“Amid farcical scenes in the Commons, Mr Cameron had to rely on the votes of Labour MPs and his Liberal Democrat Coalition partners to defeat a revolt by 87 Tories, who voted to give ministers rather than judges the final decision on whether deportation would breach the human rights of foreign criminals. … Senior Tories admitted privately that the outcome was ‘chaotic’ and ‘messy.’ But allies of Mr Cameron said there was little point in a showdown with the rebels because he was ‘sympathetic’ to the objectives of Dominic Raab, the MP who proposed an amendment to the Immigration Bill.” – The Independent
> Today: ToryDiary – The bristling tensions between David Cameron and Theresa May
> Yesterday:
“Cameron is heading for a collision with the French president François Hollande over his EU changes at the Anglo-French summit at RAF Brize Norton on Friday after the Elysée Palace challenged the prime minister’s referendum timetable. … On the eve of the first Anglo-French summit since Hollande became president in 2012, British officials dismissed French claims that a major renegotiation of British membership terms would not be possible before the prime minister’s planned referendum in 2017.” – The Guardian
“He told a parliamentary security committee that monitoring private information was essential to keep citizens safe from terrorist attack and serious criminals. … He said: ‘In the most serious crimes [such as] child abduction, communications data… is absolutely vital – who called who and when, and where was the telephone at the time. Not the content, but the communications data. … I love watching crime dramas on the television. There’s hardly a crime drama where a crime is solved without using the data of a mobile communications device.’” – Daily Mail
“David Cameron has ordered an investigation into the charges slapped by energy giants on millions of customers who pay bills by cash or cheque. … The PM has asked the Department for Energy to look into the ‘scale of the differentials between different payment methods’. … He says the investigation will check ‘suppliers are not over-subsidising their direct debit customers’ by overcharging others.” – The Sun (£)
“George Osborne today claimed the small print of Labour’s economic plan, including an extra £25billion in borrowing, poses the ‘single biggest risk to the economic recovery’. … The Chancellor today challenged Labour’s Ed Balls over the careful wording of his promise to run a surplus which only applies to day-to-day spending. … In a letter to Mr Balls, seen by MailOnline, Mr Osborne demanded to know how higher spending and more borrowing forever can be described as ‘fiscal discipline’.” – Daily Mail
“Mr Alexander suggested that if Labour chose to borrow and spend their entire leeway every year in the next Parliament that would add £166 billion to the debt.” – The Times (£)
And comment:
> Yesterday: LeftWatch – Pinning Down Miliband: Labour’s fiscal plan
“Troops were on standby last night as Somerset was braced for more floods – and Environment Secretary Owen Paterson admitted it could take 20 years to solve the area’s problems. … Mr Paterson said last night after chairing a meeting of the Government’s Cobra emergency committee: ‘We established that we do need a proper 20-year plan to satisfactorily cover this very specialist part of the country.’ … He reiterated David Cameron’s call for dredging to restart for the first time since 2005.” – Daily Mail
And comment:
“A key report into whether the HS2 rail line would give value for money is being kept secret by the Government. … Transport Secretary Patrick McLoughlin told Parliament he is using emergency powers to veto publication of the report that says HS2 is in danger of failing. He said that protecting the impartiality of civil servants’ secret advice to ministers has to take priority over disclosure to the public.” – Daily Mail
“UK military projects and procurement will fall increasingly to the new Joint Forces Command, the defence secretary has said, rather than being the individual responsibility of the army, navy or air force. … ‘We have to think holistically across the force,’ Philip Hammond said in an interview with the Financial Times in Yeovil, Somerset on Wednesday. ‘This is a big challenge . . . there is more and more joint thinking going on.'” – Financial Times
“The Cabinet Office is to spend £100,000 to determine why women are failing to break through the glass ceiling in Whitehall. Francis Maude, the Cabinet Office Minister, is to commission a think-tank to draw up proposals by May next year to try to ensure that more of the top Civil Service jobs go to women.” – The Times (£)
“Official concern over a ‘culture of disbelief’ in rape cases has been raised as new figures show that some police forces are writing off up to a third of all allegations reported to them. … A report by the high-powered joint government and police rape monitoring group confirms that a postcode lottery is operating in the way the 43 forces in England and Wales deal with rape allegations.” – The Guardian
“The Independent Police Complaints Commission (IPCC) is coming to the end of a lengthy preliminary assessment to decide whether it should launch a full inquiry into one of the most notorious episodes in the bitterly fought 1984-85 industrial dispute. … However, prominent Conservatives have questioned the police watchdog’s impartiality after it emerged that the senior official overseeing its detailed preliminary assessment of what happened at Orgreave has links to the Labour Party.” – Daily Telegraph
“The sitting MP Anne McIntosh, 59, who has been fighting a year-long battle against deselection, will learn today whether she has seen off the local party bigwigs who want to get rid of her. If she loses, she will be the first female Tory MP in modern history to be sacked by her local party. … Meanwhile, in a twist which could have come from the pen of Evelyn Waugh, a dashing former officer in the Light Dragoons called Edward Legard, an Old Etonian school chum of David Cameron, appears to be the choice of the party high command to replace Anne McIntosh.” – Andrew Pierce, Daily Mail
