7pm WATCH: Cameron discusses his faith after being quizzed at a Cameron Direct event
3.15pm On Comment, Matthew Elliott urges you to join Business for Britain and help them sketch a new deal from the EU: "At Business for Britain, we now boast over 750 business leaders supporting our call for a change in Britain’s membership of the EU. We have started the process of consulting these supporters, as well as the wider business community, to produce what we feel will be the most comprehensive analysis of business opinion on our relationship with Brussels."
2.30pm WATCH: Paul Goodman, Douglas Carswell MP and Lord Glasman discuss falling party memberships on Newsnight
1.30pm ToryDiary: The unassuming significance of David Willetts’ statement on profit-making universities
12.15pm LeftWatch: A freak storm strikes the Fabian Society library, scattering gobbledegook in its wake: David Miliband's Wonknado
11.15am Ben Jackson on Comment: Yes, aid charities must do better. But many are doing well. And the good they do is invaluable.
On ToryDiary, Paul Goodman writes that Peter Cruddas is the Andrew Mitchell of the voluntary party: "Mitchell is innocent of the charge against him. So he deserves restoration to the Cabinet. Cruddas is likewise innocent, as the courts have found. So he, too, deserves restoration to CCHQ at a very high level."
One more day to go! On ToryDiary, for the sixth day running, we ask: Why can't we be told how many members the Conservative Party has?
For this week's Culture Column, Nick Pickles reviews a recent political comedy show: Don’t worry if you’re not invited to this party
Graham Brady MP on Comment: So Welsh Tories have backed grammar schools. It's time for English ones to do so, too.
Also on Comment, Richard Ashworth MEP: Only Consevative MEPs will stand up for Britain in Europe
John Bald on Local Government: Boris offers a positive Conservative alternative to Labour's mess on education
The Deep End: Detroit: this is what happens if you lose the global race
Cameron's coded warning to Spain: back down, or we'll sue
"As a day of telephone diplomacy descended into name calling, the Prime Minister called Spanish leader Mariano Rajoy to warn him that Spain must back down or the UK ‘will be forced to do more’ to defend the people of the Rock. … Officials admitted this could go as far as legal action in the European Court of Justice. … After the call, Mr Cameron vowed: ‘Britain will always stand up for the people of Gibraltar.’" – Daily Mail
> Yesterday, by Andrew Rosindell on Comment: Gibraltar – Cameron must be ready to send the navy in and Spain's ambassador packing
As he admits that he is "very sorry" about Peter Cruddas
"Mr Cameron said he was looking forward to meeting his former colleague later in the year. On a visit to Devon, the Prime Minister said: ‘I rather think I do owe him an apology. Had I known at the time how badly the journalists had behaved, I might have been in the position to take a different approach. I am very sorry about that.'" – Daily Mail
> Today on ToryDiary: Peter Cruddas, the Andrew Mitchell of the voluntary party
And announces an extra £500 million for struggling A&E departments
"Hospitals will get an extra £500m to help struggling A&E wards as David Cameron admitted there could be 'excessive waits' without a bailout this winter. …. The prime minister will on Thursday announce the extra money to be spent over the next two years after warnings that some emergency wards are on the brink of collapse." – The Guardian
> Yesterday, by Jeremy Hunt on Comment: Patient safety – nothing should matter more in our NHS
"Downing Street is planning a power-grab of the Government’s 3,300 spin doctors to help to control its political message and bring down the £500 million communications bill" – The Times (£)
Tory MPs prepare to tell the PM: let's pull out of the single market
"Tory Eurosceptics will challenge David Cameron to toughen his line on renegotiations with Brussels by calling for the UK to pull out of the single market altogether. … Up to 100 MPs are expected to back a tough manifesto to be released in November by a new pressure group called Business For Britain. … Business For Britain will call for the UK to be a member of a ‘customs union’ – an area with close trading ties but no more." – Daily Mail
Don't expect an interest rate rise for another three years, suggests Mark Carney
"Britain's interest rates are likely to remain at a record low for at least three more years, the new Governor of the Bank of England said yesterday. … Speaking at the Bank’s quarterly inflation report yesterday, Mark Carney made history by formally linking the base rate to unemployment – meaning rates will not rise from their current record low of 0.5 per cent until the jobless total falls to 7 per cent or lower." – Daily Mail
The newspapers respond on the comment pages:
And in their editorials:
> Yesterday:
