Reactions to PMQs and the continuing row over Abu Qatada's release from prison lead our teatime review

PMQs reactions

 

• ToryDiary: Not exactly clear support for Lansley from Cameron at PMQs
• "Even though he knew it was coming, Mr Cameron's response to Ed Miliband's attack on NHS reform was somewhat brittle. At times, he was reduced to an almost Brownite recital of statistics and facts: not a good look for the PM." - James Kirkup
• "In many ways today was a reheated stew of some of the worst elements of Cameron’s reign over PMQs – the death of satire, Flashman, Listen to the Doctor and the PM’s inner Gordon Brown. Cameron was poor, but Ed Miliband won’t care a jot. He bested the PM comprehensively today." - LabourList
• "As expected, Ed Miliband went on the NHS and it helped deliver him a points victory. Whenever Miliband raises the issue at PMQs, David Cameron’s rather overly macho body language gives away that he knows he is playing on a sticky wicket." - James Forsyth
• "It is axiomatic in football that once the chairman declares total confidence in the manager he is on is way out. Today David Cameron declared his trust in Health Secretary Andrew Lansley." - New Statesman

Abu Qatada deportation row continues

"David Cameron has said it is "completely unacceptable" that Abu Qatada is to be freed from jail. He told MPs that the radical cleric should have been deported to his native Jordan "years ago" and the UK would do everything it could to make it happen." - BBC

• Peter Bone MP: "My advice to the Prime Minister, for what it is worth, is that we have a Home Secretary who is itching to deport this chap. We have a Supreme Court saying he should be deported to our longest-standing ally in the Middle East. I would say to the Prime Minister put the British people first, and put that person on a plan tonight and tell the European Court to take a running jump." - PolHome (£)
• Labour's Yvette Cooper: "I have just see the bail judgement from yesterday, and the really troubling thing about that is it suggest that in fact, had the Home Secretary and Prime Minister been taking this urgent action some weeks ago, it is possible that Abu Qatada would not have been granted bail." - PolHome (£)
• "The latest revelation to come out of the BBC is the guidance issued at the BBC editorial meeting suggesting that Abu Qatada, the Jordanian whom the British government is too gutless to deport, should not be described as an “extremist” because that would suggest a “value judgment”." - Ed West

Left-wing Lib Dem grassroots group to launch

• "A new Lib Dem group – Liberal Left – have announced their launch today. The group is opposed to Lib Dem membership of the coalition, and appeared avowedly pro-Labour." - LabourList
• "The first Liberal Democrat group openly opposed to the coalition is to be launched at the party's spring conference in Gateshead next month with a warning that the coalition has been a political disaster for the party, as well as a denial of its radical roots." - Guardian
• Their launch statement includes the phrase: "A future coalition with Labour and others on the liberal left is more likely to secure Liberal Democrat goals than a further coalition with the Conservatives and we should actively work to make that possible."

Boris vs Ken interview

• Ken on homosexuality: "Well, the Labour ones have all come out . . . As soon as Blair got in, if you came out as lesbian or gay you immediately got a job. It was wonderful . . . you just knew the Tory party was riddled with it like everywhere else is."
• Ken Livingstone interview - New Statesman
• Question to Boris: "What is your greatest fear?" His answer: "Finding myself on a beach with Ken Livingstone"
• Boris Johnson interview - New Statesman

In Brief:

• Downing Street denies UK is 'militarising' Falklands - BBC
• Sir Victor Blank - Labour's banker? - Paul Waugh
• Eastleigh, Edgbaston and Hodge Hill - the possible by-elections to look forward to this year - New Statesman
• Guardian and Press Association's reporting of BMJ poll under scrutiny - FullFact
• "Trials suggest millions of pounds could be saved by using "nudge theory" about how people behave to encourage them to pay taxes and fines, officials say." - BBC

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The row over Abu Qatada's deportation ruling leads the 5pm newslinks

