“Migrants will continue to arrive in southern Europe at the rate of 3,000 a day until November, the UN’s refugee agency has predicted, as record numbers of people crossed into Hungary. … The United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR) said all EU member states should share the burden of Europe’s worst refugee crisis since the second world war, with an ‘equitable redistribution’ of families seeking asylum.” – The Guardian
And comment:
“Britain’s foreign-born population has risen above eight million for the first time, University of Oxford experts said today. … The independent Migration Observatory said official figures set to be released on Thursday would almost certainly confirm the landmark figure had been surpassed. … It also warned that net migration into Britain may have hit a record high last year, despite David Cameron’s set-piece election pledge to slash the number of foreign workers moving to Britain.” – Daily Mail
“It is those head-over-hearters who will decide the referendum. They are unsusceptible to persuasion by politicians whose pro-Europeanism reeks of a frequent-flier global elite. They respond badly to the pious, schoolmasterly tone of the Nick Cleggs and Peter Mandelsons, who admonish Euroscepticism as a tiresome mental fidget of the politically immature. At the best of times that tone is counter-productive. It is deadly in a climate where voters need little incentive to lash out against ‘Westminster’.” – Rafael Behr, The Guardian
“While impatience for change is admirable when government can so easily chug along without achieving very much, Cameron must beware of pushing his ministers too far, too fast. One reforming secretary of state worries that Cameron’s impatience to see quick results could become a liability. ‘Giving up on stuff because there is too little fruit may not be best if the course is the right one. He has four years to make a legacy but some of what we are trying to do will take a generation.'” – Isabel Hardman, The Times (£)
“The inquiry into a VIP paedophile ring at Westminster is a police witch-hunt, an ex-MP said yesterday. … Harvey Proctor, 69, spoke out because Scotland Yard is investigating whether he was part of the alleged Westminster VIP paedophile ring said to have abused children in the 1970s and 1980s. … He said police had handed him a list of names of nine high profile VIPs alleged to have been part of the ‘gang’, including former prime minister Sir Edward Heath and former home secretary Lord Brittan.” – Daily Mail
> Today: ToryDiary – The abuse of Harvey Proctor
“An 80,000-strong petition calling for the arrest of Benjamin Netanyahu for alleged war crimes has been dismissed as “absurd” by a senior Tory MP. … The petition, published earlier this month, urged the government to arrest the Israeli prime minister upon his arrival in the UK next month. … If the petition reach 100,000 signatures it could be debated in the House of Commons – but the Conservative MP Sir Eric Pickles has already dismissed it as ‘completely absurd.'” – Daily Telegraph
“The Government has issued a firm response to a parliamentary petition calling for the legalisation of cannabis, that reached over 200,000 signatures and will be considered for debate in parliament. … Despite the petition’s popularity, the Government has shut the door on the prospect of legalisation with their response. … It says: ‘The latest evidence from the independent Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs is that the use of cannabis is a significant public health issue.'” – The Independent
“Alan Yentob warned ministers that parts of Britain would ‘descend into savagery’ unless they gave Kids Company £3million, it was claimed last night. … An email he allegedly signed also said there was a ‘high risk of arson attacks’ on government buildings if the grant was not approved. … The message was sent to the Cabinet Office as the troubled charity – set up to help vulnerable children – was trying to negotiate more state funding in the weeks before its collapse.” – Daily Mail
“Scotland must use its new financial powers to ‘roll out the red carpet’ to wealthy English taxpayers and encourage 10,000 more of them to move north of the Border, Ruth Davidson has said. … The Scottish Tory leader urged SNP ministers to set a target to hugely increase the number of additional rate taxpayers who live in Scotland in order to increase revenues from income tax, which is being devolved to Holyrood.” – Daily Telegraph
> Today: Henry Hill’s Red, White and Blue column – Davidson predicts best Tory result in Holyrood history
“More than 40,000 union activists have had their ballots cancelled in the Labour leadership race after signing up to vote twice – raising fresh fears about the validity of the contest. … Labour said yesterday the number of ‘affiliated members’ entitled to vote in the race to succeed Ed Miliband had been slashed from 190,000 to fewer than 150,000 after audit checks found they already qualified for votes as party members.” – Daily Mail
And comment:
“Campbell enquired of Andy Burnham: ‘Wouldn’t it be great to have a female leader?’ Shadow Health Secretary Burnham stalled mid-air. Eek. … ‘Er, er, er, when the time is right, when the right candidate comes along,’ said Mr Burnham. … A meritocrat could argue with Mr Burnham’s reply. But today’s Labour is not the party of meritocrats. … It is a party of minority-positive-action-tokenism loonies. A cloud of militant-feminist biting insects will be swarming round Andy Burnham for weeks.” – Daily Mail
And comment:
“Jeremy Corbyn is calling for women-only rail carriages to curb sexual harassment on public transport. … The hard-Left leadership challenger believes the restriction should be imposed on trains travelling at night. … He also called for the establishment of a 24-hour police hotline for reporting harassment and assaults. … Mr Corbyn wants to establish a ‘women’s safety’ cabinet position on local councils if he wins the leadership contest.” – Daily Mail
And comment:
> Today: The Deep End – The routine harassment of women is a daily offence against liberty
“Chuka Umunna has called for ‘calm’ after Lord Prescott accused him and his Labour party colleague Tristram Hunt of creating a ‘Gang of Two’ in the style of the 1980s SDP. … The shadow business secretary told the Financial Times on Tuesday there would be no split in the party, saying it was ‘completely out of the question’ and would be ‘totally counter-productive’.” – Financial Times
“Labour have accused Jack Straw of working with the Tories to dismantle the Freedom of Information Act, used to expose Government scandals. … A panel of former ministers and civil servants is reviewing the Act, which helped uncover the MP’s expenses scandals and other revelations about waste and incompetence. … But party sources claim Mr Straw, the former home secretary, had been asked not to join the five-strong committee yet he insisted on doing so anyway – even if it had to be in a ‘personal capacity’.” – Daily Mail
“It has been assumed that Chilcot would concentrate on Blair and his closest advisers in Downing Street. However, the Guardian understands the inquiry intends to criticise a much bigger circle of ministers and officials, including Jack Straw, foreign secretary at the time of the Iraq invasion in 2003. … Others in focus are Sir Richard Dearlove, then head of MI6, Sir John Scarlett, chairman of the joint intelligence committee, Geoff Hoon, the defence secretary, Clare Short, the international development secretary, and senior officials in the Ministry of Defence (MoD), the Foreign Office and the Cabinet Office.” – The Guardian
And comment:
> Today: Kwasi Kwarteng MP on Comment – The alternative to el-Sisi in Egypt is worse than a nightmare
“Interest rates could remain at rock bottom for another year or more amid worries about China’s slowing growth, experts predicted last night. … The FTSE 100 index of leading shares rallied yesterday after suffering a huge fall the previous day on Black Monday. … It bounced back above the 6,000 mark, rising more than 182 points – just over 3 per cent – after slumping to its lowest level for nearly three years.” – Daily Mail
And comment:
> Yesterday: ToryDiary – Turmoil in China and in the markets. In praise of Mark Field, who last year saw trouble coming
“The Camerons have enjoyed another session bodyboarding in Cornwall as they relax on their annual holiday to the West Country. … Prime Minister David Cameron, 48, has been spotted two days in a row wearing a shortie wetsuit and taking to the waves at Polzeath. … And his 44-year-old wife Samantha joined him today as well, as they enjoyed a dip in the cool waters of the Cornish resort while rain lashed Britain.” – Daily Mail