“Theresa May has been given an extraordinary warning that a toxic feud between the Home Office and Downing Street is damaging her chances of succeeding David Cameron as Tory leader. … A senior party source said support for the steely Home Secretary as the Prime Minister’s successor was being ‘seriously undermined’ by a row that has led to two of her senior advisers’ bids to become MPs at the general election being scuppered by Tory HQ and Downing Street.” – Daily Mail
And comment:
> Today: ToryDiary – Who is the Conservative Minister of the Year? The Parliamentarian of the Year? The B**tard of the Year?
“Leading universities have criticised plans being promoted by the UK home secretary that would force students from outside the EU to leave the country at the end of their courses. … Higher education chiefs spoke out on Sunday after aides to Theresa May said she wanted to make non-EU students leave Britain and apply for a visa from abroad if they wanted to work in the UK after finishing their studies.” – Financial Times
“An independent panel set up to investigate child abuse may be disbanded and replaced with a more powerful body that could force witnesses to give evidence, Theresa May has indicated. … The home secretary has reportedly written to members of the panel, which has been dogged by high-profile resignations, outlining plans for the inquiry to be granted new statutory powers. … She has outlined three options under consideration, only one of which does not require the current panel to be disbanded, raising fears the process could be further delayed.” – The Times (£)
> Today: Katy Bourne on Local Government – Find new ways to engage the public in fighting crime
“Boris Johnson is to launch himself back into national politics next year as a ‘One Nation Tory’ capable of wooing back voters lost to Labour and Ukip, with a focus on tackling low pay, revitalising England’s cities and transforming infrastructure. … He is calling for the promotion of the ‘living wage’ to be party policy. … ‘It should be front and centre of our programme,’ Mr Johnson has told colleagues. ‘It’s what the Conservatives do well.'” – Financial Times
Boris’s latest Daily Telegraph column:
“The compensation offered to people living along the HS2 route is ‘measly and pathetic’, Boris Johnson has told friends. … The Mayor London said that the Government had to be ‘like the French’ and increase the sums paid to homeowners to ensure that the high speed rail line was completely in a timely fashion. … He has told friends that he cannot understand why the Government is not ‘throwing money’ at homeowners on the route.” – Daily Telegraph
“EU migrants in Britain would no longer receive benefits to support children back in their home country, under a plan being discussed by the European Commission. … Commission sources told The Independent the proposal has been discussed by Mr Juncker and Angela Merkel, who are close allies. The fact that Mr Juncker is considering the proposal, despite Mr Cameron’s bitter opposition to his appointment, is seen in Brussels as an attempt by the German Chancellor to boost Mr Cameron’s prospects at the general election.” – The Independent
And comment:
“David Cameron was last night under intense pressure to deliver on his promise to hold a judge-led inquiry into British complicity in torture. … As the clamour for an independent investigation mounted, the Prime Minister was condemned for insisting a Westminster committee should do the job even though it presided over an alleged whitewash in the treatment of terror suspects. … An alliance of nine human rights groups said only a judicial probe could get to the truth of the disturbing questions raised by an explosive US Senate report which laid bare the barbaric treatment of detainees by the CIA.” – Daily Mail
And comment:
> Today: The Deep End – There is no such thing as ethical torture
“The Health Secretary described the claims as ‘scaremongering’, but a leaked NHS memo revealed proposals to increase maximum permissible waiting times for some serious calls from eight to 19 minutes. … Senior doctors said the plans ‘risked lives’ and Labour accused Mr Hunt of making a ‘panic decision’ in the face of a winter NHS crisis. … But last night it emerged that Labour and the Liberal Democrats had been informed of the plans up to three months ago and had not raised any objections.” – Daily Mail
And comment:
“Sir Jeremy Heywood, the Cabinet Secretary, said the ‘appalling treatment’ suffered by some Government workers who exposed malpractice had compounded the scandals they uncovered. … And he warned that in future senior civil servants would be personally ‘held to account’ for how whistleblowing cases were dealt with in their departments.” – The Independent
