6am RESHUFFLE UPDATE: Ken Clarke has agreed to leave the Ministry of Justice, the BBC says
2.30am RESHUFFLE UPDATE: Grant Shapps rumoured to replace Sayeeda Warsi as party co-chair; Warsi offered job in Foreign Office; Andrew Mitchell is the new Chief Whip
8.45pm ToryDiary: ROLLING RESHUFFLE BLOG
7.45pm MPsETC: Tory MPs take the opportunity to give Clegg a kicking
6.45pm WATCH: Questioned in Parliament, Michael Gove rejects calls for him to intervene in the GCSE marking row
5.30pm WATCH: David Davis: "The parlous circumstances should not be an excuse for inaction"
5pm Tory Diary: Did you miss any of our reshuffle posts in recent weeks? You can catch up on them here.
4pm Mark Thompson on Comment: Why do so many Tories reject their own manifesto? Because they had no say in writing it
2.45pm Local government: At last…Labour-run Nottingham agrees to publish its spending
2.15pm WATCH: Andrew Neil grills the new leader of the Green Party, Natalie Bennett, elected today
1.30pm MPsETC: The Unchained Five and a turning point for the 2010 intake
11.45am On LeftWatch, Tim Montgomerie explains how the Left went bad
10.30am ToryDiary: Man or mouse? Cameron must be ready to sack senior Ministers who try to wreck his shuffle
ToryDiary: Davis says the UK economy needs shock therapy and urges the Coalition to adopt a clear roadmap to a very different system of tax, regulation, banking and energy policy
Columnist Bruce Anderson: Tory belief starts with Britain and ends with champagne
Nigel Waterson on Comment: One gets the feeling that being a committed Conservative is not appreciated these days
Cllr Andrew Johnson on Local Government: Sell expensive council properties but use proceeds to boost affordable home ownership – not just social rent
The Deep End: Let's spend less on infrastructure!
Government plans for growth 1): planning laws
"Legislation expected next month will propose new curbs on residents’ ability to protest against new developments, giving them less time to appeal and ensuring fewer cases face legal challenges. … Rules allowing councils to authorise building on the green belt by redesignating other land will also be streamlined to encourage more building in areas given legal protection from development." – Daily Telegraph
In an article for the Daily Telegraph, ConservativeHome's Paul Goodman warns that David Cameron is in for a "bruising encounter" over planning laws: "…the more wide-ranging the reform, the longer the debate would drag on, which in turn would delay the housebuilding blitz that the Treasury yearns for. “Cutting through the dither”, as Mr Cameron puts it, takes time and trouble to work. If his aim, therefore, is for a mass of new homes to be built swiftly, it will not succeed."
> Yesterday on Local Government: Labour face both ways on criminalising squatting
Government plans for growth 2): airport capacity
"[David] Cameron is to order an independent review of the future of Britain’s airports in a bid to end Coalition infighting over plans for a third runway at Britain’s only international hub airport. … The Prime Minister is hoping the review will secure cross-party support and defuse a row over aviation policy that has split the Cabinet." – Daily Mail
> Yesterday's video: George Osborne: We need more airport capacity in the South East
Government plans for growth 3): other measures, including a state-backed bank for business lending
"Planning rules are to be torn up to allow development on green belt land, a state-backed small business bank created and £50billion poured into big infrastructure schemes in emergency moves to kickstart the flatlining economy." - Daily Mail
"The latest proposal for a state-sponsored small business bank is inspired by similar models in Germany, the US and Ireland and it was immediately welcomed by the corporate sector." – Financial Times (£)
> Yesterday:
> Today:
The Telegraph has started a new series in which "leading young Tory MPs" set out their ideas for growth
From the first entry, by Kwasi Kwarteng: "As worrying as the state of the economy is the state of our psychology – because in many discussions about our future, the same defeatism that once ruled British sport now reigns. We spent much of the 20th century talking about decline, about how we were falling behind Germany, France and other continental countries. Now, in the wake of the financial crisis, that language has returned."
With the reshuffle possibly happening tomorrow, here are the latest reports…
> Yesterday:
55 new free schools will open across England this month, compared to the 24 that launched in September last year - Financial Times (£)
Under new rules implemented today, bad teachers will come under greater scrutiny
"Head teachers will get less than 24 hours notice of an Ofsted visit, while inspection teams will observe more classes, listen to pupils read, monitor behaviour and check payrolls to ensure the salaries of weak teachers reflects their performance. … At the same time as the new Ofsted regime comes into force, Government rules designed to tackle substandard teachers take effect. … Heads and governors will be able to sack the worst-performing staff in just a term – rather than a year – under new 'capability' procedures." – Daily Telegraph
Grant Shapps founded company selling software that breaches Google code – Guardian
Lord Carey, former Archibishop of Canterbury, criticises the government over the wearing of crosses in the workplace
"Lord Carey, who stepped down from Lambeth Palace in 2002, said yesterday: ‘Sadly, the Government has passed up its opportunity to support the right of Christians to express their faith and have a reasonable accommodation in the law for freedom of conscience." – Daily Mail
Boris Johnson has some advice for his holiday destination country, Croatia
"On July 1 next year, Croatia becomes the 28th member of the European Union, and under the terms of the Treaty of Maastricht this new, proud sovereign state – not yet two decades old – must accept the entire corpus of EU law; and she must place her neck in the noose of the single currency. Unlike Britain or Denmark, the Croats have no opt-out. They are now legally obliged to give up the kuna for the euro, and I say, don’t do it, folks. It is not only a mistake. To submit to the euro would be a stunning refusal to learn the grim lessons of recent Balkan history." – Boris Johnson, Daily Telegraph
"Hague is wrong… we must own up to our brutal colonial past" – Owen Jones, Independent
Tim Montgomerie: What is needed in both British and American politics is a reappraisal of the Left
"I don’t blame the Left for their attempts to monopolise the moral high ground; I blame the Right for allowing it. It’s time for the Centre-Right to attack systematically the Left’s claims to moral superiority and to sustain that attack for a culture-shaping generation." – Tim Montgomerie, The Times (£)
Vince Cable plays down the Lib Dem attacks on Nick Clegg – The Times (£)
David Cameron fears that attacks on Nick Clegg could destabilise the Coalition
"One source said that the Prime Minister believed Conservatives 'need to protect Nick and Danny [Alexander] – we can’t have them thrown out.' Conservatives are taking care to avoid public shows of support for Mr Clegg, however, knowing it could be counterproductive and further weaken the Deputy Prime Minister’s position. … But the Prime Minister is keen to find ways of shoring up Mr Clegg, for fear he will be replaced by Mr Cable." - Daily Telegraph
But then there's Ed Davey as John Major…
"One Lib Dem minister told the FT that Ed Davey, the energy secretary, was also positioning himself for a potential future bid. 'He sees himself as the John Major figure, who can quietly come through the middle,' the minister said." – Financial Times (£)
"What the Paralympics have exposed is the lazy equation of disability with incapacity" – Melanie Phillips, Daily Mail
450 council executives have received redundancy packages of at least £100,000 in the past financial year – Daily Telegraph
Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu: "Iran does not see international determination to stop its nuclear programme" – Daily Mail
And finally… the title sequence of the Andrew Marr show has swapped his car for a Vespa scooter – Daily Telegraph
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