ToryDiary: How Cameron can show more ♥ to his party
George Freeman MP on Platform: Prince Charles is leading the way with a new model of funding rural community regeneration
Harry Phibbs on Local government: Gove's free schools could be scuppered by School Admissions CodeMark Wallace on Local government: Council officer on £155,000 writes poem on evils of money
Also on Local government: Government condemns LGA's call for higher councillor allowances
"Defence Secretary Liam Fox is to argue for the UK having well-equipped armed forces, capable of intervening abroad whenever necessary. In a speech to the Chatham House policy think tank in London, he will say the UK must retain its "war-fighting edge"." - BBC
"Dr Fox will acknowledge “tough economic times” but say that the SDR will be “watched closely by our adversaries and allies alike” and that Britain cannot afford to retreat into isolationism or significantly curtail its military capabilities if it is to remain credible." - Times (£)
"A clear majority among the general public and leading opinion-formers wants a cheaper alternative to Britain’s nuclear deterrent, either by reducing the number of submarines in the system or scrapping it altogether." - FT (£)
Andrew Lansley's NHS reforms"The health secretary announced on Monday that he will scrap the 10 strategic health authorities by 2012 and the 150 primary care trusts by 2013. An independent board will regulate and supervise the hundreds of new consortia of general practitioners that will take over commissioning of care." - FT (£)
"Family doctors will have to make life-or-death decisions about how to treat their patients under one of the biggest upheavals in the history of the NHS. Andrew Lansley, the Health Secretary, was accused of making GPs the “engine of cuts” yesterday after announcing that they would be given responsibility for organising local health services at the same time as budgets are set to shrink." - Times (£)
"Mr Lansley proposes the demolition of the administrative structure put in place by Labour, with the phasing out of strategic health authorities and primary care trusts. The £80 billion a year for primary care will go straight to GPs. This is a gamble, since it is by no means clear how many of the country's 35,000 family doctors have either the inclination or the expertise to commission the care that their patients need. Those that have both will do an excellent job; those that have neither will need a new set of managers to assist them – probably the same people made redundant by the NHS at considerable cost. The Gover nment, which has ring-fenced the health budget, believes savings of £20 billion can be made by 2014 – though every previous reform has proved to be expensive." - Telegraph leader
Can the Coalition triumph on the public reform battlefield where Tony Blair was beaten? - Fraser Nelson in The Telegraph
This Tory bonfire of food health regulations lets the rich foul the poor with impunity - George Monbiot in The Guardian
The Sun gives its backing to Michael Gove"Education Secretary Michael Gove gets an early taste of the battle he faces to free schools from Leftie control. The teaching establishment, egged on by Labour bully Ed Balls, is ganging up on Mr Gove over his sensible decision to axe unaffordable school building projects. As the Education Secretary says, he is clearing up an expensive shambles created by Bigmouth Balls. Stay strong, Mr Gove. Parents are on your side." - The Sun Says
> Yesterday's ToryDiary: The lessons of The First Battle in The War of the Cuts
Coalition is ready to impose a new supertax on banks"Banks are facing a new multi-billion pound 'supertax' in order to compensate taxpayers for the vast sums lost in the financial crisis, it emerged last night. The Treasury is drawing up plans for a 'financial activity tax' which would hit bankers' bonuses and excessive profits." - Daily Mail
"I can announce that we will consult on a remuneration disclosure regime in the financial services sector. We are actively looking at the introduction of a financial activities tax and will explore the costs and benefits of such a tax on profits and remuneration. We are also asking the Financial Services Authority to examine further options in the forthcoming review of its remuneration code. We strongly support the work of central banks and regulators in developing new global rules on capital, liquidity and leverage for banks. They must be ambitious, but phased in a way that supports the economic recovery." - Mark Hoban, the Financial Secretary to the Treasury in The Guardian
"I have learned that the chief executives of the major British banks have been summoned to a meeting later this week with George Osborne and Vince Cable as the Government intensifies pressure on the industry to increase lending and reform pay practices." - Mark Kleinman for Sky News
Short jail terms 'meaningless' says Cameron - Daily Mail
"A system of first and second degree murder could be introduced after it was revealed Kenneth Clarke, the Justice Secretary, is “sympathetic” to proposals first raised four years ago. It would mean an end to mandatory life terms for all murderers because courts would be allowed to set the length of prison sentences for those guilty of the lower tier murder." - Telegraph
Why I'm concerned about the direction the Coalition is taking - Norman Tebbit in The Telegraph
Jonathan Steele: Cameron must make the case for talks with the Taliban - Guardian
"David Cameron’s signal of a five-year timetable for withdrawing British troops from Afghanistan risks encouraging the Taliban to step up their attacks on Western forces, the head of Nato has said." - Telegraph
Andrew Mitchell discusses his ambitions for the UK aid budget - Independent
The Government opened the door yesterday to stripping peers living abroad of their titles and coats of arms - Independent
Worries about UK growth"Standard & Poor's thinks there is a one-in-three chance that George Osborne's s austerity budget won't save the UK's top-notch credit rating. The government could lack the political bottle to push through its programme of cuts. Or growth could be so mediocre that the tax receipts won't arrive in time." - Nils Pratley in The Guardian
Doubts over UK private sector grow - Wall Street Journal
You can't trust UK growth statistics - Allister Heath in City AM
"Peter fell in love with himself at an early age. His tragedy is that he rarely heeds the wise advice he gives others." - David Blunkett in the Daily Mail
Ed Balls attacks Miliband family
"Ed Balls last night launched an astonishing public attack on Labour leadership rivals, David and Ed Miliband. The former Schools Secretary mocked the pair, sons of Marxist intellectual Ralph Miliband, for their upbringing in Hampstead. “I didn’t sit with senior politicians when I was eight and nine at north London parties but, you know, that’s a difference for me. I’m not sure whether it’s a strength or a weakness,” he said drawing a contrast with his own “provincial” childhood in Norwich and Nottingham." - Express
LeftWatch: Now Ed Balls says that even the cuts proposed by Labour at the election were too ambitious
WATCH: Andrew Lansley announces that GPs in England will be given control over local NHS budgets
WATCH: Andy Burnham says the "egotistical in-fighting" between Blair and Brown brought Labour into disrepute
ToryDiary: What should Downing Street learn from The First Battle in The War of The Cuts?
ToryDiary: Appointments confirmed after the restructuring of CCHQ's Campaigning Department
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