6.45pm ToryDiary: Pauline Neville-Jones resigns. Angela Browning replaces her. Will Downing Street deliver on the Munich speech?
5.15pm ToryDiary: Annabel Goldie to step down
3.45pm Andrew Lilico on Comment: Do the Liberal Democrats really want to stick to the letter of the Coalition Agreement?
3.45pm ToryDiary: Preview of tonight's Channel 4 documentary on one year of the Coalition
2pm Local government: Greens to form first Council administration
12.30pm Parliament: The time spent in prison by people sentenced to a life term has increased "considerably" over the last 30 years
11am Martin Sewell on Comment: The Twitter controversy is about a much more fundamental issue than Celebrity Privacy
ToryDiary: If the Coalition doesn't reform the NHS it will never get control of its budget
Lord Risby on Comment: Pakistan needs tough love
Seats and Candidates: What would the Scottish Tories be like today if Liam Fox, Michael Gove and Malcolm Rifkind had had to find a seat north of the border?
ThinkTankCentral: The gap between public and private sector wages is growing says Policy Exchange
Yesterday from Tim Montgomerie: THE INSIDE STORY OF THE AV CAMPAIGN
Andrew Lansley to be humiliated to please Clegg
"David Cameron and Nick Clegg are preparing to make the humiliation of Andrew Lansley the price of glueing the coalition back together after the rancour caused by the AV referendum. The Health Secretary may yet see his entire reform package junked, as both Downing Street and the Deputy Prime Minister make clear the “nuclear” option remains on the table. Mr Clegg said yesterday that he would withdraw Liberal Democrat support for the Health Bill if it could not be dramatically improved, while a Downing Street source said: “Mr Cameron has not ruled out junking the plans entirely.”" – The Times (£)
"David Cameron and Nick Clegg have agreed changes to the government's NHS reforms, allowing the deputy prime minister to launch a ferocious attack on Sunday on the original plans as a "disruptive revolution". As the Royal College of GPs calls for a radical overhaul of plans to hand 60% of the NHS budget to new GP-led consortiums, Tory sources indicated that the Cameron-Clegg negotiations have left Andrew Lansley an isolated figure in the government's "listening exercise"." – The Guardian
"Nick Clegg has vowed to veto the health bill unless GPs are no longer forced to take on responsibility for commissioning care. This proposal is winning favour in Downing Street and would slam the brakes on the pace of reform." – Financial Times (£)
George Osborne doesn't rule out Portuguese bailout…
"George Osborne has failed to rule out Britain riding to the rescue of Greece – suggesting taxpayers may have to fund another multi-billion pound bailout for the bankrupt EU nation." - Daily Mail
…but does rule out Greek bailout
"A year ago Greece accepted a 110bn euro ($136bn; £94bn) loan to finance its huge deficit. "We certainly don't want to be part of any bailout of Greece, a second bailout of Greece," Mr Osborne told the BBC." - BBC
> On yesterday's ToryDiary, other aspects of the George Osborne interview
NO European Union flag will fly over Downing Street… but it will fly over Vince Cable's department
"Downing Street will defy the European Union’s wishes today by refusing to fly its flag on Europe Day. The decision highlights a split within the Coalition on how to mark May 9, which has been celebrated across the EU since 1985. The Foreign Office will not fly the 12-star EU flag and George Osborne’s Treasury will also stick to the union flag. Lib Dem Business Secretary Vince Cable will, however, hoist the blue and gold banner over his offices in Westminster. Number 10 is one of the main government buildings rejecting Brussels’ wishes to see the EU flag flown across the entire bloc. The flags of the four nations of the UK are flown on the relevant saint’s days but David Cameron government has ended Labour’s practice of flying Europe’s banner over Number 10 on set days." - Daily Mail
"Time for David Cameron to unleash forces of Conservatism" – Leo McKinstry in the Daily Express
Plan to curb immigrants’ family visits
"David Cameron wants to place further restrictions on the rights of overseas relatives of immigrants from visiting the UK, thrusting immigration once again to the forefront of coalition tensions. The Prime Minister is examining the case for changing the definition of “family members” who are allowed to apply for temporary visas to visit relations in Britain." - The Times (£)
"Cameron savours double helping of luck" – Bruce Anderson in the Financial Times (£)
Lib Dems press PM to lift cap on aides
"David Cameron is coming under renewed pressure from Nick Clegg’s team to lift restrictions on hiring “special advisers”, amid concern that Liberal Democrat ministers lack sufficient political support. A cap on the employment of political aides, included in the coalition agreement, has been a long-running point of contention for junior Lib Dem ministers who feel that they have been denied the resources to do their jobs in the coalition." – Financial Times (£)
