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Newslinks for Tuesday 8th February 2011

ToryDiary: Francis Maude defines and defends the Big Society

ToryDiary: Family breakdown costs the taxpayer £1,364 every year

ToryDiary: George Osborne announces £800 million extra tax on banks

David Davies MP on Comment: A layman's guide to the difference between debt and deficit - and why the Government is right to be cutting it (the deficit)

Ed Watkins on Comment: The narrow scope of the English Baccalaureate undermines Michael Gove’s credentials as a liberalising reformer

Parliament: Justine Greening confirms Treasury looking at Fair Fuel Stabiliser

Local government:

• Royal Wedding street parties can go ahead without Council charges
• Hind Essoussi: Come and help keep Brent's Kenton ward Conservative!

William Hague starts 'reform tour' in Tunisia

"William Hague will meet senior ministers in the interim government. He will go on to visit more nations in north Africa and the Middle East, and will announce new funding for projects linked to political and social reform." - BBC

Ten Tory peers back Labour amendment for 40% turnout threshold on AV referendum

"The government suffered a narrow defeat in the House of Lords on Monday night when rebel Tories joined forces with Labour peers to make the planned referendum on electoral reform non-binding if turnout falls below 40%. Labour hailed its win as highly significant after an amendment by the former minister Lord Rooker to introduce a 40% threshold in the referendum on AV, due to take place on 5 May, was backed by 219 peers to 218. The Labour peers were joined by 10 Tory rebels including the former cabinet ministers, Lord Lamont, Lord Brooke and Lord Forsyth." - Guardian

Big Society under scrutiny

• The Guardian suggests Eric Pickles vetoed 10 Downing Street plan to secure extra funding for 'Big Society groups.
• David Cameron must spell out his vision for the Big Society or see it strangled at birth, argues Philip Johnston in The Telegraph
• "Downing Street is concerned that some of its key ideas, such as the Big Society and NHS reorganisation, are becoming confused in the minds of voters with public sector cuts. Mr Cameron wants to separate the two and argues that vested interests and bureaucracies are trying to thwart reform by blaming the Government for cuts in services." - Independent
• "There is such a thing as society. Sometimes the state is a necessary binding agency even if it is an inefficient one. Only in Britain is there an enduring fantasy that services can improve with less investment. The day Cameron and Osborne opted for sweeping cuts was a defining one with a thousand consequences. One of them is brutally clear. The decision killed off the Big Society and no relaunches or "revolutionary chiefs" can save it as the axe falls." - Steve Richards in The Independent
• "A combination of misplaced government urgency to do too much too soon, ill-thought-out projects and, above all, the scale of the cuts has weakened confidence in the big-society offer. There is no evidence that the country is falling back in love with the big state, but Mr Cameron has failed to sell his alternative." - Guardian leader

Most Liberal Democrat MPs oppose coalition's NHS reforms - Guardian

Eight leading charities attack NHS shake-up - BBC

"Universities are to be given government approval to offer more places to students from poor backgrounds with lower A-level grades in order to transform the social mix on campuses." - Times (£)

It is not 'fair’ to tie universities’ hands - The Telegraph attacks Coalition plans for "social engineering" of university admissions.

Public split on pace of deficit reduction

"David Cameron’s decision to eliminate the deficit within one Parliament received backing from 46% of voters even after they were told that this means “bigger spending cuts over the next four years”. Meanwhile 54% said they supported for Labour’s strategy of halving the deficit by 2015, even though the question pointed out “there is a cost to borrowing more money for longer." - Times (£)

Overnight polls show Labour leads of 3% and 6% are noted by UK Polling Report.

Banks to back small firms with pledge to lend £1.3bn - Independent

The FT(£) backs David Cameron's speech on extremism: "The prime minister wants to make it “impossible” for extremists to succeed. That goal is itself impossible, but its aim is laudable. We should be intolerant not just of extremism but also of apathy towards it. Mr Cameron’s speech is a summons to reflection – and action."

