10.45pm ToryDiary: This evening's Boris documentary: Cockerell cuddle follows Mair mauling
6.30pm WATCH: Boris responds to his Night-Mair: “It is the function of BBC journalists to bash-up politicians”
5pm MPsETC: Download your own “12 Conservative Achievements” card
5pm Local Government: Councillors falsely presented as “anti development”
4pm WATCH: A couple of clips from David Cameron's immigration speech…
2.30pm ToryDiary: Highlights from David Cameron’s immigration speech
Noon ToryDiary: A step closer to English votes on English laws?
11am Andrew Lilico on Comment: The revised Cypriot deal – good and bad news for depositors and investors in Cyprus and the rest of the World
Two posts about immigration lead our coverage today:
Also on ToryDiary, from last night: The shrinking Cameron project
For his latest Foreign Policy column, Garvan Walsh imagines what dictators everywhere must be thinking about the press regulation Royal Charter: “‘Extend
an official invitation…’ he paused. Fingers tapped. The cabinet looked up in
suspense. Clocks ticked and tocked. Eyes turned to the Napoleon bust, as if to
divine their leader’s mind ‘…to Lord Justice Leveson.’”
Cllr John Moss on Local Government: Why the “Help to Buy” scheme will not re-inflate the housing bubble
International: “It became necessary to destroy Cyprus to save it”
The Deep End: Let’s abolish the Budget (and the Autumn Statement)
The Eurozone agrees a bailout deal for Cyprus
"Eurozone finance ministers have agreed a deal on a 10bn-euro bailout for Cyprus to prevent its banking system collapsing and keep the country in the eurozone. … Laiki (Popular) Bank – the country's second-biggest – will be wound down and holders of deposits of more than 100,000 euros will face big losses. … However, all deposits under 100,000 euros will be 'fully guaranteed'." – BBC
And from the comment pages:
> Today on International: “It became necessary to destroy Cyprus to save it”
More previews of David Cameron's immigration speech…
"New EU migrants will be stripped of jobless benefits after six months, David Cameron will pledge today. … A more radical plan to ban new arrivals from claiming benefits at all in their first year was dropped for fear of breaching EU law." – Daily Mail
And response, too:
> Yesterday's ToryDiary: Cameron toughens his position on immigration but is he serious about the issue?
…as the extent of the immigration backlog is clarified
"Border officials need 24 years to clear their backlog of 320,000 immigration cases, MPs warn today. … Keith Vaz, the Labour MP who chairs the home affairs committee, said hardly any progress was being made in clearing the backlog. He holds former UKBA chief executive Lin Homer – Britain’s most senior female mandarin – responsible for much of the debacle." – Daily Mail
Give English MPs greater control over English laws, Government told
"English MPs should be given far greater control over laws that affect only England to tackle growing resentment among voters about devolution elsewhere in the UK, ministers have been told. … A commission headed by Sir William McKay has told the government that the Commons should restrict the rights of Scottish, Welsh and Northern Irish MPs to influence or determine purely English legislation in future." – Guardian
Tim Montgomerie on Cameron's lost decade
"[Cameron's leadership] began with a promise to save the world’s climate and rebuild conservatism. Cameronism then became a more modest project to balance the nation’s books. … By 2015 the shrinkage will be complete. The Tory leader will stand before the country with the thin claim that he’s not as bad as Ed Miliband. It may be enough to keep him in No 10, but it’s a depressing prospect for the country." – Tim Montgomerie, The Times (£)
> Last night's ToryDiary: The shrinking Cameron project
"After that TV ambush, Boris's rise doesn't look quite so irresistible," says Quentin Letts
"Is Boris a nasty piece of work, as Mr Mair suggested? I have known the old horse for 25 years and have no hesitation in saying that ‘nasty’ is an adjective too far. … Half his trouble is that he is not nasty enough. Like many Old Etonians, he is terrified of becoming unpopular. The greatest politicians are prepared to be disliked." – Quentin Letts, Daily Mail
> Yesterday:
As Boris writes in his latest Telegraph column, "It’s bobbies, not buildings we need in the fight against crime" – Boris Johnson, Daily Telegraph
The Financial Times calls on George Osborne to scrap his "shares for rights" plan – Financial Times editorial (£)
As the Daily Telegraph questions Nick Boles' planning reforms (again)
"As we report today, emboldened by the Government’s rhetoric, councils have been inundated with applications for new building projects from developers. Battle is about to be joined just as the Tories seek to defend many of their local authorities in the county council elections in May. If Mr Boles wanted a fight, it looks like he is going to get one. But the politics of this issue are toxic and civil war in the shires is not the most promising manifesto on which to base a campaign." – Daily Telegraph editorial
