“The Conservative Party was plunged further into civil war over Europe last night as two grandees warned that David Cameron may have to quit. Former party chairmen Lord Tebbit and Liam Fox both suggested that the Prime Minister will be forced to step down if Britain votes to leave the EU. They spoke out amid growing Tory anger over Mr Cameron’s increasingly strident warnings about the dangers of Brexit.” – Daily Mail
Remain:
UKIP:
Comment:
“Divisions at the top of Labour are hampering its efforts to keep Britain in Europe with insiders warning that their efforts are being frozen out. Government figures and leading backers of Britain Stronger in Europe are worried that Jeremy Corbyn’s unenthusiastic backing for EU membership will harm the campaign.” – The Times (£)
“The Minister of State for Employment has not yet been six years in Parliament, but she was supporting the Brexit campaign long before Boris Johnson, Michael Gove or Lord (Norman) Lamont joined the anti-Brussels bandwagon. For her, it’s about far more than sovereignty and national pride — though she says she’s overflowing with the latter for her family’s adopted nation. ‘Britain was so welcoming to all of us that we embraced it back. It made us far more patriotic.’” – Daily Mail
Other Ministers:
Comment:
>Yesterday:
“I do not mean that they do not know a lot about the subject – many of them do. Nor that they are not genuinely concerned for Britain’s future – most of them are. I mean that most have not, for one single second, imagined that life outside the EU might be a viable, even preferable alternative to life within it, so they do not understand the case they are opposing.” – Daily Telegraph
>Today: Nicholas Finney OBE in Comment: The continuing scandal of the EU regulation which will damage our ports
>Yesterday: MPs Etc.: Project Fear Scare Story of the Week: The pro-EU campaign’s dodgy £3,000 figure
“George Osborne abandoned plans for a Budget raid on pensions last night, following warnings that it could impoverish millions and wreck his dream of becoming prime minister. In a dramatic climbdown, Treasury sources said the Chancellor decided to scrap proposals for a multi-billion-pound raid on pension tax relief, which would have hit millions of middle-class workers.” – Daily Mail
Comment:
>Today: ToryDiary: The reform of pensions becomes a casualty of division over Europe
“The Scottish Tory leader, Ruth Davidson, has abandoned plans to call for lower Scottish tax rates after learning that George Osborne is considering far deeper spending cuts. Davidson had been expected to contest May’s Scottish parliamentary elections as the only leader campaigning for cuts in the new Scottish rate of income tax which comes into force in April, after making repeated pledges to do so.” – The Guardian
>Yesterday: MPs Etc: Cameron’s speech to the Scottish Conservative Conference: full text
“The Conservatives will escape an investigation into wider bullying claims surrounding the suicide of a party activist who complained of intimidation, a coroner ruled yesterday… Elliott’s parents had urged the coroner to examine allegations of ‘systemic’ bullying within the Tory party, claiming their son took his own life last September after suffering ‘inhuman and degrading’ treatment by Clarke and his associates. But Coroner Tom Osborne turned down the request, saying: ‘I will not allow the inquest to be used as a tool for putting anyone on trial’.” – Daily Mail
“Jeremy Corbyn has come under fire from female MPs for backing the decriminalisation of prostitution. The Labour leader said he was in favour treating the ‘sex industry’ in a more ‘civilised way’. Mr Corbyn, who has been married three times and is liberal on personal matters, said: ‘I am in favour of decriminalising the sex industry.” – Daily Mail
Comment:
“More than a dozen MPs including the SNP Westminster leader Angus Robertson, suspended Labour MP Simon Danczuk and ex-minister Liam Byrne have had their Commons credit cards blocked. Parliament’s expenses watchdog suspended the cards after debts of up to £27,000 were run up between June 30 last year and February 23.” – Daily Mail
“From Michigan to Louisiana to California on Friday, rank-and-file Republicans expressed mystification, dismissal and contempt regarding the instructions that their party’s most high-profile leaders were urgently handing down to them: Reject and defeat Donald J. Trump. Their angry reactions, in the 24 hours since Mitt Romney and John McCain urged millions of voters to cooperate in a grand strategy to undermine Mr. Trump’s candidacy, have captured the seemingly inexorable force of a movement that still puzzles the Republican elite and now threatens to unravel the party they hold dear.” – New York Times