Cameron savaged Gordon Brown's Government yesterday after it emerged Britain did "all it could" to make sure the Lockerbie bomber was freed from jail - The Sun | Yesterday's Parliament report

Cameron's enlistment of Blairites

"the Tory disciples of Mr Blair are keen to make common cause with his Labour apostles. Alan Milburn and John Hutton were appointed to head reviews of social mobility and public sector pensions. Julian Le Grand, a former adviser to Mr Blair, has recently been brought back to help to mutualise the public services for Mr Cameron. Lord Freud, appointed by the former Labour Prime Minister to implement welfare reform, is now doing the same job for the Tory one. Baroness Morgan of Huyton, Mr Blair’s former political secretary, is to chair Ofsted, the schools inspectorate." - Rachel Sylvester in The Times (£)

Sun attacks Cameron on ECHR

The Sun Says: "Once again, the Government runs away from confronting Europe on human rights. David Cameron and Nick Clegg had pledged a review of the law amid anger that Europe can over-rule Britain. That's now off the agenda. Tories and Lib Dems can't agree, so rather than tackle this crucial issue they have bottled it. So we will stumble on, with our Government happy to shout about kicking out terror suspects but unwilling to act. If Mr Cameron thinks this fudge will bring him a quiet life, he's mistaken."

• Seven new human rights cases against Britain every day... and Strasbourg court's judgments are already costing the taxpayer £2billion a year - Daily Mail
• ThinkTankCentral: Policy Exchange proposes exit plan from European Court of Human Rights

Labour's legacy of wasteful spending

"A project to widen two stretches of the UK's busiest motorway could have wasted £1bn of public money, MPs have said. The Highways Agency gave poor cost estimates for the M25 scheme and did not look at possible cheaper alternatives, the public accounts committee found." - BBC

Daily Mail attacks BBC's coverage of the Coalition

"Even by the sorry standards of the BBC – apologist-in-chief for the bloated public sector – the past few days have been vintage. On reducing police numbers, selling off forests, the end of the Big Society, library closures – you name it – critic after critic has been wheeled out to prophesy that the Government’s cuts will mean the death of civilisation as we know it. What the Corporation never points out is that over the past few years, the private sector has already had to go through considerable pain, with employees’ wages frozen or cut and their pensions decimated." - Daily Mail leader

And finally... Does Jeremy Paxman deserve £800,000?

"He has looked anything but content in recent times, but Jeremy Paxman has signed a lucrative four-year deal with the BBC worth £3.2million. The contract, which includes Newsnight and his other TV work such as University Challenge, is an estimated 20 per cent less than his previous deal as bosses rein in the Corporation’s pay bill. Paxman, 60, who is one of the BBC’s top earners, was on £1million a year at the  station, but insiders have said this has been reduced to £800,000." - Daily Mail

Please use this thread to highlight other interesting news and commentary and visit PoliticsHome.com for breaking political news and views throughout the day.

Newslinks for Monday 7th February 2011

9pm Parliament: John Bercow rebukes Michael Gove for accusing Andy Burnham of "rank hypocrisy"

4pm Parliament: Cameron tells Commons that Brown and David Miliband did not provide full picture about their desire to see Lockerbie bomber released

3.45pm Parvez Akhtar on Comment: Lord Tebbit's "cricket test" is more significant now than ever before - and I write as one who used to fail it

2.45pm ToryDiary: The lady wasn't for turning because she didn't try to do too much

2.15pm Local government:

• Tories expose waste of £342,000 at Newham Council - for one month alone
• Transparency extends to Council officer pay and grants to voluntary groups
• Government wins appeal on Regional Strategies

11.45am Ben Rogers applauds the Prime Minister's speech on multiculturalism: "In contrast with a previous Conservative prime minister's famous words after a Munich conference seventy two years ago, Cameron has shown that if we really want peace in our time, we have to be prepared to fight for our values."

