“David Cameron is preparing to raise the spectre of Britain leaving the European Union should it reject a large overhaul of its rules, The Times has learnt. … The shift, which is being actively considered in Downing Street, would amount to a significant toughening of the prime minister’s stance towards Europe as he looks to renegotiate Britain’s relationship with Brussels. … Informed sources said that No 10 could turn up the heat by opening the possibility of Britain’s EU exit, known as a Brexit. The timing of the threat has not yet been agreed. Mr Cameron could issue the warning at the Tory conference at the end of next month.” – The Times (£)
> Today: ToryDiary – Cameron moves towards the exit door, but will Britain ever vote for Brexit?
“William Pooley will be kept behind plastic sheeting for weeks, if not months, to stop the spread of ebola. … Yesterday the 29-year-old nurse was put into an air transit isolator, a clear plastic sack, to stop the virus escaping into the RAF C-17 transport plane that flew him home from Freetown, Sierra Leone. … On board was a team of British specialists who conducted a full clinical examination before confirming he was safe to fly. … Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond gave the final approval for the repatriation before the transporter took off at 1.50pm UK time.” – Daily Mail
“There are perhaps five or six hundred Britons currently out there – overwhelmingly, though not exclusively, young men. If and when there is a real attempt to take on Isil, they may come back in a hurry and in a group. … The Lib Dems will oppose the return of control orders; but even Nick Clegg would surely accept that times have changed. If we have to bring back control orders for some of the more serious risks, we should do so immediately. And unless they come back – and if they continue to give allegiance to a terrorist state – then absolutely we should take away their citizenship.” – Boris Johnson, Daily Telegraph
And further comment:
> Today: ToryDiary – How should Britain counter the Islamic State group? Take our latest monthy survey
> Yesterday: ToryDiary – In the battle for Muslim hearts and minds, futile gestures should play no part
“A shocking jihad UK league table is revealed by The Sun today. … It shows young Brits from all parts of the country joining IS terrorists. … We have identified 80 who joined up or were quizzed over terror links. … The South-East, with 25 volunteers, tops the table. … But 20 new recruits leave every month to join 500 Brits already waging holy war in Iraq and Syria. … At least eight have died.” – The Sun (£)
“The father of the man suspected of being ‘Jihadi John’ is accused of being one of Osama bin Laden’s top lieutenants and is currently awaiting trial in the us for his part in the bombing of two US embassies in which 224 people died, The MailOnline can reveal. … On trail: Adel Abdel Bari is accused of plotting the 1998 bombings of two US embassies in Tanzania and Kenya.” – Daily Mail
“Peter Theo Curtis was handed over to UN representatives, just days after Foley was beheaded by ISIS. Curtis is now safely outside Syria, U.S. government officials confirmed. … The United Nations said it helped with the handover to U.N. peacekeepers in a village in the Israeli-annexed Golan Heights and that Curtis was released to American authorities after a medical checkup.” – Daily Mail
“British parents are among those in Europe most likely to neglect their children, according to the Government’s childhood tsar. … Reg Bailey, who carried out a review into the sexualisation and commercialisation of childhood for David Cameron, bemoaned the decline in time spent talking around the dinner table. Instead, parents are letting ‘screens take over’ from family time, claimed the chief executive of the Mothers’ Union, who said the proliferation of smartphones and tablet computers is reducing the amount of ‘face-to-face time’ that families spend together.” – The Independent
> Today: Nadhim Zahawi MP’s column – Families help make our society stronger
“John Bercow will try to convince MPs that the Parliament building should not be run by someone whose working life has been spent studying parliamentary procedure. … The Speaker is facing a revolt over the choice of the Australian Carol Mills to be the next clerk of the House of Commons. The rebels argue that the most important part of the chief clerk’s job is to advise the Speaker on parliamentary procedure, a role for which Ms Mills has no obvious qualifications.” – The Independent
“John Bercow, the Speaker of the Commons, is facing a sexual discrimination claim over his plans to give Parliament’s top job to an Australian woman. … David Natzler, the current deputy clerk, is considering legal action after a panel chaired by Mr Bercow opted to give the £200,000-a-year job of Commons clerk to Australian official Carol Mills.” – Daily Telegraph
> Today: Sir Alan Duncan MP on Comment – The roles of Clerk and Chief Executive of the House must be split
“Drunks who abuse staff in A&E departments should be fined £50, health minister Norman Lamb has said. … Those who ‘gratuitously’ consume too much alcohol, especially at the weekends, are putting a ‘huge’ burden on hospitals according to the senior Liberal Democrat. … He wants on-the-spot fines for them, starting with those who are ‘abusive’ to medical staff, and can make A&E feel like a ‘war zone’.” – Daily Mail
“Employers who try to dodge new laws on zero hours contracts could face legal penalties, as ministers attempt to show they are serious about tackling the exploitation of workers. … Vince Cable, Liberal Democrat business secretary, will on Monday launch a consultation with businesses and unions to close potential loopholes in his plan to ban the use of ‘exclusivity’ clauses in zero hours contracts.” – Financial Times
And comment:
