our children to improve their health?
Labour attack Tories for adding defence and schools to possible candidates for spending cuts – Independent | The Sun
New Tory green initiative on development
"Developers should be
able to offset the damage of building over wildlife by buying up areas
of countryside or "conservation credits" elsewhere, according to the
Tory leader." – Telegraph
> Yesterday's ToryDiary: Nick Herbert to investigate practicalities of charging housebuilders to invest in compensatory environmental protection
Ed Miliband plans clean coal scheme worth millions – Guardian
Young people need jobs and homes before they commit to marriage – David Willetts in The Times
Police who arrested Damian Green trawled his private e-mails looking for information on Shami Chakrabarti – Times
"The
villain is now Damian McBride. Mr Green thinks that the comparison
between the two cases is revealing. “There is a huge contrast between
the amount of effort put into investigating and arresting me and the
very cursory investigation of what Damian McBride was doing, and I
think people should reflect on that contrast.”" – Damian Green in The Times
'It was like being burgled': Wife of MP Damian Green tells of the day anti-terror police raided her home – Daily Mail
Jacqui Smith should resign – FT leader
"Last night the Tories said Ms Smith is “running scared” if she does
not make a Commons statement. Shadow home secretary Chris Grayling said
that the past few weeks had been a “chapter of chaos” in the Home
Office. He added: “Jacqui Smith should be making a wide-ranging
statement so MPs can question her about everything that’s going wrong.
If she doesn’t she’s running scared.”" – The Sun
Day 8 of Smear-gate
""If the Conservatives get into power at the next election they will owe as much to Guido as anyone in Conservative Central Office. But once they are in power, they'd better expect to get just as rough a ride from him as their predecessors." – Matthew Elliott of The TaxPayers' Alliance, quoted in a Telegraph profile of Guido Fawkes
"Labour's anti-women smear campaign has now backfired. Voters don't like to see women attacked. As a result, the profile of Nadine Dorries has been enhanced, making it more likely she will get a top job in any Tory government." – Amanda Platell in the Daily Mail
"Mr Brown, for all the faults exposed this week, might well hold the upper hand over David Cameron in a straight choice on the economy. But it will be harder now to portray Mr Cameron and George Osborne as inexperienced, short-term tacticians with no long-term strategy who treat politics as a game, as Labour had intended. Instead, Downing Street had to admit Mr McBride had resorted to "juvenile" tactics, making Mr Cameron look more substantial and Mr Brown the grubby tactician." – Andrew Grice in The Independent
David Cameron, in his weekly email, calls it 'A defining week in the history of this Government'.
Labour abandons parliamentary selection after ballot box appears tampered with – BBC
Gordon Brown Disappearing Initiatives – Matthew Parris reviews Labour's now-you-see-it-now-you-don't approach to policy announcement, The Times
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