10.45am LISTEN: "One of the most talented journalists in television news"; Radio 4 profiles Cameron's new Communications Director

ToryDiary: Conservatives must fight for the moral high ground

John Hayes MP on Comment: This Government will create more apprenticeships than modern Britain has ever seen

ThinkTankCentral: Policy Exchange proposes exit plan from European Court of Human Rights

ThinkTankCentral: IoD proposes pro-growth measures that won't cost George Osborne a penny

Local government:

• Neil Pearce: In Praise of Andrew Boff AM
• Prince Charles says town planning should work with human nature

90% of MPs set to defy ECHR ruling that rapists and killers be allowed to vote - Express poll of MPs

Theresa May will replace ASBOs with ‘criminal behaviour orders’

"Under the ambitious initiative, troublemakers will face the same asset seizure powers as major criminals. They would be likely to lose personal items such as stereo systems and electronic gadgets. Previous ideas to target young tearaways with financial penalties - such as Tony Blair’s much-derided plan to march violent drunks to the nearest cashpoint – have been attacked as ‘gimmicks’." - Daily Mail

"Home Secretary Theresa May now seems to be having her own Tony Blair moment, in suggesting that louts could soon have their iPods, stereos and other gadgets seized if they consistently refuse to behave. It is doubtless well-intentioned but it has all the hallmarks of a gimmick which would have, at best, a marginal effect." - Daily Mail leader

Cameron 'livid' after multiculturalism speech comes under fire - Independent

"A senior ally of Ed Miliband who branded David Cameron a far-Right ‘propagandist’ for criticising multiculturalism was left isolated by Labour colleagues yesterday... Shadow Foreign Secretary Douglas Alexander said: ‘It is for Sadiq to explain the context in which he made those remarks.’" - Daily Mail

"Equality chief Sir Trevor Phillips backed David Cameron yesterday over his tough stance on extremism. He said the PM was right to declare that it was not for the Government to tell people to embrace multiculturalism." - The Sun

> Yesterday, Haras Rafiq on Comment: At long last we have a Prime Minister who rightly makes the distinction between Islam and Islamism

The Big Society in crisis?

"The government is "destroying" the UK's volunteer army and undermining its vision of the "big society" with its huge cuts programme, the outgoing head of Community Service Volunteers says." - BBC | Express

Writing for the FT (£), Daniel Kruger says promising initiatives have been taken but Cameron needs to give it more time: "Two potentially radical bills on localism and the public sector have been introduced, as has an important white paper on giving to charities. The £400m Big Society Bank will soon pour money into local social enterprises. Charities and community groups will be licensed to provide public services and paid for their results. Later this year a national citizen service for school-leavers will launch, “free schools” will open and new mutuals run by doctors and nurses will spin out of the NHS."

15,000 council workers earning more than £58,000 a year are to be named under government plans to force local authorities to cut middle management waste - Telegraph

Max Hastings: Although forestry privatisation has been misrepresented, Cameron should u-turn

"Ministers have bungled the politics, probably irretrievably. They have so many more important fights on their hands that they are crazy to expend precious political capital for a negligible economic gain, and perhaps none at all. If David Cameron is smart, he will get out of the woods quickly, before he meets something much more dangerous than any wolf or bear: Middle England at its most impassioned and sentimental." - Max Hastings in the Daily Mail

Ministers keep changing their stories on forest privatisation - Geoffrey Lean in The Telegraph

> David T Breaker on Comment: Liberate the forests

David Cameron isn't gripping Whitehall machine - James Kirkup in The Telegraph

The average competence of civil servants is in decline - Allister Heath for City AM

Give us hope, not taxes, Mr Cameron - Express leader

"Achieving the £10,000 personal allowance is the coalition’s tax priority. It is right that it should take precedence over other desirable reforms, such as getting rid of the 50 per cent rate of income tax." - David Laws in The Times (£)

Britain's crazy industrial tribunal system - Boris Johnson in The Telegraph

John Bercow has failed to act against Labour MPs' heckling of Paul Maynard

"The Speaker is under pressure to lecture MPs about their behaviour after a new Tory member with cerebral palsy was openly mocked in the Commons. John Bercow issued a written statement yesterday warning MPs that such abuse was unacceptable after Paul Maynard told The Times that colleagues had tried to put him off a speech by making fun of his disability. However, it is understood that Mr Bercow has known about the incident for more than three months and has yet to speak to Mr Maynard about it." - Times (£) | Independent