“The Liberal Democrats will go into the next election proposing to triple the pupil premium for early years infants, according to David Laws, the education minister. … The early years pupil premium is currently worth £300 a year for three- and four-year-olds from disadvantaged backgrounds in nursery and Laws says the Lib Dem policy would take its value to £1,000 per child by 2020. More than 170,000 children could benefit.” – The Guardian
“Both leaders have created a positional problem for their parties. Mr Cameron looks as if he leads a party for toffs that has nothing on offer for low-income voters. Mr Miliband looks as if he is soft on public spending but hard on big business. To stand any chance of winning outright both need to break out of this core-vote straitjacket. Mr Cameron needs policies and positions that make the Tories appealing to northern, ethnic minority, working-class and women voters. Mr Miliband needs to do the same for southern and aspirational and middle income voters — first and foremost by abandoning the fallacy that the best way to win is by abandoning new Labour.” – The Times (£)
“Labour last night threatened to sue one of its own MPs after he claimed a senior aide to Ed Miliband referred to Northerners as ‘backward’. … Austin Mitchell, 79, said Anna Yearley made the remark as they rowed about moves to get more young women from the North into Parliament. … Last night the party dismissed the claim as ‘completely ridiculous and completely untrue’. … And in an extraordinary move, Labour said it was considering bringing libel proceedings against Mr Mitchell, who has been an MP for nearly 40 years.” – Daily Mail
“The poorest areas of England have endured council cuts under the coalition worth 16 times as much per household as the richest areas, research has claims. … Hilary Benn, the shadow communities secretary, said his figures showed the government had ‘failed to apply the basic principle of fairness’ when allocating money to local government. … However, he confirmed that a government led by Ed Miliband would not be in a position to raise overall council spending. Instead it would focus on distributing money more fairly, he said.” – The Guardian
“Tony Blair was branded ‘disgraceful’ last night for advising a notorious dictator on how to ‘spin’ a massacre of civilians by his regime. … The former prime minister is said to have earned millions of pounds advising Kazakhstan’s president Nursultan Nazarbayev, who has ruled the former Soviet republic since 1989. … Leaked documents yesterday revealed Mr Blair’s assistance included giving the autocratic ruler detailed advice on how to improve his international image following an incident in which police shot dead 14 unarmed civilians protesting against his rule.” – Daily Mail
“Scotland’s First Minister has taken the ice bucket challenge after being nominated by actor James McAvoy. … The screen star dared Alex Salmond and Better Together leader Alistair Darling to be drenched in freezing water to raise money for charity. … Former chancellor Mr Darling completed the challenge on Friday and nominated his colleagues at the pro-Union campaign.” – Daily Mail
“The head of the ‘Better Together’ campaign is expected to seize on claims that the nationalists have been overstating likely future North Sea oil revenues and to focus heavily on uncertainty about the currency an independent Scotland would use. … Mr Salmond’s Scottish National party insists that the country would be able to form a formal currency union with the remaining UK, despite the rejection of this proposal by all three main Westminster parties.” – Financial Times
“Alex Salmond is expected to launch a sustained attack on Monday evening on the Conservative-led coalition’s NHS record as he brings one of the key ideological battles of the Scottish referendum to the fore in the second televised debate of the campaign.” – The Guardian
And comment:
“A global watchdog has sounded the alarm about the growing danger of cyber attacks, on financial markets, warning that firms and regulators around the world need to address the ‘uneven’ response to the threat of online assaults. … Greg Medcraft, chairman of the board of the International Organisation of Securities Commissions (Iosco), predicted that the next major financial shock – or ‘black swan event’ – will come from cyber space, following a succession of attacks on financial players.” – Financial Times
“Soaring numbers of home buyers are taking out mortgages that will last 30 years or more, amid warnings that they are signing up to a lifetime of debt. … One in five of the 171,000 loans taken out in the second quarter of this year had a term of 30 years or longer, according to the Council of Mortgage Lenders. … Among first-time buyers the figure was even higher, at 28 per cent.” – Daily Mail
“White lines could be scrubbed out from the centre of urban roads after research showed the move dramatically cut the number of speeding cars. … Transport for London, which controls major roads in the capital, conducted a study on three routes which showed vehicle speeds fell by up to 13 per cent. … The report concluded: ‘Centre line removal introduces an element of uncertainty which is reflected in lower speeds.’” – Daily Mail
“A VIP service to praise the taxman is being held in Westminster Abbey. … The boss of HM Revenue & Customs Lin Homer has invited top guests to ‘recognise the department’s role over hundreds of years in collecting revenue’. … The invitation-only event at the church — where Kate and Wills wed in 2011 — will be held on September 23.” – The Sun (£)
“Gary Barlow, Joanna Lumley, Eddie Izzard and John Cleese have all endorsed political parties, but could celebrities be damaging their own reputations — and that of the party they support — by doing so? … A study conducted in the United States shows that celebrity endorsements for political parties can be a perilous business, as everyone involved risks being tarred by negative associations.” – The Times (£)