Abu Qatada deportation row

• "It "isn't acceptable" that the UK cannot deport radical cleric Abu Qatada to Jordan, the home secretary has said. Theresa May told MPs the government was "considering all legal options" open to it - including referring the case to the European Court's grand chamber. Abu Qatada is due to be released on bail, after the European Court of Human Rights ruled he could not be deported... A Downing Street spokeswoman has said it is "not the end of the road" for the case."" - BBC
• "Dominic Raab criticised the decision to block Abu Qatada’s deportation to Jordan on the grounds he might not get a fair trial, warning “you can’t make Britain responsible for the justice systems in Jordan”." - PolHome (£)
• “But that’s why I think the Home Secretary needs to tell us this afternoon what she’s doing to get Abu Qatada deported, to stand trial in Jordan, because I think there is still further action the Government needs to take to deliver that, and secondly what they’re doing to protect the public in the mean time.” - Labour's Shadow Home Secretary, Yvette Cooper quoted by PolHome (£)
• Ignore the European Court and deport Abu Qatada tonight - Douglas Murray

Andrew Lansley Cabinet reshuffle rumours

"No 10 insists Andrew Lansley has David Cameron's "full support", despite a Downing Street source reportedly saying the health secretary "should be taken out and shot"." - BBC

• "The PM met with Nick Clegg and Andrew Lansley yesterday, and they agreed to press on. The Health Secretary will be allowed to continue with the reform, despite concerns about the way he has handled it." - Benedict Brogan
• "However, it's precisely because the "fundamentals" of the bill remain that it's hard to see Cameron either sacking Lansley or abandoning the reforms. He missed his chance to do that last summer. As the bill re-enters the Lords, the likelihood is that Lansley will live to fight another day." - New Statesman
• Labour's Andy Burnham: Cameron must clarify if briefing on Lansley reflects majority opinion in No 10 - PolHome (£)
• No-one emerges from the health reform smash-up with any credit - Richard Marsh

In Brief:

• Cameron is right to focus on quality apprenticeships - James Plunkett
• Phone hacking: Met police failed to warn victims - BBC
• Boundary review expected to be completed a lot earlier than expected - Political Betting
• "What do UK contributions to Eurozone bailouts, the failure to deport Abu Qatada and wind farms each have in common? They are, explained my constituent, “the sort of things I voted Conservative to stop. Yet they just seem to happen anyway”." - Douglas Carswell
• The full list of Dickens novels given to each Cabinet member by Jeremy Hunt - Guido Fawkes
• Local government: Tory councils serve notice of legal challenge to HS2
• "The exodus of ambassadors from Damascus continues. The six Gulf Cooperation Council states (Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the UAE) have announced that they are withdrawing their envoys. They are also going a step further than Britain, France and Italy – by expelling the Syrian ambassadors from their own countries." - Guardian liveblog of Syrian situation
• Maldives President Mohamed Nasheed resigns amid unrest - BBC

And finally 1... Grant Shapps: My 10 rules of thumb for every tweeting MP - PolHome (£)

And finally 2... Lembit Opik re-emerges in a music video - Guido Fawkes

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Reaction to PMQs and the welfare reforms being voted on by MPs lead our 5pm newslinks

PMQS REACTION

• ToryDiary: PMQs: Miliband attacks on health and banking, but Conservatives launch benefits cap counter-attack
• WATCH: David Cameron: "It was the last Labour government... that agreed an RBS bonus pool of £1.3billion"
• "We saw the prime minister quote Tony Blair, the Speaker praise David Cameron's vocabulary and a jab at the follicly-challenged shadow work and pensions secretary. It was all rather unparliamentary today at PMQs." - Total Politics
• "But in the main clashes between the two leaders, which were on top pay and the NHS, Miliband actually did pretty well. He caused Cameron some discomfort" - James Forsyth
• "Whichever Conservative came up with the line that "no family should receive more in out-of-work benefits than the average family receives for going out of work" deserves some sort of prize. This prime piece of populism saved David Cameron from what looked like certain defeat at today's PMQs." - George Eaton
• "Ed Miliband... [i]s clearly enjoying his new role as self-styled nemesis of capitalism. So much so that it was a surprise to see him arrive in the chamber wearing a rather understated dark suit and fetching mauve tie. I’d half expected him to appear in army fatigues, with black beret and Havana cigar, and a pistol strapped to his waist." - Dan Hodges