Vince Cable promises 100,000 more apprenticeships

"The Business Secretary will say that the Government is increasing annual funding of the on-the-job training scheme by £222 million to reach £1.4billion this year. And he will call on more employers to follow the lead of firms such as British Airways, British Gas, BT and Jaguar Land Rover by offering thousands of places to young people." - Telegraph

Dossier to show Labour 'complicit' in Lockerbie release - Telegraph

Frank Field urges Cameron to intervene to save Sure Start centres from council cuts - Times (£)

Ed Balls says there had been "sound and fury" from the Coalition on bank bonuses but no action - Independent

Ed Miliband says Nick Clegg could be toxic for Yes to AV campaign - Guardian

> Last week ToryDiary proposed: "AV can be defeated if voters go into the polling booth thinking of Nick Clegg, broken promises and tuition fees"

Other Comment:

• "The BBC's move north is lunacy - and shows how catastrophically it has lost its way" - Melanie Phillips in the Daily Mail
• The young will never be treated fairly until they vote in the same proportion as the old - Mary Ann Sieghart in the Independent
• All sense but political sense says scrap the ill-judged generosity of spending £1bn a year so over-60s can enjoy free bus travel - Julian Glover in The Guardian

George Bush has cancelled a trip to Switzerland amid claims he could have faced arrest on torture charges - Metro

And finally... Cameron says William will be a wonderful King

"The Prime Minister said he had found the Prince to be "a remarkable young man" after spending time with him in Zurich for England's recent failed bid to host the World Cup. Speaking to US news network CNN about the royal wedding, Mr Cameron said he was confident it would be "a great moment for Britain", adding that William and fiancee Kate Middleton were "a wonderful couple"." - Express

Please use this thread to highlight other interesting news and commentary and visit PoliticsHome.com for breaking political news and views throughout the day.

Newslinks for Sunday 6th February 2011

7.30pm WATCH:

• Nick Herbert MP says police must be crime-fighters, not form-fillers
• Chris Huhne says government must be "rougher and tougher" with tax dodgers

3.45pm ConHomeUSA: President Ronald Reagan in his own (powerful) words

3.15pm WATCH: Hague: Precise day of Mubarak's departure less important than electoral process that must now happen

3pm ToryDiary: Nick Herbert rebuts Labour opportunism on police numbers

12.30pm Local government: Labour councillor smears free school as "segregationist"

ToryDiary: Cameron pours cold water on any idea of early tax cuts

Haras Rafiq on Comment: At long last we have a Prime Minister who rightly makes the distinction between Islam and Islamism

Also on Comment, Josh Mead: President Reagan's legacy is as important as ever today - which would have been his 100th birthday

On Local government:

• Redditch to go ahead with heating swimming pool with energy from crematorium
• Former Labour Special Advisor backs Free Schools

Iain Duncan Smith to pump £30 million into relationship education

"Work and Pensions Secretary Iain Duncan Smith will this week promise to pump money into keeping couples together, and encouraging them to tie the knot. The pledge to spend £30million on "relationship support" will be accompanied by a major overhaul of the benefits system. Mr Duncan Smith has studied Norway, where divorce rates have been falling for the past 15 years after its government launched a state-sponsored "relationship education programme". He will point to new research that shows the cost of family breakdowns to the taxpayer is now a staggering £24 billion a year." - News of the World (£)

Labour accuses Cameron of lining up with extremists on multiculturalism - Independent on Sunday | Yesterday's LeftWatch

But, in The Observer, Nick Cohen praises him: "David Cameron seems to be prepared to stand up for elementary principles. He was almost pitch-perfect in his speech in Germany as he rejected with the required scorn the right's argument that a clash of civilisations made Muslims and democracy incompatible and the double-standard of the multi-culturalists, who hold that one can oppose fascistic doctrines when they are held by white-skinned demagogues but not when they are propagated by brown-skinned reactionaries."

