4.15pm Local government: Council byelection results from yesterday
3.30pm JP Floru on Comment: f.a.o. George Osborne: Hong Kong’s HK $71.3 billion budget surplus
3pm LeftWatch: Media reaction to Ed Miliband's Shadow Cabinet reshuffle
1.45pm MPsETC: Should Tom Watson (and Michael Fallon) be allowed to stay on a Select Committee?
12.45pm Local government: Hilary Benn is the new Shadow Communities Secretary
12.30pm LeftWatch: Ed Miliband's new shadow cabinet possesses youth, street-fighters and THIRTY-ONE members
Noon ToryDiary: Another Liberal Conservative joins 10 Downing Street
Noon ConHomeUSA: Today's top Republican and American political news
11.30am MPsETC: Cameron doesn't rule out fat tax as Tory peer says obesity crisis could destroy NHS
11am See bottom-of-post update to this ToryDiary on Osborne's new doctrine on climate change
ToryDiary: Ideas to win the next election
Liz Truss MP on Comment notes that Labour's policies halved the number of childminders and almost doubled childcare costs: We need a childcare revolution
Lord Ashcroft on Comment: From Kylie Minogue to a new £35m complex; why these are such exciting times at my university
LeftWatch: What's the Labour leader's biggest weakness? Is it the Red Ed or Odd Ed factor?
Local government: Boris launches Olympics poetry competition
WATCH: Liam Fox attacks "wild allegations" of improper business relationship with close friend
Three more senior writers follow up on ConservativeHome's story on party members being excluded from expensive party conference
> Yesterday's ToryDiary: This was a party conference without party members
Iain Duncan Smith finds £300 million extra for childcare
"Work and Pensions Secretary Iain Duncan Smith said: "We are determined to help more parents take their first steps into work, but under the current minimum hours rule parents are trapped in state dependency without the childcare support they badly need – providing yet another barrier to work."" – BBC
Much scepticism on Right about Quantitative Easing
Justice Secretary unlikely to survive next reshuffle as No 10 backs Home Secretary in fall out over Human Rights Act – Guardian
"The Justice Secretary said that he regretted using “colourful language” as he tried to draw a line under their dispute over the Human Rights Act. But he stopped short of apologising after he had accused Theresa May of making “laughable and childlike comments” about immigration law." – Times (£)
"Allowing a senior minister repeatedly to trash another in public sends a disastrous signal that can only undermine the esprit de corps that is essential to any successful government. Clarke should be sacked today." – Express leader
David Cameron's green Tory agenda fades after Osborne's call for 'realism' – Extended Guardian report on environmental groups' disappointment with Cameron's climate change agenda.
> Yesterday's ToryDiary: Osborne puts Cameron's huskies on to a tight leash
Employers and union leaders are increasingly optimistic that they can agree a deal to reform the pension plans of thousands of local government workers – Independent
Liam Fox has ordered an investigation into accusations that he endangered national security by providing a friend with access to the Ministry of Defence – Times (£)
Tory MPs should have a free vote on gay marriage, says defence minister Gerald Howarth – Telegraph
"More Mr Nice Guy"
The Economist on Cameron's determination to present a one nation conservatism: "Tory modernisers want to finish what they started in 2005, when Mr Cameron took over. How to convey compassion without spending cash is the conundrum for modern Conservatives—but Mr Cameron had a go. He said his schools policy (a mix of market-based ideas and tougher discipline) was better for poor children than “liberal-left” orthodoxy. He presented his welfare reforms as salvation not punishment for the chronically unemployed. He defended his decision to exempt not only health care but also foreign aid from cuts, and announced his support for gay marriage and easier adoption rules. The intervention in Libya was invoked as an act of moral, not just strategic, leadership. He wanted to show that Tory motives are high-minded, and that the coalition’s good works are not delegated to the Lib Dems."
Why isn't Number 10 working?
"Everyone has a favourite theory – they miss Andy Coulson; they need a Jonathan Powell; Craig Dre and Gabby B are at daggers drawn; George Osborne is too busy with his day job; the policy unit is run by Jeremy Heywood, not by a political appointee; policy is being set by focus group." – Benedict Brogan in The Telegraph
David McLetchie backs Murdo Fraser for Scottish Tory leader – Telegraph
Tory peer, Lord McColl, tells British fatties to 'just eat less' – The Sun
Sam Bowman: The Conservative Party isn't libertarian
"On issues like sound money, the NHS (“the most precious institution in our country”, according to the PM), bank bailouts, farm subsidies, personal freedoms, localism, economic regulation, migration, foreign interventionism, drugs, defence, corporate welfare, and others, the leadership and/or membership of all of the UK's mainstream parties are set against even moderate libertarian stances." – Sam Bowman on the ASI blog
LibDemVoice survey finds that support for Cable rising among activists and falling for Huhne – Independent
John Denham and John Healey are to leave the shadow cabinet as part of Ed Miliband's reshuffle – BBC
Scotland's top civil servant has come under fire in the House of Lords, with peers claiming he has abandoned impartiality to help to advise the SNP on breaking up the United Kingdom – Scotsman
Poland's electoral choice shows the country’s political maturity – FT leader (£)
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