9.30pm ToryDiary: Reihan Salam re-introduces David Cameron to America's conservatives
8pm ToryDiary: Labour crashes to 27%
Labour's General Secretary has resigned over the 'hidden' donations to the party - BBC
George Osborne's reaction: "Despite today’s resignation serious questions remain unanswered about the circumstances of this murky affair. If the General Secretary knew, when did the Chairman of the Labour Party and the Prime Minister first find out about how the money was being given? What’s perfectly clear now is that incompetence not only runs through this Government but it also runs through the Labour party. For Peter Watt to reveal that he was aware of the donation arrangements and yet did nothing about it until the Mail On Sunday broke their story is beyond belief. Everything Gordon Brown promised about his premiership – competence, honesty and change – has been blown away in the last few weeks. Gordon Brown’s Government is now officially in crisis.”
3.30pm PlayPolitical: John McCain's 'I didn't go to Washington to win the Mr Congeniality award' ad
1.15pm ToryDiary: Should Sajjad Karim be fast-tracked to the top of the North West list?
Andrew Haldenby and Laura Kounine on Platform: Michael Gove should fund but not manage the nation's schools...
"Michael Gove made the case that diversity raises standards better than any politician since Tony Blair. He rightly rejected the Government's inputs-led approach, which would judge education on the numbers of pounds spent and the numbers of years taught, not on outcomes. Real reform can be achieved if Michael Gove stays true to his convictions, does his utmost to relinquish control over schools and endeavours to fund but not to manage education."
BritainAndAmerica: Der Spiegel doesn't like George W Bush's America and Britain and America's shared economic interests
PlayPolitical: Four videos that capture the Ron Paul phenomenon
MP quits Oxford Union in BNP row
"A senior Conservative MP has resigned his membership of the Oxford Union as the pressure mounted on the organisers of tonight's debate on free speech to withdraw an invitation to Nick Griffin, of the British National Party, and Holocaust denier David Irving. Julian Lewis, the shadow defence minister, turned in the membership he has held for 37 years following the Union's controversial invitation. He said he was "ashamed" of the students' decision. Others attacked the invitation as "juvenile provocation" and a "festival of anti-Semitism"." - Telegraph
Yesterday's ToryDiary: Julian Lewis resigns from Oxford Union in protest at BNP-Irving debate
William Hague writes to David Miliband to protest at failure to stop EU super-president - Telegraph
Bruce Anderson warns David Cameron against complacency
"Once voters have stopped listening and started laughing, a Government is dead. Last week, the Brown government began to die. But there are Liberals, Ukip, abstentions. David Cameron cannot rely on a moribund opponent to bring him to power." - Independent
New Statesman apologises to David Davies MP for reporting that he brandished a Taser gun for the cameras - Independent
The real culprits behind the Government's recent crises are tax cuts and deregulation - Johann Hari in The Independent
Tebbit blasts Des Browne - Express
Another Labour funding story undermines Brown's standing
"Labour is facing fresh investigations into its funding after questions were raised about whether a series of loans totalling more than £380,000 were lawful because intermediaries were used to shield the identity of a major donor. David Abrahams, a wealthy property developer, yesterday admitted he used the names of "friends and colleagues" in an attempt to avoid publicity when donating substantial sums over a four-year year period to the Labour Party." - Independent
The Telegraph urges action to end funding sleaze: "Political parties must learn to live within their means. Yet they show few signs of doing so. They throw money at media agencies while their membership continues its decades-long decline. Our message to all the parties is: learn some humility. Instead of cultivating multi-millionaires, build up a mass base of loyal members who believe in your message enough to pay for it. Then we might trust you to run the country."
Not content with stealing Tory policies, Gordon Brown is now using David Cameron's tailor - Richard Kay in The Daily Mail
Virgin is preferred bidder for Northern Rock
"Virgin's bid includes an immediate repayment of £11bn of the £25bn the bank owes the Bank of England, with the rest to be repaid within three years." - BBC
Growing the north
"A leading think-tank has set out a plan to revive the economy in the north of England. The Institute for Public Policy Research North said in a report on Monday that improving transport links, expanding the private sector and improving welfare-to-work policies could all help reduce the £30bn 'output gap' with the rest of the country." - ePolitix
Alan Milburn talks about the lessons for Labour from the victory of Australia's Kevin Rudd - Guardian
ToryDiary reflects on The end of the John Howard years. PlayPolitical has Kevin Rudd's victory speech.
Columnist Cameron Watt argues for a treatment tax on alcohol.
Please use this thread to highlight other interesting news and commentary...