Tory anger at Lib Dem criticism of Osborne's Help to Buy scheme
"A special adviser who works on policy in Nick Clegg’s office told a private meeting that the Help to Buy mortgage guarantee scheme did not have the full support of the Liberal Democrats. … This may amount to sabotage of a key government policy which the Lib Dems supported before the March Budget, according to Nick De Bois, a prominent Tory MP." – The Times (£)
Willetts welcomes profit-making universities
"The Government is today signalling a growth in the number of UK universities operating on a profit making basis. … It follows BPP University College of Professional Studies becoming the first university in the UK to offer a wide range of university courses on a profit making basis. … Universities Minister David Willetts said: 'This is an important step towards increasing the diversity of the higher education sector.'" – The Independent
Accusations of a "cover-up", as the Home Office redacts a report into border security
"The Home Office was last night accused of an ‘immigration cover-up’ after parts of a highly critical border security report were blacked out. … A total of 15 passages were redacted from a study into border controls in Calais on the grounds that publishing them would be ‘undesirable for reasons of national security’. … Among the details erased from the report is the number of illegal migrants sneaking into Britain on Eurostar trains from Brussels." – Daily Mail
Charlie Elphicke attacks the "out-of-control salaries" at charities, as news of Save the Children's bonus pot emerges
"Executives at Save the Children, one of Britain’s best-known charities, shared bonuses worth more than £160,000 last year, The Telegraph can disclose. … Charlie Elphicke MP, a member of the House of Commons public administration select committee which oversees the charity sector, said the bonuses were 'inappropriate and objectionable'." – Daily Telegraph
> Yesterday on ToryDiary: Justine Greening is right about aid transparency
Lord de Mauley advises people to mend their broken gadgets – to cut waste and save money
"Lord de Mauley, the waste minister at the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, insisted that families would save money by re-using old clothes and repairing faulty equipment. … Douglas Carswell, a Conservative MP, attacked the plans. 'Since when do we need government to tell us what to do with broken toasters?'" – Daily Telegraph
Are Labour scared of Jim Messina? If they are, they don't want it to show…
"If the Conservatives' hiring of Jim Messina, Barack Obama's 2012 campaign manager, has sent a shiver down the Labour spine, the party is making a decent attempt to disguise its fear. … One former Obama adviser close to Labour claims: 'They can buy a Formula One car, but it is going to have to drive down country lanes. Conservatives will have fewer than 100,000 members, their average age is over 60 and the headquarters does not trust them.'" – The Guardian
> Yesterday, by James Frayne on Comment: Janan Ganesh is wrong - great campaigns and great staff do matter
David Miliband's advice for his brother: don't go soft on welfare
"Where centre-left parties do get elected, they quickly find that, while the nostrums of what Tony Judt called 'defensive social democracy' can strike a chord when a party is in opposition, they are insufficient for government. The welfare state needs defence in the face of unfair attacks. But it also needs reform." – David Miliband, New Statesman
The Labour councils that use staff on zero-hour contracts
"Six Labour-controlled councils in London – Tower Hamlets, Brent, Ealing, Merton, Hounslow and Newham – use workers on contracts with no guaranteed hours, while Labour-run Doncaster estimates it has 300 people working under such arrangements." – Financial Times
Godfrey Bloom repents after pressure from Farage – but could face the boot
"Godfrey Bloom, a senior Ukip politician, has said sorry for any 'genuine' offence caused by his use of the term 'bongo bongo land', after pressure from Nigel Farage. … After refusing to give any 'disingenuous' apology in several interviews, Bloom later bowed to the demands of his party leadership with a qualified expression of regret." – The Guardian
"Race row MEP Godfrey Bloom could be axed by UKIP over his 'Bongo Bongo Land' rant" – The Sun (£)
> Yesterday:
News in brief
And finally… All in a day's work for the Prime Minister
"The PM ate, sipped and sniffed tasty treats at a mosque in Manchester at the end of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan. … Earlier, as he munched his way around Britain, Mr Cameron tucked in to sausages, clotted cream and wine at the North Devon Agricultural Show. … He also told the award-winning Chivenor Military Wives Choir: 'You get around a bit.' But he quickly added that he meant it in a strictly professional sense." - The Sun (£)
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