Background to this video on LeftWatch: Does Nick Clegg really represent change?
ToryDiary: Canvassers are least likely to meet Nick Clegg's young voters (and they're also the least likely to vote)
Chris Neal on Platform: The policies offered by the Lib Dems today would squash aspiration and tax success in order to perpetuate big government
LeftWatch: The Liberal Democrat commitment to scrap the pound would be "catastrophic" for Britain
And also, from Paul Goodman, on ToryDiary: "Ken Clarke's the man to look the voters in the eye, and ask them if they really want the certainty of collapse under Brown, or the chance of recovery under Cameron."
Local government: The battle for Bradford... for Calderdale... and for Southampton
WATCH:
"Gordon Brown appealed yesterday for a "progressive alliance" of natural Labour and Liberal Democrat supporters to join forces to keep the Conservative Party out of power. In an interview with The Independent, Mr Brown said his new "mission" and "offer" to the British people was the creation of a "new politics" after the MPs' expenses scandal." - Independent
Clegg rejects 'desperate' Brown's bid to form anti-Tory alliance with Lib Dems - Daily Mail
> Yesterday evening's LeftWatch: Brown declares ambition to create "anti-Tory alliance"
"High-level cabinet disagreements are starting to emerge over the conduct of Labour's campaign, including how open the party should be to the idea of a coalition with the Liberal Democrats after the election, the Guardian has learned."
Is the Liberal Democrats a party for middle-class rebels or lefties? - Daniel Finkelstein in The Times
David Cameron turns his attention to Nick Clegg"David Cameron has decided to turn his big guns away from Gordon Brown in the final two weeks of the election campaign, reflecting his view that the poll has become a straight fight with Nick Clegg, the Liberal Democrat leader. Conservative strategists said Mr Brown has become “irrelevant” to the election, Labour’s campaign is failing and the party’s morale on the ground has “completely collapsed”." - FT
Shocked Nick Clegg feared he had 'fluffed' first TV leaders' debate - Guardian
The blueprint for Nick Clegg's top-secret TV debate strategy has been found in the back of a cab
Full story in The Sun.
Cameron targets welfare state "Anyone who refuses to sign up to one of the programmes will see their Jobseekers’ Allowance (JSA) slashed, Cameron said, while the long-term unemployed will have to do community service in exchange for benefits." - City AM
"David Cameron vowed yesterday a Tory government would axe unemployment benefits for people who shirk work. But those eager to get jobs would be given all the help they needed. Mr Cameron said: "We cannot go on as we are, paying people who could work but who refuse to do so." - The Sun
Grayling notes that Alan Johnson fails to repeat Gordon Brown's police pledge
"The home secretary has refused to guarantee police numbers would not fall if Labour won the general election. Alan Johnson was challenged during a "yes, no" section of BBC Two's Daily Politics Election Debate. Shadow home secretary Chris Grayling said Gordon Brown had been caught out as he had made that exact commitment during the first TV debate last week." - BBC
Chris Grayling issues apology for anti-gay sympathies - Belfast Telegraph
Simon Heffer: Clegg is the new novelty charlatan"The post of novelty charlatan was previously held by Mr Cameron. He established his claim to it when he sought the leadership of his party in 2005, with a performance of equivalent meretriciousness and vacuousness to that executed by Mr Clegg. He now knows how David Davis felt: elbowed aside by somebody more glamorous, more novel, more manipulative, less contaminated by the past." - Simon Heffer in The Telegraph
Independent Tory banned from using old party logo in Bromsgrove - Birmingham Mail | Yesterday's ToryDiary
Liam Fox would renegotiate defence contracts in order to deliver “better value for money” - FT
Generals back Nick Clegg on Trident - Times
David Cameron raises £1.45m, twice as much as Labour - Telegraph
"A Tory source refused to comment on suggestions that the party still needed to collect £3m from supporters. But he added: "We are continuing to raise money through the campaign, because we have to." - Independent
Tories line up Next chief Simon Wolfson for seat in the Lords - Telegraph
Alex Salmond has urged electors in Scotland to vote SNP and achieve a "balanced parliament" - BBC
And finally... ConHome spoofs in The Guardian
Melanchthon on CentreRight: Push Labour down to the low 20s and the Conservatives can still win
ToryDiary: Electoral Commission ordered by courts to stop independent use of old Tory torchElection gallery: New photograph of Cameron on the stump, Samantha Cameron at a Tickets for Troops fundraiser and a new Scottish Tories poster
Local government: Wandsworth Conservatives launch manifesto - and YouTube campaign
Harry Phibbs on CentreRight: Nick Clegg airbrushed lobbying job from his CV
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