ToryDiary: Clegg and Cable point to Coalition tensions over banking reform
Also on ToryDiary: Tim Loughton restores the Queen's portrait at the Department for Education
Azeem Ibrahim on Platform: Only private enterprise can get the economy back on track - so the Government must do more to boost it
Robert Halfon MP on CentreRight: Conservatives should reform First Past The Post
Local Government: Somerset Council outlines plans for savings
Answering ConHome's Twenty Questions for the Class of 2010, David Nuttall MP explains why he'd like to run the Foreign Office: "I could immediately bring forward a Bill to have a referendum on our continued membership of the European Union. It is expensive, all pervasive and in my opinion we would be far better off outside the European Union. We could still agree to act in unison where it was necessary to do so but as things stand it boils down to other countries constantly telling this country what to do."
Parliament: Matthew Elliott of the TaxPayers' Alliance infiltrates the House of Commons chamber
Michael Gove picks the winner of our Yes, Prime Minister competition
David Cameron mourns his "inspirational" father
"David Cameron was last night mourning the loss of his father, who died yesterday after suffering a stroke on holiday. The Prime Minister dashed to the south of France after being told in a 6am phone call from his mother that 'The Dad,' as he called Ian Cameron, was seriously ill. He arrived at the hospital bedside of his 77-year-old father - the man he described as his role model and 'a huge hero figure' - shortly before he died." - Daily Mail
"He only arrived before his father's death because the French President, Nicolas Sarkozy, arranged for a helicopter to meet the flight and rush him to his father's hospital. Ian Cameron, a retired stockbroker, was born with severely deformed legs and underwent several operations as a child to straighten them. His legs were amputated in later life, forcing him to use a wheelchair to move around. He was also blind in one eye." - The Independent
"From the moment that he won the leadership in December 2005, David Cameron laid claim to his father’s sense of optimism. In developing the theme in a television interview before the election this year, he hinted at another connected, attractive characteristic: a strong appetite for life. For his father, he said, the glass was not just half-full; it was overflowing, “normally with something pretty alcoholic”. - The Times (£)
> Yesterday's Gazette: Ian Cameron, the Prime Minister's father, has died
Parliament to debate claims MPs' phones were tapped
"Parliament is to debate allegations that MPs had their mobile phones hacked into by News of the World journalists. Tessa Jowell and Chris Bryant are among Labour MPs who say they were targeted. The role of No 10 aide Andy Coulson, who has repeatedly denied he was aware of the practice when he was editor, dominated prime minister's questions." - BBC
"Sir George Young, the Leader of the House, has the power to halt today’s proceedings on the floor of the Commons. He will, however, wave them through because the allegations being debated relate to parliamentary privilege. It will then be up to the standards and privileges committee, chaired by the Labour MP Kevin Barron, to decide its terms of reference for an inquiry." - The Times (£)
Phone hacking was rife at News of the World, claims new witness - The Guardian
> Yesterday in Parliament: John Bercow allows debate on Andy Coulson and News of the World
> Yesterday's ToryDiary on PMQs
Benedict Brogan: These are troubled times for the Coalition, but worse is to come
"All this turbulence is nothing compared with what will hit the Coalition next month when George Osborne unveils his Comprehensive Spending Review (CSR) – at that point, all hell will break loose. "We are in a canoe paddling down the Zambezi, and Victoria Falls lie dead ahead. Once we've gone over the edge, none of this will matter," one leading Cameroon told me. The edge, for those at Westminster who worry about it, is the moment we discover just how bad the cuts are going to be." - Benedict Brogan in the Daily Telegraph
Spending cuts "will hit North harder" - BBC
Max Hastings: These cuts could leave Britain defended by rowing boats, Airfix jets and Girl Guides - Daily Mail
Nick Clegg to warn of "painful" spending decisions ahead...
