7.15pm WATCH: Ed Miliband: "We're determined to force a vote" on police cuts
5.30pm Gazette: The Prime Minister wishes Muslims "a very happy and peaceful Eid ul Fitr"
5pm WATCH: Rebels near Gaddafi's hometown
3.45pm International: Vladimir Putin launches election campaign… on a Harley-Davidson
1.30pm WATCH: Grant Shapps: "House prices TRIPLED from 1997 to 2007"
Noon ConHomeUSA: Today's top Republican and American political news
11.45am LeftWatch: Lib Dem MP challenges the Prime Minister to a debate on the NHS
10.45am WATCH: Magistrates reject claims riot sentences were too harsh
ToryDiary: £1,624 – the gap in public spending per person between England and Scotland
ToryDiary: United at the top. Major, Hague, IDS and Howard are giving Cameron all the support they can.
Andrew Lilico on Comment: Osborne is getting it right… economically
Also on Comment, Lord Ashcroft: Tribute to an SAS hero who got the better of an exchange with Margaret Thatcher
Local government: Wirral residents demand Council Tax cut
WATCH: Lockerbie bomber Al-Megrahi "at death's door"
Cameron could testify in phone hacking scandal inquiry
"Rupert Murdoch and his son, James, are to be questioned about the phone hacking scandal under oath in the High Court. … David Cameron and other senior politicians are also likely to be questioned over their links to News International, the parent company of the News of the World. … Lord Justice Leveson is thought to be keen for the proceedings to be broadcast live to ensure they are seen to be transparent." - Daily Telegraph
Cameron and Sarkozy: Other countries must help in Libya
"The Prime Minister will use a summit in Paris on Thursday to try to persuade countries who have so far played no role to get off the sidelines. “We would like to make sure that others step up to the plate now,” said one adviser. “We have played a big role thus far.”" – The Times (£)
> From yesterday:
Michael Gove faces questions over free school charity
"Civil servants were urged that the New Schools Network (NSN) – a charity providing advice and guidance to set up the schools – should be given "cash without delay", in a disclosure which will heighten concern over the government's lack of transparency about the wider free schools programme. The charity, which is headed by a former Gove adviser, was subsequently given a £500,000 grant. No other organisation was invited to bid for the work." - Guardian
A full listing of the 24 free schools to be set up this term – Guardian
Toby Young: Free schools – now the really hard work begins
"I embarked on this journey two years ago, full of grand ideas about how to transform state education. I believe that all children can benefit from learning Latin, from seeing the plays of Shakespeare and from studying our island story. To deny them that opportunity on the grounds that those things are “elitist” is inverted snobbery. We’ll never dismantle the English class system if poor children are herded into media studies classes and forced to watch EastEnders while the children of the rich are introduced to the best that’s been thought and said. That’s not social justice, it’s social apartheid." - Toby Young, in the Daily Telegraph
Government advisor: The adoption system is letting children down
"Thousands of children in care are being denied adoption places unnecessarily because of a lack of desire for change among some professionals, a government adviser says today. Black children in care are also still being held back for adoption by social workers waiting for ethnically-matched couples to come forward, despite new government guidance that race should not be a barrier to finding a family." – The Times (£)
Scots get £1,600 more state cash a year each than the English
"Government spending in Scotland averaged £10,212 per person last year – £1,624 per head more than in England. The staggering figures, buried in Treasury documents, reveal the gap increased by more than 15 per cent in only a year." – Daily Mail
Nick Clegg’s NHS concessions are futile, say lawyers
"Key concessions won by the Liberal Democrats on the NHS are “futile”, leading QCs suggest today, as the party prepares to demand a second round of changes to health reforms. Nick Clegg is facing embarrassment at his declaration of “victory” before the summer over the reforms as influential party figures begin a campaign to make clear the plans are still unacceptable to the party. Andrew Lansley, the Health Secretary, would strongly resist any further changes, with Mr Clegg likely to be put under pressure to “reign in” his party rather than allow them any more concessions." – The Times (£)
Tim Montgomerie: Cameron’s secret weapon: his predecessors
"If Mr Hague is the McKinsey Foreign Secretary, as The Economist has called him, clinically mastering his brief, IDS is very much the streetwise and gutsy Welfare Secretary. He understands the drug, gang and economic problems that combine to blight Britain’s most deprived areas. He also understands that the nation is suffering from more than a few bad policies." – Tim Montgomerie, in the Times (£)
> From yesterday – Thomas Byrne on Comment: The idea that David Cameron is right wing is a joke to most Tories. The voters aren't laughing.
Danny Kruger: The crises of the summer require deep societal analysis
"Politicians need to show they are “in touch” with people’s concerns over jobs, prices and public services. But the problem is deeper than that. We have lost touch with the virtues that sustain such day-to-day matters. Duty, prudence, fortitude – these words sound Victorian only because the Victorians lauded them, and we don’t. As the philosopher Edward Skidelsky says, they are “the natural excellences of the species”, the best that human beings are capable of and our true purpose." – Danny Kruger, in the FT (£)
> Yesterday on ToryDiary: The politics of the squeeze
Philip Johnston: Liam Fox should be proud to be a Nimby
"Those ministers who think people worried about the impact of housing on their villages and rural surroundings are “nihilists” should explain why they are any different from Dr Fox. They, too, concede that new homes are needed – but question why they are not being built on brownfield sites close to existing towns insead of ruining the countryside. Yes, they may be Nimbies – but who else is going to protect and preserve what we have left? Dr Fox should be proud to be one." – Philip Johnston, in the Daily Telegraph
Lib Dems propose binge-drinking tax
"The Liberal Democrats are examining plans for a “per drink surcharge” that will help pay for extra police, street cleaners and cover the cost of treating alcohol-related health problems." - Daily Telegraph
Labour could be ruined by proposed cap on political donations
"The independent standards watchdog is said to have agreed to recommend a new limit on donations, introducing an annual cap with figures ranging from £50,000 to £10,000 being considered. Such a move, in an attempt to clean up political funding, would end the six- and seven-figure donations to the Labour party from its union sponsors, as well as the Tories' reliance on the richest city financiers." - Guardian
Labour wasted tens of thousands of pounds on African drum lessons for civil servants - Daily Mail
Net migration hit by fall in Britons emigrating – The Times (£)
Home ownership in England is set to fall to its lowest level since the mid-1980s - BBC
And finally… Celebrity Big Brother reject Sally Bercow snubbed by BBC and Sky
"The brassy, publicity-loving wife of the Speaker of the Commons said that she was "desperate" to be reunited with her children, Jemima, two, Freddie, four, and Oliver, six. Happily, thanks to The BBC News Channel and Sky News, she will have plenty of time to be with them in the future. The former banned her from reviewing the newspapers for them in the evenings for being "too overtly political"."- Daily Telegraph
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