Other reactions:

• "Unless Britain rediscovers its pride in its values this wretched multiculturalism will never die." - Mihir Bose in the Mail on Sunday
• "Mr Cameron talks about “standing for a broader and more generous version of citizenship”. These are fine words, but he does not say how it will be achieved." - The Sunday Times leader (£)
• "One of the deep causes of discontent in this country is that, by dissolving our identity, we have left migrants and their British-born children with nothing to believe in, no nation to join or be proud of.
  Mr Cameron appears to be at least half- way to recognising this. But his prescription of ‘muscular liberalism’, with its obeisance to continental concepts of ‘equal rights’ still seems dispiritingly Blairite and not very British. This is a good beginning, but it needs to be bolder to succeed." - Mail on Sunday leader

> Paul Goodman yesterday: David Cameron sends a message to Westminster and Whitehall: treat extremists like racists. Now he must make it happen | Video

Cameron: Fuel bills will drop by £1,000 by 2020

"Household fuel and energy bills will fall an average of almost £1,000 a year by 2020, David Cameron has pledged. The Prime Minister made the announcement in Brussels on Friday night after EU leaders agreed to deliver £180billion worth of energy savings within a decade... As part of the process, more nuclear power stations will be built as well as a giant “supergrid” in the North Sea, delivering electricity to homes in northern Europe. Mr Cameron said creating a single, fully-functioning, integrated and interconnected European energy market was “something Britain strongly supports”." - Sunday Express

Police to lose '10,000 officers by 2012' according to Labour research - BBC

David Davis predicts that an overwhelming majority of MPs will reject votes-for-prisoners in Commons debate - Sunday Telegraph

• "The convicted killer leading the campaign to give prisoners the vote has launched a foul-mouthed, racist attack on an ethnic minority MP opposing his cause. John Hirst, who served 25 years in jail for killing his 69-year-old landlady with an axe, unleashed a stream of vitriol against Tory MP Priti Patel, branding her a ‘Paki’, a ‘foreign import’ and even insulting her looks." - Mail on Sunday
• Britain should opt out of the European Court of Human Rights' jurisdiction - Alasdair Palmer in The Sunday Telegraph

Is the NHS safe in the Tories' hands? - Tim Montgomerie in The Sunday Telegraph

• The NHS is ripe for reform - Ian Birrell in The Observer but David Miliband opposes the Coalition's reforms
• In the News of the World (£) Fraser Nelson warns against reforms that aren't thought through: "Cam knows the problem is announcing policies that are not thought through. Then being hopelessly unable to defend them. I'm reliably informed he's furious with Health Secretary Andrew Lansley's cack-handed handling of NHS reform. But Cam says: Press on ahead. Britain needs boldness. He's right, but what it needs more is properly-organised boldness."

Mark Harper pelted by eggs by forest protestors - The Sunday Telegraph

The opponents of forestry privatisation know nothing about British history - Charles Glover in The Sunday Times (£)

William Hague pays tribute to Ronald Reagan on his 100th birthday - The Sunday Telegraph

Coalition in brief:

• George Osborne considers new levy on 120,000 non-doms - The Sunday Times (£)
• Liam Fox goes to court to ban MPs seeing 'torture' files on terror suspects - Mail on Sunday
• Airlines warn Tories not to sell stake in air traffic control - Observer
• Vince Cable launches Apprenticeships Week in a short piece for the News of the World (£)

32% over 26% prefer Coalition over Labour to run Britain but 75% over 9% prefer individual party candidates to coalition candidates - News of the World (£)

• YouGov/Sunday Times results 4th-6th Feb Con 36%, Lab 42%, LD 10%; Net approval -24%

Martin Ivens: The Coalition has a good story to sell (if it would sell it)

"Iain Duncan Smith’s welfare reforms are designed to fix the broken society, as the voters understand it, by making work pay. They are instrinsically popular. Immigration is being cut. Michael Gove is wrestling with a failing education establishment to provide better schools. His pupil premium puts teaching resources behind poor children. If the Tories need a good news narrative, here it is. Yet this is not the one they promote." - Martin Ivens in The Sunday Times (£)

Labour MPs mocked my disability in the Commons, says Tory MP, Paul Maynard, with cerebral palsy - Mail on Sunday

Labour building database of sad cuts stories - James Forsyth in the Mail on Sunday

