9.45pm ToryDiary: Tory peer facing possible police investigation over housing claims
9.30pm Benedict Rogers on CentreRight: We must promote diversity and protect tradition – if we undermine one, we limit the other
7.45pm WATCH: During a visit to Kabul, David Cameron says it is unlikely that British troops will start withdrawing from Afghanistan next year
7pm ToryDiary: ICM confirms trimming of Tory lead, whilst YouGov has Tory lead back at 13%
6.30pm Seats and Candidates: Gagan Mohindra selected for North Tyneside
3.45pm Seats and Candidates: Andrew Morgan selected for Carmarthen East and Dinfewr
2pm International: Australia's new Liberal leader easily passes first elections test
11.15am Bob Seely on CentreRight: David Cameron has said two important things in relation to Afghanistan this week
10.45am Jonathan Isaby on CentreRight: For Quentin Letts, the Speaker and his wife can do nothing right
ToryDiary: David Cameron promises to double allowance for soldiers returning from Afghanistan
Robert Leitch on Platform: Politicans cannot cure clinical depression – but they must tackle its underlying causes
Seats and Candidates: Nominations open in three more safe seats
Local Government: Green councillors propose meat ban at Hackney Town Hall
International: Today is "No Berlusconi Day"
A Cameron Government would recognise marriage, party insists
"David Cameron’s key commitment to giving married couples tax breaks will not be an early priority for a Conservative Government but will be pushed back to the end of the next parliament because of the need to cut Britain’s debt, The Herald has been told… Last night, a Conservative Party spokesman hit back, insisting: “We have made a commitment to recognise marriage in the tax system. Nothing has changed.” – The Herald
Labour's class war set to continue
"The first time Mr Brown mentioned Mr Cameron’s Eton education – four years ago – it bombed, even though his audience was Labour’s annual conference. On Wednesday, Labour MPs loved it. Labour got its fingers badly burnt when it ran a “Tory toffs” campaign in last year’s Crewe and Nantwich by-election. Yet now it plays the same hand. The crucial difference is that Labour is playing the ball, not the man, by linking the class attack to policy, not personality. That is why Mr Brown mentioned Eton in the same sentence as inheritance tax." – Andrew Grice in The Independent
"This week, class politics rose from the grave as Gordon Brown depicted a Tory inheritance tax policy “dreamed up on the playing fields of Eton”… Labour will focus on this policy “morning, noon and night until the general election”, a Downing Street official said." – Tom Baldwin in The Times
"A successful party promises opportunity and hope. That is why Labour, led by a public scho
olboy, won so big in 1997. An unsuccessful party plays on division and fear. The current, desperate Labour strategy is not to inspire new voters, but to shore up old ones." – Charles Moore in the Daily Telegraph
Conservatives hiding their public school past
"Only three of the 17 Tory ministers who went to private school disclose their educational backgrounds in their official biographies. However, 14 of the 15 shadow ministers who attended a comprehensive or grammar school prominently boast of the fact." – Daily Telegraph
> Yesterday's ToryDiary: It's game, set and croquet match to Eric Pickles in his clash with John Prescott
Own your own wind turbine under Tory energy plans
"Residents who allow wind farms to be built in their area would be given ownership of individual turbines and the profits from them under Conservative energy plans… Greg Clark, the shadow energy secretary, told the Daily Telegraph, people should be given more incentives to adopt low-carbon technologies… Mr Clark said he wants to apply rules similar to those in place in Denmark, where wind farm generators have to give a share of any new turbine site. In many cases, that would give locals ownership of an entire turbine and its revenues, he said." – Daily Telegraph
Osborne "in listening mode" on capital gains tax
"Alistair Darling is looking at raising capital gains tax in next year’s Budget, in an attempt to close the yawning gap between the 18 per cent CGT rate and the new 50p top rate of income tax for high earners… George Osborne, shadow chancellor, is said to be in “listening mode” as to whether business wants him to reopen the structure of capital gains tax. The 2006 Conservative Tax Reform Commission proposed aligning CGT with income tax rates, tapering to zero over 10 years." – FT
Caroline Dinenage picked to succeed Sir Peter Viggers
"The successor to one of the Tory MPs at the heart of the parliamentary expenses scandal was announced today. Caroline Dinenage topped an open ballot to become the party's candidate in Gosport, replacing former minister Sir Peter Viggers… Dinenage – a businesswoman and daughter of TV presenter Fred Dinenage – polled 4,892 of the 12,659 votes cast, with her closest challenger James Bethell receiving 2,965." – The Guardian
> Yesterday in Seats and Candidates: Caroline Dinenage wins Gosport ballot
Scottish business leaders see red over Tory rail link rejection
"Business leaders in Scotland have fallen out publicly with their political allies in the Scottish Tory party following the Conservatives’ decision to vote against the Glasgow Airport rail link. The Tories decided to side with the SNP Government against reinstating the £170 million link, known as GARL, into the coming year’s draft budget when it was voted on at the Holyrood finance committee." – The Times
Boris considers car-free days to fight pollution
"Boris Johnson may introduce temporary bans on cars and trucks on some of the city’s busiest roads during days when air pollution is at its most dangerous level." – Bloomberg
> Yesterday's ToryDiary: Boris may have to choose between car-free London (for a few days) and a £300m EU fine
Retiring Sir Patrick Cormack laments loss of parliamentary traditions
"The Speaker of the Commons has ditched his stockings, MPs tap messages into mobile phones while colleagues are speaking and the waving of order papers has been replaced, on occasion, by a very unparliamentary round of applause. To some, it may look like long overdue modernisation of the House of Commons. But retiring MP Sir Patrick Cormack says the loss of Parliament’s traditions and courtesies helped prompt his decision to quit." – Birmingham Post
> Tuesday's Seats and Candidates post: Sir Patrick Cormack to stand down at the general election
Teaching unions attack Conservative incentives to teach as elitist – Daily Telegraph
Lobbyists feature among the Conservative Party's top donors – PR Week
Peter Luff warns against repeating Labour's 1992 mistakes – ePolitix.com
The past comes back t
o haunt John Bercow – and his other half – The Independent
Gordon Brown attacks 'flat-earth' climate change sceptics – Guardian
Please use this thread to highlight other interesting news and commentary and visit PoliticsHome.com for breaking political news and views throughout the day.