Coalition in brief:
Senior Scottish Tory donor urges Goldie to resign
"John McGlynn, a self-made millionaire and ally of Conservative MSP Jackson Carlaw, said that Goldie should “do the decent thing and resign” following another election “disaster”. He added that Goldie was presiding over the “slow and painful death” of Scottish Tories. The number of Tory MSPs last week shrank from 17 to 15 after another disappointing showing for the party, while their vote share also fell." – The Herald
"Only a real game-changer can reverse Tory entrenchment"
"Cameron's Tories are now hugely powerful. They say they don't want an early election, though they'd probably win it hands down. If the Lib Dems push them too far, I still think they might engineer an early poll, crying all the way to the winning post. But if the coalition does keep together for four more years, then that's four more years of Lib Dem withering and four more years to gather a treasure chest to reward Tory voters. If you think the arguments around the cabinet table over AV were bad, just wait till George Osborne reveals his plan for "the proceeds of growth". Different sets of voters to bribe." – Jackie Ashley in the Guardian
David Willetts writes about the Coalition
"The Coalition is applying their principles today as we draw on the best of our two manifestos. It is striking how, for example, both of us fought the last election committed to getting rid of ID cards and the intrusive database state criminalising citizens for minor offences. We both want to cut back on regulation. Both parties believe in improving social mobility by spreading opportunity with a focus on high quality teaching in our schools, colleges and universities. This agenda is shared, so it would be a mistake to get into a game of identifying Liberal measures and Tory ones in a perpetual trade-off. That is bad for government as it invites ministers to distance themselves from specific decisions. And, incidentally, it enables people to caricature Conservatives as not believing in social progress just when David Cameron has got people to shed this misapprehension about us." – in the Daily Telegraph
"The public remain true to their longest-held tradition: common sense"
"Which brings us to the Liberal Democrats, who insisted on Thursday's referendum as a condition for joining David Cameron's coalition government one year ago. The perennial bridesmaids of British politics, the Lib Dems are probably correct that their chances would have improved under a system rewarding the second-prettiest girl in the room. But with the drubbing they have now sustained, both in the referendum and in local elections, the only wonder is why Party Leader Nick Clegg hasn't resigned. Perhaps he isn't such a bridesmaid after all. For most everyone else, the result of the referendum has spared them new unknowns and increased odds of arbitrary or gamed outcomes. It's a vote that proves that the British public remain true to their longest-held tradition: common sense." – Wall Street Journal editorial
Coming up to one year of coalition
"Until now, Mr Clegg has believed that policy disagreements were best resolved in private and that vocal opposition – as practised by the Free Democrats in the Berlin coalition government – simply makes the smaller party look detached from the government. “We have to own everything the coalition does,” Mr Clegg has said. But he is haunted by history: the last time the Liberals went into coalition with the Tories, in the 1930s, the party ended up split in two. A change of approach was inevitable after the convulsions of May 5. But one constant remains: the best exit strategy for both Liberal Democrats and the Conservatives is to make the coalition work. Mr Clegg and Mr Cameron are condemned to succeed." – George Parker in the Financial Times (£)
Blairites question Ed Miliband's Scottish and Southern strategies
"A shadow minister, who supported David Miliband for the leadership, said: "It was a disappointing performance in the South. Ed Miliband is making progress, but he undeniably is still very much a work in progress." Mr Miliband suffered a rebuff yesterday when the Scottish Labour Party said it wanted to conduct its review of what went wrong in the elections free of interference from the London leadership. Labour lost every seat visited by Mr Miliband during the election campaign to the Scottish Nationalists." – The Independent
Welsh Labour yet to form a government
"…as yet, there is no clear sign if Labour will try to govern alone or enter some form of agreement with another party. Carwyn Jones should be confirmed as first minister by the end of the week. But who will serve in his government is a question yet to be answered. Labour strategists are keeping all avenues open: These include serving as a minority government, forming a formal coalition or an informal arrangement with another party. The party's election campaign manager, Pontypridd MP Owen Smith, said all options were available to them although he admitted a partnership with the Liberal Democrats might be "difficult"." – BBC