8.15pm ToryDiary: The "nice decade" is over
5pm ToryDiary: Boris Johnson resumes his Telegraph column
4.15pm ToryDiary: Still governing by proxy
2.45pm Parliament: David Cameron's Commons response to Gordon Brown's statement on draft Queen's Speech
ALERT: LORD LAWSON ON FIVE LIVE NOW DISCUSSING GLOBAL WARMING !!! (We'll try and get a link to the audio of this thirty minute interview later).
1.30pm Seats and candidates: LibDems abandon Crewe for Henley
1pm Seats and candidates: Seven (mainly plum) seats start selecting
11.45am PlayPolitical musical video: There's a hole in my Budget, dear Gordon, dear Gordon...
10.45am ToryDiary: Senior Tories promise to vote for lower abortion limit
10am PlayPolitical: Watch Labour's Crewe candidate repeatedly refuse to say if Gordon Brown is an asset to her campaign
Matthew Elliott on Platform: Twice in eight months, the tax burden has been centre stage in British politics
Tim Montgomerie on CentreRight: Imagine the Tories losing Kensington & Chelsea... that's what happened to the Republicans last night.
Two PlayPolitical videos:
- The real Boris tells the Equality Commission that he's a bit Turkish, a bit Russian, a bit German, a bit Jewish (he also uses the interview to tell an Evening Standard writer to "bog off").
- Rory Bremner's Boris appears on Britain's Got Talent
Reaction to Darling's £2.7bn announcement on 10p tax band
"Crude, simple and costly, yesterday's tax cut epitomises the brand of economic populism that Mr Brown has, over two decades, defined himself against." - Guardian leader
"In policy terms, the plan to put up personal allowances makes sense. Allowances are the best way to direct help towards the worst-off. The £600 increase should mean that four in five households hurt by the abolition of the 10p rate will be compensated in full: the remaining one-fifth will see at least half their loss made up. Meanwhile, the lowering of the threshold at which the higher rate of 40 per cent kicks in means that those on higher incomes are unaffected." - FT leader
"Last Friday we urged Alistair Darling to introduce a mini-budget and increase personal tax allowances so that people are left with more of their own money to spend. Yesterday, the Chancellor obliged and for that deserves congratulations.' - Telegraph leader
"Other countries, including Spain and the U.S, are splashing out tens or hundreds of billions to try to kick-start their economies. Indeed, the British move may even be seen as long overdue. The danger, of course, is that this mini-budget will further fuel inflation, which showed an alarming surge in the official figures published yesterday. That is why it is vital that the Government keeps the lid on public sector pay rises." - Daily Mail leader
Gordon Brown to set out his plans for the next year - BBC
"House prices are set to fall by 5 to 10 per cent "at best" this year – but ministers have no idea how badly the market could slump, according to confidential cabinet documents accidentally revealed by the Housing minister, Caroline Flint." - Independent
A welcome for Tory plans for small business
"Business welcomed Tory plans unveiled on Tuesday to simplify radically the £2.5bn ($4.8bn)-a-year “out of control” system of business support and appoint a small business minister reporting direct to the prime minister." - FT
Cameron: PM has lost Scotland and is putting the UK at risk - Herald
Bendy Wendy is forced to bend again on an independence referendum - Scotsman
Simon Heffer: "Mr Cameron is not a Conservative, and certainly not a Tory"
Simon Heffer lists opposition to grammar schools, support for Labour spending plans and weakness on tax as supporting evidence for his belief - Telegraph
The implications of Labour losses on Welsh councils are discussed in the Western Mail.
The Liberal Democrats select a non-local for Henley - Liberal Democrat website
Jonathan Isaby notes how they dumped a local councillor to put the new candidate in place.
Cherie Blair: 'Tony's heart sank at Bush election win' - Times
"Cherie Blair should be "ashamed of herself" for dredging up David Kelly's suicide while promoting her memoirs, the scientist's family said yesterday." - 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.