Nick Clegg targeted as anti-AV campaign links him to broken promises

"Campaigners against electoral reform are to distribute six million leaflets taunting Nick Clegg for describing the proposed alternative vote (AV) system as a "miserable little compromise" before the last general election... The leaflet campaign is part of a push by the cross-party "no" camp to associate AV in the public mind with the Liberal Democrat leader and his party, whose popularity has plummeted since the pre-election upsurge of "Cleggmania"." - Observer

In the Independent on Sunday John Rentoul expects Cameron wants AV: "The Prime Minister knows that it might cost the Conservatives a few seats at the expense of the Lib Dems, but I suspect that this is outweighed by the political advantage not just of strengthening the junior party in the coalition, but of strengthening its support for the coalition. AV might also have the advantage of an insurance policy, in that it allows parties to advise their supporters how to allocate their preferences, so the Tories and Lib Dems would have no need of a formal pact to encourage their voters to support each other."

> Thursday's ToryDiary: AV can be defeated if voters go into the polling booth thinking of Nick Clegg, broken promises and tuition fees

 The Sunday Telegraph at 50

"The Sunday Telegraph is a conservative newspaper, but we have never given the Conservative Party our uncritical support: when we think it has erred, we have been unstinting in our criticism. A current example is the plan to sell off England's forests, which we were the first to reveal. In common with many of our readers, we think it a policy whose effects have not been adequately thought through. Yet we share basic conservative values with the party of that name: we believe that individual and communal freedom is the source of our nation's prosperity, vitality and happiness, and that this can too often be vitiated by an interfering state; we have an instinctive distrust of change for its own sake; we think that good manners and respect for other people's convictions and traditions are an important element in any civilised community. We believe in high standards: some ways of doing things are better than others, and the better ways should be cherished and encouraged rather than denigrated as "elitist". Cynicism is often the default setting for commentary on the state of the nation: it is not ours. We believe that there is a great deal about British society that is worth preserving." - Sunday Telegraph leader

And finally... Cameron tells Sunday Telegraph that Mrs Thatcher, Bob Dylan and Sky+ are among his favourite things of last 50 years.

Please use this thread to highlight other interesting news and commentary and visit PoliticsHome.com for breaking political news and views throughout the day.

Newslinks for Saturday 5th February 2011

6.45pm ToryDiary: High Speed Rail route set to cause constituency headaches for ministers

2.45pm LeftWatch: Labour's Shadow Justice Secretary accuses David Cameron of "writing propaganda for the English Defence League"

2pm LeftWatch: Ed Miliband sets the world record for the fastest U-turn (or rather the fastest admission of a blatant lie)

12.15pm Carl Thomson on Comment: Apologists for Saakashvili are doing more to undermine democracy in Georgia than Russia could ever hope to achieve

11.45pm WATCH: David Cameron attacks the failed "doctrine of state multiculturalism" at the Munich Security Conference

ToryDiary: David Cameron sends a message to Westminster and Whitehall: treat extremists like racists.  Now he must make it happen.

Comment:

• David T Breaker: Liberate the forests
• Struan Stevenson MEP: In Iran we must back the main opposition in overthrowing the fascist regime 

Seats and Candidates: Dan Boucher selected to fight Swansea East at the Welsh Assembly election

Parliament: Anna Soubry calls for the anonymity of anyone arrested for a crime to be protected

Local Government:

• Will the Conservatives make gains from the Lib Dems on May 5?
• Road deaths fall after speed cameras scrapped

WATCH: William Hague says changing the Egyptian constitution is more important than simply saying "Mubarak must go"

How the papers are previewing David Cameron's speech on extremism and multiculturalism

"David Cameron launches a devastating attack today on 30 years of multiculturalism in Britain, warning it is fostering extremist ideology and directly contributing to home-grown Islamic terrorism." - The Independent

"His landmark speech, the first of his premiership on extremism, marks a significant shift in the Government’s dealings with Muslim groups and is guaranteed to spark controversy." - The Times (£)

"David Cameron will today signal a sea-change in the government fight against home-grown terrorism, saying the state must confront, and not consort with, the non-violent Muslim groups that are ambiguous about British values." - The Guardian

