Wednesday, 13 June 2012


Osborne says for the first time that Greece may need to leave the Euro if it is to survive

"George Osborne risked infuriating Brussels chiefs by openly speculating that Greece could be forced to quit the euro last night."Speaking to business leaders, the Chancellor said: “I ultimately don’t know whether Greece needs to leave the euro in order for the eurozone to do the things necessary to make their currency survive. I just don’t know whether the German government requires Greek exit to explain to their public why they need to do certain things like a banking union, euro bonds and things in common with that.” - Daily Express

  • Anonymous Cabinet Minister says that all EU policy options "are on the table" - including withdrawal - The Sun
  • EU admits discussing plans to limit withdrawals from cash machines and impose border checks if Greece quits euro -Daily Mail
  • Britain opposes EU Commission banking plan - Daily Express
  • Falkland Islanders to have referendum on whether to stay British - The Sun 
  • Scottish independence: Fresh doubts over voice within sterlingzone - Scotsman
  • Cameron's spokesman says that British voters don't want an referendum on whether to stay in the EU now - Daily Telegraph
  • I will keep Greece in the eurozone and restore growth - Alexis Tsipras, Syriza leader, Financial Times (£)
  • If you want out, don’t demand a vote too soon - Daniel Finkelstein, The Times (£)

Chancellor says businesses must be vocal and make the case for lower taxes or the Government will be unable to cut the top rate of income tax to 40p - Daily Telegraph

Crispin Blunt says churches may be obliged to conduct gay marriages after all

Blunt Crispin" ‘We’re seeking to protect, indeed, proscribe religious organisations from offering gay marriage,’ said Mr Blunt… ‘That may be problematic legally, but the proposal the Government are putting forward is that marriage should be equal in the eyes of the state whether it’s between a same-sex couple or between a man and a woman. We’ll have to see what happens with that.’ Mr Blunt’s comments appear to undermine reassurances from both Downing Street and Home Secretary Theresa May yesterday that churches will not be aff ected by the law." - Daily Mail

  • Cameron presented with 500,000 petition of people who are against gay marriage - Daily Express
  • Poll finds that 63 Conservative MPs would vote for gay marriage and 44 against (and that the Commons would vote for it by four to one) - The Independent
  • Alan Duncan is "implacably opposed" to gay marriage - Andrew Pierce, Daily Mail
  • The marriage of church and state is anything but gay - Simon Jenkins, The Guardian
  • Gay marriage is a threat to the bonds of Church and state - George Carey, Daily Telegraph

> Yesterday: ToryDiary - The great Tory gay marriage mess

Maude to reduce the size of the civil service by a quarter

"Tens of thousands more civil servants face losing their jobs over the next three years under sweeping reforms which will see the size of Whitehall slashed by a quarter, ministers were told yesterday. Underperforming bureaucrats will be sacked or go unreplaced when they retire under plans to reduce the number of civil servants to around 380,000 by 2015. This is down 25 per cent from the 500,000 employed when the Coalition took over in 2010." - Daily Mail

Chris Skidmore MP says that the case of the foreign patient who fled Britain without paying the NHS his £500,000 cost for treatment is "the tip of the iceberg" - Daily Mail

Britain has no plans for military action against Syria, says Hague

"Britain is not seeking foreign military intervention in Syria,  but is focused on finding a peaceful resolution to the current unrest,  Foreign Secretary William Hague said today. Mr Hague said the situation in the troubled Middle Eastern state is more similar to Bosnia in the 1990s than to Libya last year, when Britain joined an international military operation to protect civilians during the revolution which ousted Muammar Gaddafi." - The Independent

> Yesterday: MPsETC - Rifkind calls for arms embargo to be lifted for Syrian rebels

Winsor attacks police mindset - The Independent 

Major says Murdoch DID tell politicians what to do

John Major 2010"Sir John said that Mr Murdoch had told him at a private dinner in February 1997 that his newspapers would not support him at the general election unless he changed his policy on Europe. “As I recall, he used the word ‘we’ when referring to his newspapers,” Sir John said. “He didn’t make the usual nod to editorial independence.” Mr Murdoch told the inquiry in April he had never “asked a prime minister for anything”." - The Times (£)

  • Major blasts Gordon Brown ‘smears’ - The Sun
  • "He gave a master class in how to be an ex-prime minister. He was gracious, self-deprecating, and generous to his opponents. Oh, he praised himself to the skies as well (economically his government had been the most successful in history and on Black Wednesday we didn't lose billions; it was more like sixpence). But for the most part he was as cuddly as a teddy bear topped with silver fluff." - Simon Hoggart, The Guardian
  • "His appearance was a reminder that, despite that thumping election defeat in 1997, he was skilled in the thrusts and parries of controlled dialectic. A good committee man. A fixer. One of life’s chess players." - Quentin Letts, Daily Mail
  • Miliband: Break up Murdoch's empire - Daily Express

> Yesterday:

Four thousand members of the armed forces received notices of termination yesterday - The Independent

Louise Mensch: Toxic trolls should have no hiding place

Screen shot 2012-06-13 at 08.20.33"The Government yesterday introduced new laws to encourage websites and internet service providers to surrender the identity of those posting abuse or libel…My troll, Zimmerman, was a repeat offender targeting women. I hope that he uses the suspended sentence to get some therapy, and that the publicity surrounding the case will deter others. Ultimately, the internet is just another form of communication; once that is accepted, including by service providers and social media, trolling will lessen." - Louise Mensch, Daily Telegraph

Grayling claims that up to half of 'jobless' may be working in the black economy as thousands forfeit their handouts -Daily Mail 

Parents' access rights after divorce enshrined in law - The Guardian 

Almost nine out of 10 say they want fewer politicians at Stormont... or none at all - Belfast Telegraph 

PM returns to pub where he forgot daughter - Daily Mail

Posted by Britannia Radio at 20:26