Alex Deane on CentreRight: A second Labour MP calls on Brown to go
5.15pm ToryDiary: Annabel Goldie denies secret talks with SNP
3.15pm PlayPolitical: A taste of things to come… Harriet Harman is (Acting) PM?
3pm Alex Deane on CentreRight: Our train network is a total disgrace
12.45pm ToryDiary: The right and wrong ways to attack Labour
ToryDiary: Ten opinion poll findings
Stephen O’Brien MP on Platform: The end of life care strategy
Two PlayPolitical videos:
Brown faces massive leadership speculation…
Labour needs a new leader, even if that means a coup – Jackie Ashley in The Guardian
Choose Harriet Harman says William Rees-Mogg in The Times: "Labour has to change the climate of debate. It seems to me that a woman candidate would, from her gender, have a better chance of doing that than any of the men."
"It is almost impossible for Mr Brown to cling on. It is also almost impossible to displace him." – Bruce Anderson, in The Independent, explains why he can’t see Brown winning or being ousted.
Janet Daley, in The Telegraph, can see Brown being dumped and looks forward to a Labour Party that challenges the Tories with a reforming agenda.
Tory defector Shaun Woodward becomes unlikely confidant to Brown – Telegraph
…as he offers concessions on minimum wage and time off to his union paymasters
Weakened Gordon Brown gives in to union demands – Times
Melanie Phillips: The Tories are still following, not leading
"What are the Tories saying, for example, about the fundamental onslaught upon the integrity and identity of the United Kingdom posed by both devolution and our membership of the EU, which aims to reduce nations to regions controlled from the centre by the super-state of Euroland? They are silent. What are they saying about Labour’s ruinous levels of public spending? Pledging to match them. What are they saying about the obsession with global warming which has produced ruinous policies on land use which have pushed up the cost of food? They share it. Far from providing a clear and principled alternative, the new model Tories still defer too much to fashionable opinion; are still terrified of offending that opinion – particularly in the BBC; and are still following rather than leading." – Melanie Phillips in the Daily Mail
Chris Grayling: Gulf between rich and poor wider than Victorian times
"The Conservatives claim their research, based on Government figures produced by Oxford University, shows the scale of the divide. In areas of central London 99.55 per cent of children are officially classified as living in poverty, whereas in other parts of the same area the figure is just 0.64 per cent." – Telegraph
"Can Cameron’s formula fix the ‘broken’ society?"
Andrew Grice writes an extended examination of Tory social policy in The Independent
Cheryl Gillan defends continuation of Welsh Office…
"Shadow Welsh Secretary Cheryl Gillan said: “I think the role should exist and I would argue the case for it because I think Wales needs a strong voice at Cabinet level. If you’re suggesting they get rid of Gwydyr House [the Wales Office’s London headquarters] and downgrade Wales in any way, I would be disappointed. Quite frankly, if Labour does make that move it will say everything about what Wales means to Labour. In Wales, we will have to see how David Cameron wants to respond to it. He must do as he sees fit, but he’s never given me the impression that he wants to downgrade it in any way.”" – Western Mail
…while the SNP plan for independence:
"Alex Salmond has demanded the drawing up of plans to help prepare for independence by splitting the Scottish civil service from its UK-wide structure." – Telegraph
Derek Conway given twelve months to repay money paid to his son
"Shamed Tory MP Derek Conway has been given a year to repay taxpayers’ cash he wrongly used to bankroll his family. Mr Conway was ordered to hand back £13,160 from wages he paid to son Freddie after an inquiry found no evidence the student had done any work as a researcher. But Commons officials are letting the MP repay the cash in 12 instalments of £1,096 taken from his monthly pay." – Mirror
Energy firms conspire to raise prices says Cttee of MPs chaired by Peter Luff – Times
38% of voters most blame Government for rising fuel prices – ePolitix
Surge in equal pay claims is causing financial headache for local councils – FT
Is Barack Obama for real?
“The walls between races and tribes; natives and immigrants; Christian and Muslim and Jew cannot stand. These now are the walls we must tear down.” That’s brilliant. We all want that. Except that it ain’t gonna happen any time soon. Certainly not this century. Even under a new Messiah. It is this sort of overblown idealistic rhetoric that makes me worry — and the evidence that people are gullible enough to swallow it." – Trevor Kavanagh in The Sun
"Mr Obama has almost single-handedly resurrected the importance of proper speech-making" – Michael Gove in The Times
Yesterday on CentreRight: Essential reading for Obamacons
And finally, our Hello! moment for the day…
The Sun has photographs of the Camerons relaxing on holiday.
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