William Hague: "We are in the death throes of a despicable regime, but it’s not over yet"
"Britain is likely to provide help in clearing landmines and mentoring Libyan police but not to send peacekeeping troops, William Hague said yesterday. Britain has put aside £20 million for immediate assistance, the Foreign Secretary said". -The Times (£)
"On Monday, David Cameron had already spoken with UN secretary general Ban Ki-moon and the pair agreed a new UN resolution should be explored which would make it legal to transfer to the rebels Libyan assets currently frozen." - Guardian
- SAS troopers help co-ordinate rebel attacks in Libya - Guardian
- Col Gaddafi vows death or victory - Daily Telegraph
- Our job in Libya is done. We must not send a single British soldier into this mayhem - Max Hastings, in the Daily Mail
- The end of Gaddafi is welcome. But it does not justify the means - Simon Jenkins, in the Guardian
- Daily Mail editorial: Don’t let Tripoli turn into another Baghdad
> From yesterday:
Daniel Finkelstein: We were right to attack Libya
"David Cameron made a brave, humane and balanced judgment to intervene in Libya when many others would not have done. He can take satisfaction from the fact that, as a result of his leadership in Nato, many people will not die young who would have done so. He and the other Nato leaders have saved some Libyans from the killing that we know Gaddafi is capable of, because he has done it to us. And it is that, and not the fall of the regime, that vindicates the Prime Minister." - Daniel Finkelstein, in the Times (£)
Nick Clegg defends David Cameron for going on holiday
"The Deputy Prime Minister spoke after taking the Prime Minister’s place as chairman of the National Security Committee dealing with Libya. ... The Deputy Prime Minister insisted that there was nothing wrong with Mr Cameron’s decision to return to Cornwall, saying that the Government could deal with the Libyan situation without him." - Daily Telegraph
Backbench Tories urge George Osborne to go for growth
"Backbench Tory leaders are becoming increasingly jittery about the country's flatlining economy and fear it could cast a shadow over the party's annual conference in October. They are pressing the Chancellor to trail a go-for-growth package in his conference speech to counteract problems beyond his control in the eurozone and the United States." - Independent
MPs criticise banks for attempting to scrap cheques - Independent
- MPs call for watchdog role after cheques row - The FT (£)
Ken Clarke vows to end soft community punishment
"Ken Clarke will today promise to end the scandal of criminals on community punishments ‘sitting idle at home watching daytime TV’. Under new rules, convicts given a community sentence will have to work a minimum of 28 hours a week, including ‘hard manual labour’." - Daily Mail
- Jobless offenders to be subject to five-day workweek - The FT (£)
- Criminals to do eight hours a day of hard labour -Daily Telegraph
- A police force is to close half its stations because of cuts - Daily Telegraph
Crispin Blunt: The riots were a one-off event
"Prisons Minister Crispin Blunt has said the disturbances in English cities earlier this month were a "one-off" event. Mr Blunt said the justice system could cope in the short-term and there would be no long-term effect on the prison population. Last Friday the prison population hit a new record largely driven by the riots." - BBC
James Clappison MP: People arrested on riot-related offences could face "rushed justice"
"People arrested on riot-related offences could face "rushed justice" because of the pressure on police and the courts after the UK riots, the Conservative MP and senior member of the Commons home affairs committee James Clappison has warned." - Guardian
> Yesterday on Comment: James Clappison MP responds to comments on his previous article
Greg Clark accuses the National Trust of "nihilistic selfishness" on planning
"Greg Clark, the planning minister, said that the Trust and other charities are being irresponsible by opposing Government plans to streamline planning rules. ... The move is central to Coalition efforts to boost Britain’s economic growth by cutting regulation and red tape. However, the draft national planning framework has met fierce resistance from rural campaigners, who say it will make it much easier for developers to build on greenbelt land and in other rural areas." - Daily Telegraph
> From yesterday - LISTEN: Greg Clark MP: All current environmental protections are contained in the new planning framework
Asylum seekers cost Britain £2million a day
"Britain's chaotic asylum system has cost taxpayers £2.3million a day in the last decade. Around 77 per cent who claimed asylum between 1997 and 2010 are still here. ... Immigration Minister Damian Green said: "The asylum system we inherited was hopelessly chaotic. Last year we reduced the total bill for asylum support by over £100million and it is falling further."" - The Sun
Chris Grayling publishes list of ten most bizarre health and safety bans
"Chris Grayling, the employment minister, is publishing a list of the 10 “most bizarre” health and safety bans which have come to light since he took office just over a year ago. Top of the list is the decision by the Wimbledon authorities to close Murray Mount after it rained, amid fears that tennis spectators would slip over. Bans on pins to secure poppies and the halting of children’s sack races are also ridiculed." - Daily Telegraph
Ann Widdecombe: Cameron should ignore Clegg on human rights
"...Britain is thoroughly fed up with what he has rightly described as the “wrong-headed ideas, bureaucratic nonsense and destructive culture” of the human rights laws without which we managed perfectly well until Blair decided to take us in to this silly convention. It will not be Nick Clegg whose vote the PM will need at the next election but that of the British public. He should tell his wimpish coalition partner just that and take some immediate and decisive action." - Ann Widdecombe, in the Daily Express
Tories and News International face inquiry over Coulson
"The Electoral Commission has been asked to investigate payments made to Andy Coulson by News International after he left his job as editor of News of the World to become David Cameron's spin doctor." - The Scotsman
Ken Livingstone campaign forced to remove image of Boris Johnson's family home from website
"Blogger(s) Guido Fawkes pointed out that a team photo of nerdy young Labour volunteers in Islington, where the party just won a council by-election, was snapped outside Johnson's house, thus identifying his family home. ... Following Guido's complaint, it was taken down." - Independent
Welsh language activist who trashed Jonathan Evans MP's office is jailed - BBC
Hillsborough e-petition may lead to parliamentary debate
"An e-petition calling for the immediate release of Cabinet Office documents relating to the 1989 Hillsborough disaster has gained more than 110,000 signatures, forcing the government to consider a parliamentary debate. ... Now that the e-petition has reached more than 100,000 signatures, the government is obliged to respond." - Guardian
> Yesterday on Parliament: E-petition launched to review the smoking ban - and the 10 most popular e-petitions so far
Hunting ban put to test as four face court in landmark case - Daily Telegraph
Whitehall "cover-up on unwed mothers" - Daily Mail
Speed cameras "do not cut accidents"... they create them, study finds - Daily Mail
- The Sun is glad the figures "for the first time confirm what many already suspected - that too many speed cameras are there just to milk motorists." - The Sun Says
And finally... Prison inmates paint Jacqui Smith's home
"Jacqui Smith, the former home secretary, arranged for two day-release prisoners to paint her home when they should have been doing community work. They were diverted to her house in Redditch, Worcestershire by a charity overseeing their work, it was reported. Miss Smith later made a donation to the charity. The Ministry of Justice said last night that it was a “mistake” and that a “full internal investigation” had been launched." - Daily Telegraph
Posts