"The true boldness of Mr Cameron’s message lies in his view that non-violent extremism is an entry-chamber for terrorism itself." - Charles Moore in the Daily Telegraph

Cameron urges backbenchers to oppose votes for prisoners next week

"David Cameron last night urged backbench MPs to vote against the Government’s controversial plan to let prisoners vote in Westminster elections. In a highly unusual move, the Prime Minister said a huge Commons backlash would send a firm message to European judges about the depth of anger in ­Britain. Mr Cameron also said he was “waterboarding” Government lawyers to come up with proposals to ensure “the minimum possible” number of prisoners got the vote. But he admitted he and other Government ministers would abstain in the vote on a motion opposing the move on Thursday." - Daily Express

> Thursday in Parliament: Tory PPSs will get a free vote on votes for prisoners next week

Tory ministers on charm offensive to prevent MP mutiny

"Tory ministers are being ordered to listen to their MPs more as David Cameron tries to prevent rising backbench discontent from turning into a mutiny. Amid fears that the Prime Minister has lost touch with his grass roots over issues such as the sell-off of forests, Downing Street has told ministers to leave their Whitehall desks and appear regularly before committees of Tory MPs... Mr Cameron’s aides insist that he is aware of backbench grumblings, but is responding. He had dinner on Thursday in Downing Street with eight MPs, the latest in a series of sessions to reach out to backbenchers. He has also increased his casual availability to Tory MPs by making more visits to the tea room in the Commons." - The Times (£)

William Hague reveals that the Foreign Office has come under cyber-attack

"Foreign Secretary William Hague has appealed for governments to come together to agree a set of rules amid growing fears of "cyber war" between states. Addressing the Munich Security Conference, Mr Hague disclosed that as recently as last month the UK had come under attack from a "hostile state intelligence agency" seeking to penetrate the Foreign Office IT system. He offered to host an international conference in Britain later this year to discuss "norms of acceptable behaviour" in cyberspace, backed by mechanisms that would give them "real political and diplomatic weight". - Press Association

George Osborne hits back in row over petrol prices

"Chancellor George Osborne has refused to take the blame for rising petrol prices - rejecting claims by world oil producers that taxes were responsible. Mr Osborne said drivers in the UK were "paying the price" for mounting oil prices and Downing Street said "non-tax factors" were mostly driving the cost at the pump." - The Independent

Government set to make vetting scheme less draconian

"An anti-paedophile vetting scheme that would have involved nine million adults will be ripped up next week in a major reworking of how background checks are conducted, The Daily Telegraph can disclose. Labour’s much criticised Vetting and Barring Scheme (VBS) will no longer go ahead, with the vetting of individuals “very significantly” curtailed. Only those in sensitive posts or who have intensive contact with children or vulnerable people will need to be cleared and undergo criminal record checks." - Daily Telegraph

Tax rise? The middle class won't notice it, says Clegg

"Nick Clegg has invited the wrath of 3million middle-class families being forced into the higher-rate tax band. He claimed yesterday that they would ‘barely notice’ the impact on their living standards. The Deputy Prime Minister admitted that to pay for Liberal Democrat manifesto promises to the low-paid, millions more workers will be pushed into paying 40 per cent income tax over the life of this parliament." - Daily Mail

David Cameron reprimands Baroness Ashton at EU summit over Egypt

"David Cameron has reprimanded Baroness Ashton at a European Union summit, saying she was too soft on "state-sponsored violence" against Egyptian protesters. The dressing down in front of a room filled with Europe's leaders was the Prime Minister's first open criticism of Lady Ashton since the Labour peer became EU foreign minister just over a year ago." - Daily Telegraph

• Britain's foreign policy needs to be made clear on Egypt - Telegraph editorial

Timothy Kirkhope raises security fears after raid at European Parliament

"Two men staged an armed raid at the European Parliament just a few hundred yards from the Brussels summit venue where David Cameron was holding talks with other EU leaders on Friday... Timothy Kirkhope, a senior Conservative MEP, complained at the raid and getaway at an institution with an annual budget of £1 billion and hundreds of security guards. "We have become increasingly concerned about people in the parliament just wandering around. We have no idea who they are and what they are here for," he said. "It's about time something was done. This time is was a hold-up but how long before someone walks in with a bomb?" - Daily Telegraph

