Teck Khong on Platform: NHS reform must tackle the fundamental flaws in its management, its funding, and the maintenance of professional standards
- Eric Pickles urges councils to axe 'non-jobs' and share back office functions
- Boris launches "Edible Estates"
Parliament: Gove shifts education spending from buildings and quangoes to teachers and deprived areas
School building programme scrapped in latest round of cuts
"Michael Gove today cancelled Labour's school building programme, suspending projects for 715 new schools as part of the coalition's latest tranche of spending cuts, which also saw funding culled for new housing projects, school swimming pools and eco-towns." - Guardian
> WATCH: Michael Gove says Labour's schools building project costs three times average private sector project
Unions are warning of strikes after the government confirmed plans to change civil service redundancy payments - BBC
"The Daily Mail revealed yesterday that ministers are considering fresh legislation to make it harder for militants to organise damaging walkouts in protest at cuts in public services. The move is designed to head off union threats of a national strike. It provoked fury from union chiefs. Bob Crow, general secretary of the Rail, Maritime and Transport union, described it as a 'declaration of war on the trade union movement.' The Trades Union Congress also slammed the plans as 'anti-democratic' and accused the Government of trying to 'demonise' unions and their members in Britain." - Daily Mail
Tory rebels hold secret talks with Labour to spike Clegg referendum - Daily Mail
"In the long term, when Labour revives, as eventually it surely will, AV could become a poison pill for the Conservatives. If this big gamble goes wrong, future Tory leaders may live to curse David Cameron. He could open the way to many years of Labour-Lib Dem coalitions, a more natural ideological match than the present pairing... David Cameron risks writing himself into history as the man who paid for his own turn at power by crippling his successors far into the future." - Max Hastings in the Daily Mail
"Cameron can live with the referendum. The big project for him and Osborne is the economy and the reform of public services in which they hope their so-called big society replaces the state. I doubt if either will be too disturbed by a relatively minor change in the voting system while Lib Dems support their ideological crusade." - Steve Richards in The Independent
"AV represents a meddlesome response which promises a marginal change, one that could hamper effective government with only a small benefit in terms of more representative democracy. It deals with the problem of Liberal Democrat under-representation, but not Conservative under-representation. It does not make a truly meaningful step towards PR, but it does increase the likelihood of a coalition administration. The coalition Government is hanging together well, and is not yet paralysed by infighting. But that may be a rare anomaly: it is driven by the emergency presented by the deficit and the need for fiscal consolidation. This hung parliament is working, so far. It should hardly be the ambition of electoral reform to produce a system less likely to deliver an outright winner." - Times leader (£)
John Prescott calls for Labour to fight against AV - Express
> Yesterday's ToryDiary: Clegg announces fixed term parliaments, equalisation of constituency size and a May 2011 vote on AV
William Hague "could turn out to be the most powerful foreign secretary in recent memory" - Philip Stephens in the FT (£)
Hague ready to reshuffle UK ambassadors - Independent
Andrew Tyrie warns that financial regulatory changes may be being made 'on the hoof' - The new Chairman of the Treasury Select Committee gives his first interview since being elected to the FT (£)
Sir Alan Budd to leave the Office for Budget Responsibility - Telegraph
580 guests including Liz Hurley attended Tories' Summer Fundraiser - Times (£)
Scottish Tories 'may change name as part of party's review'- Scotsman
Scotland is taking more than its share of funds
"The budgets for the devolved administrations will be decided as part of this autumn’s spending review. At a time of great fiscal strain there is an understandable reluctance to open up complex negotiations on calculating need across the countries of the UK. The government might feel such an exercise will lead to more spending for the devolved governments and should not be started when the deficit is so high. But in fact, reform of the Barnett formula could make the system fairer – particularly to the English regions – and save the taxpayer more than £3bn a year." - David Miles and Gerald Holtham in the FT (£)
The Queen may be worth every penny but the £1.2m Royal Train should go - The Sun Says
Iraq war planning happened too late, says ex-Labour minister - BBC
And finally... Tourists love kissing Boris
"Mop-haired Boris Johnson, London’s Tory Mayor, turns out to be a nothing short of a blond bombshell. His Madame Tussauds waxwork is kissed more often than even George Clooney’s or David Beckham’s. Twilight movie heart-throb Robert Pattinson is the most kissed star at the museum, with Harry Potter actor Daniel Radcliffe coming a close second." - Express
ToryDiary: Jeremy Hunt is the man to beat in the race to succeed David Cameron, says Matthew d'Ancona
Melanchthon on CentreRight: "I am not anti-gay or homophobic. I simply believe that sex outside marriage (including homosexual sex) is immoral. You are free to disagree with me - I could be mistaken, of course. But don't try to smear me and make people hate or fear me by alleging, falsely, that I hate or fear them."
WATCH: Memorable Republican ad portrays greedy government eating America
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