6pm Robert Halfon MP on Comment: An everyday story of Apple Folk - "Of course the company wanted to recover its loss product, and have every right to do so, but allegedly impersonating police officers, and behaving in such an authoritarian manner begs the question: has the Big Apple become Big Brother?"
5.30pm ThinkTankCentral: The Institute of Economic Affairs argues the profit motive drives up standards in schools
5pm Gazette: Guy Opperman MP marks his return to good health after a brain tumour with a 70 mile Hadrian's Wall walk
4.15pm International: Australian Labor steps into its environmentally-friendly electoral coffin
3.30pm WATCH: Nick Herbert MP: Scottish Conservative re-branding is "a perfectly reasonable debate to have"
3pm Bill Cash MP on Comment: It's the EU, stupid – The UK should take the lead in renegotiating all the European Treaties
2pm ThinkTankCentral: Policy Exchange: How Muslims fought for Britain in the past, and how more can do so in future
1pm Local government: Would Clegg ban free schools in Sheffield Hallam?
12.45pm WATCH: Nick Clegg: Free schools will promote "higher standards, better integration, and fairer chances"
11.45am ConHomeUSA: Four reasons why Mitt Romney's new strategy of attacking Perry as a "career politician" won't work, and the rest of today's top Republican and American political news
11am ToryDiary: Electricity, gas and petrol prices outstrip the NHS, unemployment, cuts, crime, and tuition fees, as voters' top concern
10am Parliament: Parliament returns for a busy fortnight before conference season
ToryDiary: We should stop fighting major wars outside the European theatre
Stewart Jackson MP on Comment: Pragmatism and consensus is the lifeblood of this Coalition – but do Conservatives really want Liberal Democrat activists to have a veto even on matters of conscience?
Also on Comment – John Lamont MSP: Why I’m backing Ruth Davidson for Scottish Conservative leader
Local government: Taxpayers Alliance start street campaigns against Pilgrims
Families of truants to lose child benefits in crackdown to stop children skipping lessons
"Parents who allow their children to play truant will have their child benefit payments slashed. The crackdown has been unveiled by David Cameron to stop children skipping lessons. … He is understood to have asked the Government’s adviser on discipline in schools, former head teacher Charlie Taylor, to lead a review by a team of experts into ways of cutting truancy – including withdrawing child benefit." – Daily Mail
> Yesterday on ToryDiary: Cameron promises to turbo charge economic and family policy, and is said to be considering benefit cuts for bad parents
George Osborne and Eric Pickles: "No one should underestimate our determination to win" planning reform "battle"
"Planning reform is key to our economic recovery. Opponents claim, falsely, the government is putting the countryside in peril. We say that sticking with the old, failed planning system puts at risk young people’s future prosperity and quality of life. No one should underestimate our determination to win this battle. We will fight for jobs, prosperity and the right protection for our countryside. … Today, planning delays cost the economy £3bn a year. It is twice as expensive to get planning permission in London’s West End as in Paris, and 10 times more than in Brussels." – George Osborne and Eric Pickles writing in the FT (£)
> Yesterday on Comment – John Howell MP: The Government's planning framework will promote sustainable growth, protect the environment and hand power back to local people
Government advisor says environment policy reforms will add £300 to energy bills - Daily Telegraph
Liam Fox backs independent abortion counselling amendment
"The Defence Minister, Liam Fox, has thrown his weight behind a bid to change the law on counselling for women considering a termination, saying yesterday he would support efforts to reduce the "far too high" number of abortions. Amid tensions within the Coalition over the amendment, Dr Fox said he would back anything that made people "think twice". … Dr Fox, a former GP, said: "I would certainly want to support any amendments that saw the number of abortions fall in the UK."" – Independent
Michael Gove wants ex-spies to root out fanatics in the classroom
"Ministers are understood to be so worried about the influence of Muslim preachers of hate and other extremists in the classrooms that a new unit has been set up. They have recruited former members of the secret service with expertise in the Islamist terrorist threat to investigate. Mr Gove is concerned that comprehensive schools and the Government’s new generation of “free schools” may be targeted by extremists." – Daily Express