“The Deputy Prime Minister said it was ‘stupid’ for someone to light up in front of youngsters, but it was wrong to rush to pass laws just ‘to fix something you don’t like’. … Mr Clegg, who is a self-confessed secret smoker, claimed the Labour policy backed by Lords last night was like asking the police to monitor children’s TV habits and their consumption of crisps and fizzy drinks.” – Daily Mail
“Ed Miliband’s plan to reform Labour’s relationship with the unions will strengthen their influence within the party, it emerged yesterday. … Union leader Paul Kenny has boasted that Mr Miliband’s flagship changes, which are due to be unveiled this weekend, will eliminate MPs’ ‘golden share’ of the vote in contests to elect the party leader. … Rather than controlling around a third of the vote as at present, Mr Miliband’s expected proposals would mean union members would account for between 50 and 90 per cent of the votes in future elections.” – Daily Mail
“Ed Miliband’s advisers promised last summer that the reforms would be carried out ‘as soon as possible’. But the unions have successfully pressed for a delay. ‘We’ve suggested … it will take at least five years … with all the possible ramifications on finance and organisation,’ said Paul Kenny, general secretary of the GMB.” – Financial Times
“Ed Miliband and Ed Balls suffer ‘tensions’ and are split over their flagship new tax policy, a senior Labour MP has revealed. … Dropping a Westminster bombshell, former Home Secretary Alan Johnson has told how the Opposition Leader wants to reinstate the controversial 50p top rate of income tax for the very well off permanently. … But his Shadow Chancellor only wants it to be temporary, as a measure to help bring down the deficit.” – The Sun (£)
“Are 16-year-olds too dumb to vote? They can’t be dumber than all those who voted no in the AV referendum. Disaffected, alienated, anti-Westminster voters were asked if they would like a little more choice, a chance for new parties to break in, with a first preference vote to better reflect their feelings without a risk of letting in their most hated party: the idiots rejected it. Now pollsters find them again sourly grumbling that ‘They’re all the same’, when Labour and Tories are less the same than for years.” – Polly Toynbee, The Guardian
“…it is quite inconceivable that Joyce, Hancock or Mercer would have survived for a single second had they occupied a position in a serious profession. A drink-drive conviction is career death in the Army, let alone the kind of drunken brawl that is Mr Joyce’s speciality. A doctor with charges of the gravity being levelled against Mr Hancock, particularly when given credibility by an internal investigation, would surely not be allowed to carry on holding surgeries. Parliament, however, has very low standards.” – Peter Oborne, Daily Telegraph
“Women are being failed by NHS maternity services with more than 14 babies a day in England either stillborn or dying within seven days of their birth, according to a scathing report by MPs. … The damning report on maternity care by MPs on the Public Accounts Committee found there is too much variation in the quality of care offered by different trusts. … Many units are desperately understaffed – half do not have enough consultants and there is a ‘truly worrying’ national shortage of 2,300 midwives.” – Daily Mail
“A powerful Commons committee revealed some 40 per cent of the Home Office workforce – 11,672 staff – was given a payout in the 2012-2013 financial year. … The Home Affairs committee said the level of reward was completely ‘irresponsible’ given the mess with contracts such as security at the 2012 Olympics. … And it called for a end to ALL bonuses until an performance audit of the Government department was completed.” – The Sun (£)
“The number of young men applying to go into higher education is reaching crisis point, the head of the university applications service has warned. … The number of girls applying to study for a degree this year is more than a third larger than that of boys. … According to its figures, in England, over 62,000 more women than men have applied for places this year – a rise of five per cent in just 12 months.” – Daily Mail
“An independent Scotland would be free to keep the pound, without a currency union, or to peg any new currency to the pound. But currency union would be problematic. It would be folly for the rest of the UK to enter a union with an independent Scotland voluntarily, having seen what has happened inside the eurozone. But, if it did indeed agree to do so, it would have to be on the basis of a view of its own interests.” – Martin Wolf, Financial Times
“Yes, but these are charities not only expressing a corporate political view, but spending significant funds promoting them. Charitable status should not be given to political lobbying groups. At present there is not even a transparency requirement for charities to disclose the proportion of their funds that they spend on lobbying and campaigning.” – Harry Phibbs, The Times (£)
“Afternoon, sir. Welcome to the Coalition Arms. Shake my hand. The name’s Cameron, but you can call me Dave. All my regulars do. Beautiful British name, Dave. Just like the other half, Sam. Dave and Sam. Beautiful British names. … That’s Sam, as in Samantha, not as in Sam. Wouldn’t want you getting the wrong impression. Not that I’ve anything against it, mind you. Far from it.” – Richard Littlejohn, Daily Mail
“In a revealing interview, Yvette Cooper, the shadow home secretary, explains that husband Ed Balls is not much help on the school run. … ‘You haven’t got them ready, you haven’t got yourself ready and then suddenly there’s a discussion about PE kit, or swimming. Who knew it was swimming today? … ‘And Ed has taken to piano practising during that period. It’s infuriating,’ she told the latest edition of Red Magazine.” – Daily Mail
“It is easy to look a twit on Twitter – but has anyone told our MPs? … From PM David Cameron to UKIP maverick Nigel Farage, almost every politician can now be found using the site. … And checking their profiles reveals them to be secret fans of cheesy celebs such as Jedward and Keith Chegwin.” – The Sun (£)
> Yesterday: WATCH – “Is Vince Cable a freemason?” The odd things people Google about politicians