Smaller blogs are set to escape the new press regulations
"Low-profile blogs and not-for-profit publishers are set to be exempted from Britain’s new press controls as the three main political parties seek to iron out what some have described as draconian curbs on freedom of speech." – Financial Times (£)
> Today, by Garvan Walshe: The press regulation Royal Charter is a boon to dictators everywhere
Patrick McLoughlin to extend Virgin's West Coast mainline contract
"Mr McLoughlin is expected to unveil a revised timetable for rail franchising before the parliamentary Easter recess on Tuesday in an effort to draw a line under the debacle. … The new schedule is expected to include a further extension for Virgin Rail, a joint venture between Sir Richard Branson and Stagecoach, on the West Coast that will take the contract beyond the general election in 2015." – Financial Times (£)
Doctors will have to show what they're spending, under the new health reforms
"Doctors who are poised to take control of billions of pounds of spending under radical health reforms will be expected to report quarterly on how they are performing to ensure a tight rein is kept on the service’s fragile finances, the Financial Times has learnt." – Financial Times (£)
The Government plays down fears of gas rationing
"The UK only has enough gas in storage to meet two days of demand after the latest blast of freezing weather led to millions of families turning up their heating higher than is usual for March. … Ministers said they were ‘confident’ that there was enough gas available to meet the UK’s needs." – Daily Mail
Grant Shapps could replace CCHQ's election computer
"Conservative high command has ordered an emergency re-boot of the party’s [Merlin] campaign database amid fears that its failings could cost the party dear at the next election. … Mr Shapps, the most tech-savvy chairman the Tories have had, is said to be alert to the issue and is looking at other possibilities, including developing a new system in-house." – The Times (£)
> Yesterday, by Grant Shapps MP on Comment: Over the next two years we're going to tell the British people about this Government's impressive achievements
Lord Heseltine: Do we have the will to bring about a recovery?
"British people may be so wealthy that they lack the 'national will' needed to secure an economic recovery, Lord Heseltine has suggested. … In an interview with The Independent, the former Deputy Prime Minister said that one theory why Britain's growth was sluggish compared with India and China was because – unlike the UK – those countries had 'real problems'." – Independent
John Prescott suggests the Queen should abdicate, is slapped down
John Prescott has come under fire for suggesting the Queen should abdicate because of her recent bout of ill-health. … Conor Burns said: ‘John Prescott is the antithesis of the Queen. She is a model of selfless public service and duty. He is frittering away any last vestiges of dignity his career had with these sort of pig-ignorant comments.’" – Daily Mail
Douglas Alexander's "Special Relationship" warning
"Douglas Alexander, the shadow foreign secretary, will warn that pulling out of the European Union would leave Britain ;relegated diplomatically and economically'. … 'The UK's relationship with the US would be a lot less special if we were outside the EU. In a 21st Century defined by interdependence, isolation in the Atlantic would be anything but splendid for Britain.'" – Daily Telegraph
Union bosses versus Michael Gove, round 1,276
"Mary Bousted, general secretary of the Association of Teachers and Lecturers (ATL), will say the Education Secretary is 'undermining everything we stand for'. She will accuse him of sending a 'gang of arm-twisters' to force schools to comply with his policies and become academies." – Independent
Owen Jones is lanuching a new left-wing movement
"…the great British political cartel now faces a new challenge. On Tuesday, I’ll be helping to launch the People’s Assembly with Green MP Caroline Lucas, my fellow Independent columnist Mark Steel, disability rights campaigner Francesca Martinez, Labour MP Katy Clark, and leading trade unionists." – Owen Jones, Independent
"Politicians can ignore public opinion," says the pollster Ben Page – Ben Page, Guardian
"In a few months’ time we will not be allowed to express the view at all in public that marriage is between a man and a woman." – Chris Sugden, The Times (£)
Charity highlights the third-of-a-million elderly people who are stuck in their homes because there's no suitable transport available – Daily Mail
And finally… The ambulance man who saved lives after the Brighton bombing
"An ambulance man credited with saving Norman Tebbit in the aftermath of the Brighton bombing has died. … Lord Tebbit led the tributes to Mr Murray, who was awarded the British Empire Medal for his bravery. … He said: ‘My wife and I remain profoundly grateful to all of those in the emergency services who played their part in rescuing us and others at The Grand.’" – Daily Mail
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