Nadine v Boles

How the Cooperative Party Helped Nigel Farage | Mark Pack
Shakespeare’s Open Data Vision for Government | Guardian
Huhne Sentence Sends Out Soft Message | Michael Heaver
I Want to Be a Joint Tory/UKIP Candidate | Nadine Dorries
Labour is Broke | Dan Hodges
Labour Falls to 3 Point Poll Lead | The Commentator
Why UK is Better Off Out | Rory Broomfield
Sack Shapps | Andrew Gimson
Our Welfare State is Unsustainable | City AM
Labour: The Anti-Referendum Party | Dan Hodges
Dave’s Euro Madness | Iain Martin

Last year Ed Miliband said:

“This new leadership is sorely needed as Europe seeks to escape from austerity. And it matters to Britain. Francois Hollande has shown that the centre-left can offer hope and win elections with a vision of a better, more equal and just world.”

“We got on extremely well… He’s a very serious person. We talked about growth and austerity in Europe and how we can tilt the direction of where Europe is going.”

WEDNESDAY, MAY 15, 2013

Nadine v Boles

Tories are pointing out that Nadine’s plan to stand as a joint Tory/UKIP candidate at the next election is not going to happen and that she is being very naughty.
Guido recalls that the outrage was a lot quieter when Nick Boles made a similar point back in the more optimistic golden days of the Coalition.
He even wrote a book suggesting a formal pact.
All be it with the LibDems…

1.6 Mi££ion Reasons For Ed to Back a Referendum

Miliband’s decision to cast Labour as the anti-referendum party will have upset one multi-millionaire donor in particular. John Mills is the founder of the JML shopping channel and the most prominent Labour leaning co-chairman ofBusiness for Britain, he is also the major backer of the new Eurosceptic Labour for a Referendumgroup.

He has called for ”soul-searching and internal review” of Labour’s Europe policy, in no uncertain terms:

“While we differ on other policy areas, David Cameron should be congratulated for laying down markers on how the EU needs to change along the lines of flexibility and fairness to boost competitiveness… 

Mills gave £1.6 million worth of shares in his company to the Labour Party in January this year. Finally Ed finds some non-union support, with an agenda of his own…

UPDATE: Friends of John Mills say he is a Eurosceptic, however Labour for a Referendum is Euro-put-the-issue-to-bed-ist.

Glad we cleared that up…

Private Eye Lift Dodgy Story

(Click here to enlarge)

Well done to Private Eye for reading a story in the unpopular parts of the blogosphere, not bothering to check it, running it and subsequently discovering it was a poorly researched, lazy hatchet job with no basis in reality.
So not only second hand news, but second hand news that was wrong.
Are they even trying any more? 

Tory Source: ConHome Attacker “Pretty Out Of It”

A tetchy piece on ConservativeHome this morning by their new Contributing Editor called for Grant Shapps to be replaced as Tory Chairman. Putting the boot in, former Telegraph hack Andrew Gimson, concluded: “To leave Shapps there for the next two years would be to insult a party which already feels it has been insulted enough.”Tory sources are kicking back this afternoon, suggesting that the piece makes ConHome’s new hire “look pretty out of it”:

“Shapps should have a word. He’s pretty much the only minister taking the heat for the government at the moment. That piece makes Gimson look pretty out of it.”

Punchy…

WATCH: Clegg Skewered On That Referendum Leaflet

One moment of amusement during today’s extremely dull, long, Deputy PMQs was Edward Leigh thoroughly embarrassing Clegg over that in/out referendum leaflet.

 

Painful.

DPMQs LIVE: Where’s Dave? Edition

Dave has decided that touring the States on a bus with Prince Harry is more important than allowing himself to be held to account in parliament. Despite the events of the past week. That means, farcically, it falls to Clegg and Harman to agree with each other across the despatch box this lunchtime. Comments in the comments please…

WATCH: Gove a Bit Too on Message

When Dave’s away…

Parliament’s Literary Secrets

The Men in Tights’ favourite method for blocking the release of awkward information about MPs is citing the Data Protection Act over and over again. Regardless of the fact that the Commons library is funded by the taxpayer, Guido has been told Parliament will not publish the names of books loaned by individual MPs over the last few months. Apparently letting the public know what MPs are doing with their money is a breach of those Honourable Members’ privacy.
Sadly, that means Guido cannot reveal the name of the curious MP who rented – and has not returned – rent boy scandal MP Mark Oaten’s“Screwing Up”, or the fact-finding digger who took out – and kept – Tim Tate’s “Child Pornography: an Investigation”. We will never know the names of the three MPs who are struggling to finish Janan Ganesh’s Osborne biography, they haven’t returned “The Austerity Chancellor” after several months’ hard work. Nor, of course, the would-be red-faced rookies who needed the low down on “How Parliament Works”,and thought it best to keep on to their copy, just in case.  As for the name of the MP who felt the need to lift “The Jew is Not My Enemy”? Guess we’ll never know if the recommendation was on the orders of Nick Clegg…

Unemployment Figures in Full

The line Labour types will be pushing today, the January to March figures compared with the previous three months:
And the saving grace for Osborne, this month compared to last:
Select as per partisan preference. Those figures in full here. Essentially little has changed…

Le Triple Dip For Hollibande

Socialist France has fallen into a triple dip recession this morning, Francois Hollande marks his first anniversary of being sworn in with his economy shrinking by 0.2% in the first quarter this year. One thing you won’t be hearing this side of the channel today is any more talk from Ed Miliband of a “united front” with France’s enterprise-destroying tax-obsessed corruption hit growth killer. Nothing of last summer’s Hollibande agreement for a “different way forward”, or Ed’s ill-fated praise for the French leader’s “determination to create jobs and growth”. Come 2015, don’t say they didn’t warn you…

See also:

• After Merkozy, Whatever Happened to Hollibande?