‘Hundreds of migrants laid siege to the Channel Tunnel for the third night running last night, as they stormed fences and desperately tried to clamber on trains bound for Kent. Senior MPs, backed by hauliers, said the British Army should be sent in to restore order because the French authorities had ‘lost control’ as the Calais illegal immigrant crisis escalated dramatically. It comes as one migrant – a Sudanese man in his 20s or early 30s – slipped as he tried to get underneath a train inside the high-security zone surrounding the undersea link in the early hours of yesterday morning when 1,500 attempted to get across.’ – Daily Mail
Editorials
>Today: ToryDiary: Immigration is toxic at the best of times – but now the Government faces a crisis
‘We should be clear, however, that the Good Ship Compassionate Conservatism is still heading for a huge iceberg. The tax credit reductions confirmed in the budget are going to hurt millions of people. According to the Tories’ favourite Labour MP, Frank Field, 3.2 million low-income workers are set to lose an average of £1,350 next year; 750,000 families will lose up to £2,184; 52,000 families earning less than £30,000 will lose a full tenth of their income. These are families who are trying to do the right thing but they are going to be clobbered. Rising earnings may compensate them a bit but not by enough.’ – Tim Montgomerie, The Times (£)
>Yesterday: ToryDiary: A welfare system that buys drink for alcoholics, drugs for addicts and sweets for the obese is cruel, not compassionate
‘Yet now Osborne sits like an octopus over Westminster, his legs and tentacles reaching into every corner of government and the Conservative party. Another limb reached the Champs-Élysées last Sunday when, in his role as Cameron’s deputy, he presented Chris Froome with the winner’s trophy for the Tour de France. Osborne is on a charm offensive. While Cameron rose to power despite a cold and distant attitude towards his backbenchers, the Chancellor has been assiduously courting new MPs since the election.’ – Ross Clark, The Spectator
‘Government departments have been ordered to prepare corporate-style business plans indicating what will be delivered for each pound of public spending, as the government seeks to strengthen financial management ahead of the Autumn spending review. The exercise, led by John Manzoni, a former BP executive who was appointed chief executive of the civil service a year ago, is part of a broader drive to inject business discipline into the way government is run.’ – FT
>Yesterday: ToryDiary: Cameron’s revolutionary secret: the most professional Cabinet in British history
‘Pornography websites will be forced to introduce age checks or face being shut down, David Cameron has said. The Prime Minister has given internet giants a final warning that if under-18s are not locked out from viewing adult content he will take action.’ – Daily Mail
‘Jeremy Corbyn’s extraordinary rise from obscurity to would-be Labour leader received another major boost tonight as one of Britain’s biggest unions backed him to replace Ed Miliband. Unison, which has 1.3million members, said the leftwinger’s anti-austerity message had ‘resonated’ with public sector workers. It comes after a fresh opinion poll put Mr Corbyn on course to win the leadership contest.’ – Daily Mail
‘Nick Clegg has turned down a senior role in the new Liberal Democrat frontbench team. The former deputy prime minister, who was succeeded as party leader by Tim Farron on July 16, rejected the chance to become a spokesman on foreign affairs and defence. With just eight MPs in the Commons, the Lib Dems were forced to turn to other legislative chambers to fill roles.’ – The Times (£)
>Yesterday: LeftWatch: Where Farron will concentrate his attacks on the Conservatives
‘Twenty “silent peers” have been paid more than £1.6million in allowances and travel expenses over the past five years despite them making almost no contribution to debates in the House of Lords…An analysis by The Telegraph found that one member has claimed more than £200,000 for attending the Lords while four have claimed over £100,000. They have barely spoken on the floor of the house.’ – Daily Telegraph
‘The organisation tipped to lead the “out” campaign is a cross-party group of MPs including the Conservatives Owen Paterson and Bernard Jenkin and the Labour MP Kate Hoey. They are backed by Stuart Wheeler, a major Ukip donor. Dominic Cummings, a former adviser to Michael Gove,has been working with them alongside the Business for Britain group headed by Matthew Elliott,who ran the NotoAV campaign. They have been savaged by Arron Banks, the multimillionaire Ukip donor and insurance tycoon. “The same tired old Westminster bubble cannot reach the nurse in Manchester or factory worker in Glasgow, or have the appeal needed to get across the facts to the public,” he said.’ – The Times (£)
>Yesterday: WATCH: Ici Londres – Leaving the EU does not mean leaving the Single Market, says Daniel Hannan MEP
‘Anti-semitic hate crimes have risen dramatically in the past year with some areas reporting more than double the number of offences. London, Greater Manchester, Merseyside, West Midlands and West Yorkshire have all seen large increases, police figures have revealed. In the capital alone there was a 137 per cent rise in 2014/15 to 459, up from 193 in 2013/14. Of the total offences in the most recent financial year, 53 – more than one in ten – involved violence.’ – The Times (£)
‘One of the most regrettable developments of the past 20 years is that law-abiding members of the public increasingly mistrust the police. Of course, most of us recognise that there are countless fine individual police officers, but we are worried about the values of the service. Is that any wonder when a very senior officer appears to disregard the victims of burglary, not to mention in effect sanctioning the illegal cultivation of cannabis?’ – Daily Mail
‘Clamour was growing last night for a ban on big game hunters bringing lion heads and skins into Europe after the killing of Africa’s most famous beast. Walter Palmer, the American dentist who killed Cecil, went into hiding yesterday as it was announced that he could face criminal charges.’ – The Times (£)
>Today: Graeme Archer’s column: It’s a jungle out there
>Yesterday: Alex Deane on Comment: Join me in supporting a small business which is threatened by vegan bullies
‘When he was 19, David Cameron is fond of telling, the KGB tried to recruit him as a Cold War spy during his gap-year travels in the Soviet Union. Today, the Kremlin delivered a cruel snub to his anecdote by letting it be known two ‘agents’ Mr Cameron thought were Russian spies were in fact just a pair of dodgy salesmen. And Moscow’s secret services even suggested Mr Cameron and his Eton travelling friend, far from meriting the attention of Communist spies, had simply been the target of a gay pick-up.’ – Daily Mail