10.45pm Seats and candidates: David Cameron agrees speedy by-election for Henley
1.30pm ToryDiary: Lord Bates of the North
ToryDiary: Tory MEPs, protected from members and voters, refuse to answer questions on expenses
Julian Brazier MP on Platform: Compensation culture Vs Happy childhoods
PlayPolitical videos: Ellen DeGeneres, who is about to marry her female partner, quizzes John McCain on his opposition to gay marriage
David Cameron in Scotland
"David Cameron yesterday publicly offered to work with Alex Salmond's government, insisting he would respect the will of the Scottish people if he became prime minister. The Conservative leader promised that if he took over in Downing Street while the SNP held power at Holyrood he would not frustrate Nationalist initiatives." - Scotsman
"Speaking at the Scottish Tory conference in Ayr, he warned that the Union had never been in more danger and "the ugly stain of separatism is seeping through the Union flag". But he told Mr Salmond to "think again" over his "great plan" to use a Tory victory at the next general election to press for independence." - Telegraph
"Answering the anomalies created by the Barnett Formula will be “essential” for a Tory Government, David Cameron said yesterday. But the Conservative leader said he would not put getting to grips with the controversial funding system above maintaining the Union." - Western Mail
Tory gains in the south are not mirrored in Scotland - John Curtice in The Scotsman
Top MPs' expenses revealed
"Gordon Brown once claimed £15 for light bulbs, Peter Mandelson spent nearly £3,000 on a shower and Tony Blair lavished nearly £11,000 of taxpayers' money on a new kitchen, according to the most detailed account of MPs' expenditure ever published. After years in the courts, countless hours of legal argument and a bitter battle by the Commons to maintain their secrecy, the full expenses claims of 14 high-profile MPs have finally been made public." - Independent
Margaret Beckett, the former foreign secretary who left the Government last year, tried to claim £600 towards the cost of garden plants in 2006, but the claim was rejected - Telegraph
Gordon Brown faces ‘quit now’ calls as Labour MPs panic - Times
"The message to Labour is clear. Get another leader and go soon." - Matthew Parris in The Times
"Voters would rightly feel cheated by another change of leader in one parliament. Mr Brown’s best hope is that he gains credit if the economic slowdown is brief." - FT leader
Brown needs to rebuild his Government by bringing Reid, Clarke and Milburn back - Peter Oborne in The Daily Mail
Video: Labour MP Graham Stringer calls for a Cabinet challenge to Brown's leadership
Reflections on Crewe and Nantwich
The Sun remains neutral in its editorial assessment.
David Cameron fails to hail Gordon Brown, the architect of his triumph - Andrew Gimson in The Telegraph
Crewe and Nantwich was a victory for David Cameron's decontamination strategy - Western Mail | Definition of decontamination
"The by-election result proves that if you persist in your message of change, as David Cameron has done, you sow confusion in the ranks of your opponents. One of Tony Blair's greatest achievements was to give the Conservatives a nervous breakdown. They could not get the measure of him. Was he really a socialist but just hiding it? Was he, on the other hand, a man who had joined the wrong party? Was he just a con-artist? They could never decide, and so they never caught up with him." - Charles Moore in The Telegraph
The Daily Mail on the "slick" Tory machine | ConHome's tributes yesterday
The tax burden is centre stage again
"Gordon Brown is being urged by ministers to scrap rises in car taxes and petrol duty as he struggles to regain popularity after a humiliating by-election defeat" - Telegraph
"Unpublished data from the National Centre for Social Research show that just over a third now say the Government should increase taxes to improve public services, the lowest level of support for tax increases since the Eighties. In an era of rising prices, voters seem ready to warm to promises of tax cuts. It is hardly a promising climate for a fourth Labour victory." - John Curtice in The Independent
"The Tories cannot do anything about the global rise in commodity prices that is driving up the cost of food and petrol - and nor should they. They could, though, promise to ease the tax burden on squeezed incomes and fuel, allowing families to keep more of their own money. Yet they are still too cautious in taking advantage of the shifting public mood on taxation and fail to realise that backing Labour's spending plans until 2011 no longer makes sense." - Telegraph leader
City starts cosying up to the Tories again after scent of real success - Times
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