“Northern Ireland cannot afford another failure to reach agreement on contentious marches, flags and the legacy of its violent past, the centrist Alliance party said on Sunday. … Northern Ireland secretary Theresa Villiers underlined the importance of the talks when she warned on Sunday night that it was ‘make your mind up time’. … ‘These talks finish tomorrow, even if it takes all night. If there’s no agreement tomorrow, there isn’t going to be one, and the process ends in failure.'” – The Guardian
“Peter Mandelson has warned Labour’s shadow cabinet to be more honest with the public and spell out the scale of cuts that would have to be imposed if the party wins the general election in May. … As a poll suggested that Labour has opened up a seven-point lead over the Tories, the former business secretary said that George Osborne’s ‘sharp step to the right’ in the autumn statement has created an opportunity for Labour.” – The Guardian
“Britain’s pro-Europeans are gearing up for the possible referendum on Britain’s European Union membership by drafting in former ministers Kenneth Clarke and Peter Mandelson plus the chief secretary to the Treasury, Danny Alexander, to act as the main figureheads of their campaign. … As a pan-European opinion poll found that Britain was the only country that would vote to leave the EU, Mandelson announced that the trio had agreed to become joint presidents of the British Influence group.” – The Guardian
“UKIP leader Nigel Farage is the most successful politician of the year, Labour’s Simon Danczuk declared yesterday. … But he added: ‘That doesn’t mean he qualifies to run the country — quite the contrary. You don’t want Peter Kay in Downing Street.’ … The Sun on Sunday revealed how Mr Danczuk spent an hour with Mr Farage at a London pub – but he insisted: ‘There’s no intention of me defecting.'” – The Sun (£)
“Ukip have expelled a prominent local councillor who is understood to have links with a far-Right group, it emerged last night. … Rozanne Duncan was dropped with immediate effect for associating with an organisation which ‘clearly brings the party into disrepute’ while serving on Thanet District Council in Kent. … Her allegiance with the group came to light after comments she made in an unbroadcast television interview, which have been described as ‘jaw-dropping’.” – Daily Mail
“A dramatic rise in the number of street lights being switched off to save money has sparked fears of an increase in crime and road accidents. … Three-quarters of councils are dimming or extinguishing lights, a survey reveals. The number of lamps being turned off or set to shine less brightly has risen to 1.36million, compared with just 148,000 in May 2010 when the Coalition came to power. … The rise has come as councils seek to cut costs and reduce carbon emissions.” – Daily Mail
“The crash in pump prices is giving the UK economy — already Europe’s strongest — a shot in the arm which will benefit every household in the land. … All this will give the Tories a happy New Year as tax revenues flow and the deficit finally starts tumbling. … And it will give Chancellor George Osborne room for manoeuvre in his pre-election spring budget. … Yet the very basis for Mr Salmond’s reputation as a political prophet has been shattered by the crash in oil prices.” – Trevor Kavanagh, The Sun (£)
And related news stories:
“On Saturday morning, in a military nursing home, two months before his 100th birthday, John Freeman died. If he had anything to do with it, my article would end at this point; indeed, he would have regarded the last three words of its first sentence to be the ideal obituary notice. … For Freeman, despite having become one of the most famous men in Britain through the medium of television, had an almost pathological distaste for celebrity.” – Dominic Lawson, Daily Mail
“…nearly two years after he was appointed the 105th Archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby, the spiritual leader of the Church of England, is becoming an increasingly respected moral voice. An energetic and plain-speaking figure who spent most of his early adult life as an oil industry executive, he is righty gaining in appeal not only among Anglicans but also with people outside the Christian faith.” – Financial Times editorial
“David Cameron twerked during a frenzied Chequers Christmas bash, it was claimed last night. … Guests revealed the PM shook his booty on the dance floor of his grand country residence last week with the Ibiza-style party doubling up as a belated 40th birthday for wife Sam.” – The Sun (£)
“Westminster officials will be scratching their heads at this year’s list of mislaid items picked up by the House of Commons lost property office. … Fifty-two phones were lost, including 28 iPhones, along with six laptops, ten iPads and a mystery test tube with unknown contents.” – The Times (£)