8pm ToryDiary: Tory MP Patrick Mercer reported to have called David Cameron an "arse" and a "despicable creature"… but he strongly denies it
7.30pm WATCH: Philip Hammond: Army cuts memo "was written by a junior Army officer and, frankly, is incorrect"
5pm MPsETC: British and Spanish conservatives unite to condemn FIFA's attempt at a poppy ban
2.45pm Tim Montgomerie on Comment: Brown's boast to have abolished boom and bust encapsulates a decade of political over-reach
2pm ConHomeUSA: Today's top Republican and American political news
Noon MPsETC: European Conservatives and Reformists are in good heart
10.30am Local Government: Conservative councillor defects to UKIP
ToryDiary: The largest state under Queen Elizabeth and the smallest army since Queen Victoria
Andrew Lilico on our Columnists' page: A disorderly collapse of the €uro would probably shrink the UK economy by 10%. Here's a plan to avoid it.
Robert Thomas on Comment: The academic and vocational paths to success must both begin in schools
MPsETC: The humour of Chris Heaton-Harris MP
Local Government: Stifling free speech in East Riding
WATCH: European Commission President Barroso: The solution to the European crisis is more integration
Wounded soldiers face sack under new Army redundancy plans
"A classified document, seen by The Daily Telegraph, says 2,500 wounded soldiers, including 350 who have lost limbs, will not be exempt from the extensive cuts. The internal memo, sent to senior commanders in Afghanistan, also discloses that 16,500 personnel will be made redundant by April 2015 – more than double the number originally proposed. Any decision to sack wounded soldiers is likely to prove highly controversial." - Daily Telegraph | FT (£)
Homes for heroes: Grant Shapps "promises to end scandal of homeless war veterans"
"Housing minister Grant Shapps will issue new guidance to local authorities to put retiring servicemen automatically into the highest priority category for a council house after the homeless. He will call on them to ‘positively discriminate’ in favour of former soldiers, sailors and airmen where tough decisions have to be taken. Anyone leaving the forces will also go to the top of the list for help through the Government’s FirstBuy scheme, which helps the less well-off buy a house with small deposits." - Daily Mail
Cameron warns the Eurozone crisis will hit Britain hard, and Osborne calls the situation abroad "dangerous"
"Britain's economy will be hit hard by further turmoil in the eurozone, David Cameron has warned … The prime minister insisted a "big question mark" remains over the future of the single currency… George Osborne, the chancellor, described events on the continent as "dangerous", adding: "There's no doubt that growth in Britain, jobs in Britain, have been hit by what's going on in the eurozone."" – Guardian
Cameron says he will stop £500million bonuses at RBS
"Mr Cameron told BBC Radio 2’s Jeremy Vine Show he would not give the green light to a bonus fund of £500million. ‘That is not the agreed figure,’ he said. ‘The British Government is a major shareholder in RBS. That is a proposal I have read about in the newspapers, that’s not agreed. We have a very big influence over it. We can stop the £500million, absolutely.’" - Daily Mail
George Osborne faces backbench rebellion over fuel duty
"The rebellion will come to a head in a debate next week when Tory MPs will demand action to bring down the cost of petrol and diesel. More than 100 MPs of all parties have signed a Commons motion protesting that prices at the pumps are "causing immense difficulties for small and medium-sized enterprises vital to our economic recovery"." - Independent
Cameron and Clegg fail to agree growth measures
"…a meeting between the coalition’s power-brokers, including Mr Cameron and Mr Clegg, broke up on Thursday having failed to agree measures to encourage recruitment, including incentives for employers who hire young people. The Conservatives are pressing for companies to be given greater freedoms to dismiss staff, as an inducement to hire them, with the Liberal Democrats arguing that such a move would further freeze high street spending as people worry about job security." - The Times (£)
Patrick O'Flynn: Tory High Command tries to build bionic man Cameron
"After the crash-landing of last month’s Conservative EU rebellion, a… rebuilding operation is under way on David Cameron. On immigration… Mr Cameron is sounding like a real Tory these days. Annoyingly for his rebuilding team, Theresa May’s difficulty over border checks has temporarily clouded the issue. But it did at least give the Prime Minister the opportunity to lambast Labour’s record in the Commons this week."- Daily Express
Tim Montgomerie: Capitalism needs moderating cultural forces
"The Catholic theologian Michael Novak said every nation has an economy, a democratic government and a moral culture sphere – … the "big society" … the parts of life not controlled by commerce or government – and it has shrivelled in the west. We have entered a vicious cycle where both government and capitalism have eaten into the culture's ability to be a countervailing and moderating force. … Liberal capitalism requires social conservatism. It needs the virtue-generating institutions or there'll be no thrift, no duty, no honesty, no Protestant work ethic." – Tim Montgomerie for the Guardian
The Financial Times' interview with Francis Maude: "We're willing to accommodate some kind of token [strike] action"
"The government has offered public sector unions a peace deal over their planned day of national protest on November 30: strike for a token 15 minutes and we will not dock your pay. But Francis Maude, one half of the government’s two-man negotiating team, has warned the unions that unless they engaged seriously with the government’s latest “big and generous” offer on pensions, they could face fresh legislation curbing future strikes." – FT (£)
"At a time when the country is facing the current economic climate, for us to be thinking about putting £100 million … into party political funding is wrong. I think people would be appalled by it. They would say, ‘That is not what I pay my taxes for’." – Sayeeda Warsi interview in the Times (£)
Commons Environmental Audit Committee calls Coalition planning reforms "contradictory and confusing"
"In a highly critical report, members of the House of Commons Environmental Audit Committee backed concerns… that the changes could prompt a rash of unsustainable building across the country. … The committee has now written to David Cameron urging him to reconsider the "unsatisfactory" wording of the framework and provide a clear definition of what "sustainable" development is to local authorities." – Independent
Iain Duncan Smith says "family breakdown has damaged Britain dramatically"
"The former Tory leader… reiterated his support for marriage tax breaks, insisting not all relationships were equal. … Mr Duncan Smith dismissed claims that the policy was sexist and outdated as a “middle-class attitude”. … “This is not about choices, it’s a very middle-class attitude to say it is all about choices. The reality is family breakdown has damaged Britain dramatically.”" - The Scotsman
David Cameron's trouble with women makes Theresa May close to unsackable
"An equal part of her indispensability comes from the fact she is the highest profile woman the government has, in a government that – the polls demonstrate – has turned off women voters. Women may not be persuaded a government is on their side because women front up the policies, but knowing women are party to decisions inside Whitehall might head off those own goals with women the government has repeatedly let in." – Guardian
Cameron chooses his favourite passage from the Bible - Daily Telegraph
Local Government Association urges tougher scrap metal regulations urged to combat theft - BBC
Labour MP Chuka Umunna: I'm not the British Obama - interview in the Independent
European plot to slash Britain's house prices - Daily Express
Argentina angry at Duke of Cambridge's duty in Falklands - Daily Telegraph
And finally… Nick Clegg has been disturbed in his Whitehall office by drilling to install a 'green' heating system - Daily Telegraph
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