Scottish papers offer endorsement of Murdo Fraser's new Scottish party plan
"Open discussion of this radical proposal is therefore to be warmly welcomed. There are certainly many within the party who feel it cannot be a credible voice in Scotland unless it is independent from the UK party and develops its own distinctive voice and persona." - Scotsman editorial
"Scotland does need a credible centre right political party; without such a party we are always going to have a democratic deficit. Already, facile commentators in the London media are suggesting that Murdo Fraser is trying to dupe Scottish voters. He is doing nothing of the sort. Scottish voters are not fools. He is responding to the momentum of events and at the same time taking a huge personal risk to build sensibly and responsibly upon that momentum. I for one wish him well." – Harry Reid, in the Herald
> From yesterday:
Graeme Archer: A new party in Scotland is worth a try
"That we are closer than ever to a separation by default, because Scottish centre-Right voters drifted into supporting anti-British nationalists, underlines the importance of what is at stake here. I don’t know if regeneration into a new centre-Right party will be enough to free Toryism of the “not Scottish” image it gained when Labour’s hegemony was at its strongest. But I don’t know what else might work. It has to be worth a try." – Graeme Archer, in the Daily Telegraph
Nigel Lawson: Time to tell the EU "enough is enough"
"The time has clearly come to say enough is enough. The present mess is bad enough. We cannot afford to allow any continuation of the circumstances that led to the grotesque irresponsibility that produced it. To be precise, the notion that “more Europe” must always be promoted, that there is no acceptable end to the process of integration short of a full-blown United States of Europe, and that the watchword must always be that of “ever closer union” has to be explicitly abandoned. … The present British Government, as it surveys the wreckage of the eurozone, has a golden opportunity to promote this." – Nigel Lawson, in the Times (£)
German company involved in talks to take over NHS hospitals – Guardian
Lib Dems warn NHS reform battles are not yet over
"Liberal Democrats are preparing to escalate their row with the Conservatives over health service reform this week with activists warning that the Tories want “fragmentation and privatisation of the NHS”. The group will put forward an “emergency motion” for their party’s autumn conference, warning of Tory intentions." – The Times (£)
MPs threaten rebellion over new electoral boundaries
"The Boundary Commission's initial proposals for England, Scotland and Northern Ireland, which are due to be published next week, will be a matter of political life and death for Westminster's politicians – many of whom only arrived at the Commons last year. The planned overhaul has left MPs of all parties anxious and apprehensive." - Independent
Alistair Darling: I failed to oust Gordon Brown
"The former Chancellor, who is publishing his memoir of the last Labour government this week, admitted he should have “done something” to bring down what he describes as a “brutal regime”. But he confessed that secret talks with David Miliband about a coup to “get rid” of Mr Brown came to nothing." – Daily Express
> Yesterday on LeftWatch: No wonder he's the Tories' secret weapon; Voters' confidence in Ed Balls is low and sinking
Tony Blair is godfather to Rupert Murdoch’s daughter - Daily Telegraph
Ed Miliband wants to change the Labour constitution
"Aides say he believes the current statement as set out in the party's constitution – "to organise and maintain in parliament and in the country a political Labour party" – suggests the party's objective is simply to maintain elected office. Now, in a document that has been sent to Labour's ruling national executive committee (NEC), the leadership is proposing a new clause I to reflect a party as welcoming to "members and supporters alike" – making formal its desire to be attractive to a far greater range of people." – Guardian
Merkel knocked by election blow – City AM
And finally… Boris Johnson imagines Gaddafi's state of mind
"Gaddafi groans behind his dark glasses, pouring some hot sauce on the falafel. No wonder they talk about perfidious Albion, he mutters, and you can see why. It was only a few years ago that Tony Blair himself came out to his tent, almost snogged the Mad Dog, and proclaimed a new era of cooperation between Britain and Libya." – Boris Johnson, in the Daily Telegraph
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