Cameron defends free markets in a speech on capitalism

CAMERON'S SPEECH ON CAPITALISM

• "Open markets promote morality": In today's speech on capitalism, Cameron robustly defended free markets, describing them as the “best imaginable force” for improving “human wealth and happiness” - Telegraph
• ToryDiary: David Cameron's moral capitalism speech emphasises free markets and the Tories' popular capitalist roots
• "We'll make the market fair as well as free" - Telegraph
• The UK must build a better economy, says Cameron - BBC
• Cameron sets out a vision for "popular capitalism" - Independent
• PM attacks Labour's "Faustian pact" with the city, which encouraged "a debt-crazed economy" - Evening Standard
• Former RBS chief Fred Goodwin could be stripped of his knighthood, says Cameron - Guardian I Times (£) ... but says the decision is not in his hands - Telegraph
• Dan Hodges: 'Ed Miliband and David Cameron's battle over Cuddly Capitalism is a fatuous waste of time' - Telegraph
• Matthew Elliott: 'Cameron has talked about 'moral capitalism' but now he needs to act' - Daily Mail
• James Forsyth: "This reveals something important both about Cameron personally and how he sees the economy. The people that Cameron respects are not the CEOs of established companies but the entrepreneurs who are creating dynamic, new companies" - Spectator
• Daniel Knowles: "This speech is exactly what Dave has been saying since at least 2009. And now, as ever, the gap between David Cameron's actions and his rhetoric is (perhaps thankfully) a yawning chasm" - Telegraph
• George Eaton: "Though eloquent and historically rich, Cameron's speech was also overly abstract and often contradictory. He damned Labour's "Faustian pact with the City", conveniently forgetting that himself and George Osborne were calling for more, not less, deregulation in 2007" - New Statesman

YOUGOV POLL GIVES KEN LIVINGSTONE A TWO POINT LEAD OVER BORIS JOHNSON

• Ken Livingstone overtakes Boris Johnson in race to be London Mayor - Guardian I Evening Standard
• Local government: Livingstone takes 2% poll lead over Boris
• YouGov's Peter Kellner explains why Ken and Boris are "neck and neck", that the Mayoral election race is too close to call - Huffington Post
• Andrew Gilligan: "From Boris’s point of view, the only benefit of this poll is that it will reduce the biggest danger to his re-election: complacency among his supporters" - Telegraph
• How did Boris throw away an 8 point lead? - MayorWatch
• Jonathan Jones of the Spectator cites the evaporation in Boris' poll lead being due to Labour voters getting behind Ken, and an increase in Boris' out of touch problem - Spectator

LABOUR'S JACK DROMEY FOUND GUILTY OF ACCEPTING UNDECLARED UNION CASH AS AN MP

• Labour MP and husband of Harriet Harman Jack Dromey admonished for failing to declare union payments - Guardian
• Dromey reprimanded for failing to declare £58,000 union pay - Times (£)
• Tory MP Andrew Bridgen said: “It is right that Jack Dromey’s serious misconduct has been investigated and condemned ... he should have known he needed to register his union payments ... Ed Miliband can talk all he likes about taking on the unions, but unless he publicly reprimands his Shadow Minister’s misconduct, people will see him for what he is – weak and in the pockets of his union paymasters.”
• Dromey's payments to union Unite breached MP rules - Independent

MILIBAND ACCUSES CAMERON OF JUMPING ON THE RESPONSIBLE CAPITALISM BANDWAGON

• Cameron must prove his "responsible capitalism" credentials, says Miliband - Telegraph
• Miliband urges Cameron to end a culture of "fleecing" customers by train and energy firms, banks and airlines - BBC
• Labour leader challenges UK's "vested interests culture" - Guardian
• Pete Hoskin:  "There's a big problem for Miliband, and it's one that afflicts many opposition leaders after a change of government: his proximity to the old regime. In calling for a ‘responsible capitalism’ he's effectively saying that the capitalism Labour presided over was irresponsible, or not responsible enough" - Spectator

THE FALKLANDS ISLANDS

• Argentina rejects Cameron's "colonial" jibe - Guardian
• Argentina hits back at Cameron's colonialist remarks, saying Britian is in "imperial decline" - Huffington Post
• 'Argentine colonialists! Cameron raises Falklands stakes after report of plan for 'fishermen's invasion' - Daily Mail
• Michael White: 'Falklands sabre-rattling: Cameron should stick to bullying Miliband' - Guardian
• Nile Gardiner: 'David Cameron should cut foreign aid, and invest the money in defending the Falklands' - Telegraph
• Flavia Dzodan: 'Falklands colonialism is coming from David Cameron, not Argentina' - Guardian

NHS REFORMS

• 'Andrew Lansley: unions want to 'have a go at government' over health reforms' - Guardian I Times (£)
• Shadow Health Secretary Andy Burnham says it is too dangerous to go ahead with NHS reforms - Telegraph

PHONE HACKING

• News International pays out more than £600,000 including to John Prescott - Guardian
• Statements from John Prescott, Chris Bryant, and Denis MacShane 

OTHER TORY & POLITICAL NEWS

• Two zones have been chosen for badger cull trials - Times (£)
• Welsh Tories cancel conference with 2 weeks notice - BBC
• 'Polling station locations may influence voters, research suggests' - Telegraph
• A charity helping homeless Scots in London accuses Scottish ministers of withdrawing funding because it operates outside of Scotland - Guardian
• Ruth Porter: 'Green policies are costing Britons the earth' - Telegraph
• Ed West: 'It is not just conservatives who shy away from science' - Telegraph