"The Government will reveal "painful" decisions when it publishes the findings of its Spending Review on October 20, Nick Clegg will warn later. In a speech at the Institute for Government, the Deputy Prime Minister will say that the "guiding purpose of the Coalition is to govern for the long term - to take the necessary steps now to ensure a fairer and more prosperous future." - Sky News
...but propose extension of taxpayer funding of political parties
"Nick Clegg will propose a shake-up today of the way politics is funded, including a controversial extension of taxpayers' support for political parties. But the Liberal Democrats' long-standing backing for greater state funding could cause tension within the Coalition as Tory ministers fear a public backlash. "It would be the worst possible time to do this when we are making big spending cuts and after the MPs' expenses affair," one said." - The Independent
Owen Paterson calls on Sinn Fein to write a parliamentary oath they would be willing to swear
"Yesterday it emerged that Northern Ireland Secretary Owen Paterson has written to the party asking it to come up with an 'alternative text' that would allow its MPs to take their seats... He told the Commons Northern Ireland affairs committee: 'There is no reason for them to stay away. I have said if the oath is an obstacle, come to me with an alternative text, we already do it for people who are not Christians. So far they have not, the ball is in their court'... In the run-up to the election the Tories pledged to scrap Sinn Fein's expenses if they continued their boycott of Westminster." - Daily Mail
Theresa May: Extradition treaty review will take a year
"A review of Britain's extradition treaty with the US and other jurisdictions will not be completed until the end of next summer, the Home Secretary announced yesterday. The Coalition's inquiry would consider whether the UK-US treaty was "unbalanced" and would also look at the breadth of the Home Secretary's discretion to intervene in cases, Theresa May said." - The Independent
Government climbdown on detention of children in immigration centres - The Guardian
Andrew Lansley challenged by Stephen Dorrell on health shake-up
"Andrew Lansley, the health secretary, needs to show how the commissioning of health service care will be improved by handing GPs control of up to £80bn in funding, says Stephen Dorrell, the Conservative former health minister who chairs the Commons health committee. “The key question”, Mr Dorrell said in an interview with the Financial Times on Wednesday, was whether the plans “address the weaknesses of NHS commissioning as it has been developed over the last 20 years”. - FT (£)
William Hague says that axing small embassies would be a false economy...
"Closing dozens of small embassies to save money would be a "false economy", William Hague has told MPs. The foreign secretary said the UK got "value for money" out of the Foreign Office (FCO) whose spending was less than that of Kent County Council.... He also played down reports the BBC's Burmese service could be axed in spending cuts." - BBC
...as he pledges not to forget the case of Sakineh Mohammadi Ashtiani
"The British Government pledged to keep fighting for Sakineh Mohammadi Ashtiani last night as the campaign to save her from death by stoning for adultery gained greater momentum. "Britain will not forget Ms Ashtiani’s case, nor will scrutiny of the human rights situation in Iran diminish with time. We will continue to call on Iran to meet its international obligations,” William Hague, the Foreign Secretary, told The Times." - The Times (£)
Eric Pickles hands audit work to NAO
"The assessment of value for money in local government and health, currently run by the Audit Commission, is to be handed to the National Audit Office, Eric Pickles has announced. The NAO will also oversee the audit of council and NHS bodies." - FT (£)
More names in the frame for the bonfire of quangocrats - Daily Mail
Boundary changes may help Tories at Holyrood
"Analysis of sweeping constituency boundary changes by Lancaster University’s Professor David Denver ahead of next May’s crucial Holyrood Parliament elections suggests that if the alterations had been in force for the 2007 contests, the Conservatives would have had three more MSPs." - The Herald
The four million households where nobody works
"Nearly one in five households in Britain has no one who works and is entirely dependent on taxpayer-funded handouts, shocking figures revealed last night. In an indictment of the “shameful” benefits legacy left by Labour, the number of workless households rocketed by 148,000 last year to just under four million." - Daily Express
Taxpayers forced to pay extra for HMRC blunder - Daily Telegraph
Philip Blond questions the scrapping of Child Trust Funds - The Scotsman
Unions have donated £500,000 to Ed Miliband's campaign - The Sun
Labour to enforce quota system to ensure third of shadow cabinet are women
"Labour MPs last night voted to introduce a controversial quota system to ensure that almost a third of the party’s new shadow cabinet are women. The party decided to introduce a minimum threshold of 31.5 per cent, which is a partial endorsement of controversial proposals by acting leader Harriet Harman, who wanted at least half of its senior figures to be female... The figure of 31.5 per cent was chosen because it is the proportion of women MPs across the whole of the Parliamentary party." - Daily Mail
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