House of Lords set for new clash over AV Bill

"The government is heading for a renewed confrontation with Labour in the House of Lords next week amid signs that ministers will reject a fresh compromise on a key constitutional reform bill. Lord Falconer of Thoroton, the former lord chancellor, told the Guardian tonight that Labour was prepared to jeopardise the planned referendum on electoral reform by holding up the bill." - The Guardian

Cerebral palsy sufferer Paul Maynard reveals that Labour MPs have mocked him about his disability

"In an interview with The Times, Paul Maynard, the Conservative MP for Blackpool North & Cleveleys, described an incident in which some Labour MPs made faces, stretching their cheeks up and down as he spoke. It appeared to be an attempt to mimic him... A Labour MP who was present at the debate, on the abolition of the Child Trust Fund, confirmed that the abuse had taken place. Speaking on condition of anonymity, she described a “handful” of colleagues mocking Mr Maynard by making faces, adding that it was “utterly unacceptable” and that many politicians on the Labour benches were muttering in disgust." - The Times (£)

Other Coalition news in brief

• Ministers consider ditching May Day for an autumn bank holiday - The Sun
• Lord Wei: How my government job left me almost penniless and unable to support my family - Yesterday's Evening Standard
• More ministers benefiting from blind trusts - The Guardian
• Authors hold library "read-ins" over cuts - Daily Express

Peter Oborne: The Big Society agenda has lost momentum. If it collapses, Cameron does too

"Is David Cameron’s signature plan to build the Big Society on the verge of collapse less than a year after he has taken power? If so, it would be a crushing blow to the Conservative Prime Minister. It could even signal the beginning of the end of his premiership. This is because Cameron’s Big Society goes right to the heart of everything he believes about government. It defines him as a man and a politician. Without the Big Society, he is rudderless... The big problem with Cameron’s idea is that it requires time. It means changing the culture of schools, hospitals, local government and the British people themselves. This will not take place overnight. The Big Society could not truly take root for a generation." - Peter Oborne in the Daily Telegraph

Other Comment

• The Big Society will never be built on the cheap - Independent editorial
• Matthew Parris: Your guide to fighting those wicked Tory cuts - The Times (£)
• John Redwood MP: Why cuts can be expensive - John Redwood's Diary
• Quentin Letts: Is there a bigger hypocrite than Peter Mandelson? - Daily Mail

Four years after near-meltdown of banking system, Ed Miliband finally says sorry for Labour's role in the crisis

"Ed Miliband finally apologised yesterday for Labour’s failure to regulate the banks properly ahead of the financial crash. The new leader – who worked closely with Gordon Brown at the Treasury for years – said he was sorry for the loss of jobs, the near- collapse of Northern Rock and nationalisation of the bank. The move will put pressure on his Shadow Chancellor Ed Balls to do the same, particularly as he worked alongside Mr Brown on regulation first as an adviser and then as a Treasury minister ahead of the near-meltdown of the banking system." - Daily Mail

The Tory fundraiser being kept hush hush

"Even though all the Tory members of the Cabinet are expected to attend the Conservative Black & White Party on Monday with the party’s richest benefactors and a smattering of celebrities, there is not a word about it on the party website. Wary of accusations that such an expensive knees-up will look bad when the rest of the country is suffering deep government cuts, and that it contradicts ministers’ claims that ‘we are all in this together’, they fear any publicity could be very damaging." - Daily Mail

And finally...  Boris had to be rescued by boat after being swept to sea last year

"Boris Johnson was left humiliated after he had to be rescued while swimming in the sea at a luxury resort. The gaffe-prone Tory was taking a morning dip with wife Marina when he was swept away by powerful currents off a private island near Tanzania. Worried staff were so concerned they sent out a boat to fetch him... Mayor of London Boris went to the island retreat for the family holiday at the Lazy Lagoon in the Zanzibar channel last year." - Daily Mirror

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