Teatime newslinks for Monday 31st October 2011

THERESA MAY TO ANNOUNCE NEW, TOUGH MEASURES FOR GUN CRIME

• "Theresa May is expected to announce plans to make possessing a gun with intent to supply a specific offence, it has emerged." - Guardian
• "Changes to the law on self defence are likely to have little or no impact on the justice system, according to the government's own assessment. Last week, the Ministry of Justice said they would "strengthen people's rights to use force to defend themselves from intruders in their own homes". But the MoJ's impact assessment says the move "seeks to clarify the law rather than making material changes"." - BBC

LIAM FOX SPEAKS TO THE BBC - HE HOPES FOR A FRONTBENCH RETURN, EVENTUALLY

• "Liam Fox has told BBC Bristol he hopes to return to the front benches - but is also looking forward to being freer to say what he thinks as a backbencher. The ex-defence secretary admitted he was "careless" in not having a civil servant present at a Dubai meeting with a potential defence contractor. He "paid the price" for that, which fitted with his belief that people should take responsibility for actions. No 10 said it was unsurprising Mr Fox was keen on return to government. The PM's official spokeswoman said: "He did good work while he was defence secretary. But he resigned only a few days ago."" - BBC
• Liam Fox, the former defence secretary, has admitted that he is still in touch with Adam Werritty and accused the media of making "a meal" of the relationship with his friend and self-styled adviser. - Daily Telegraph

Teatime newslinks for Friday 28th October 2011

DIRECTORS' PAY AND ST PAUL'S OCCUPATION SPARK DEBATE ABOUT INEQUALITY

• ToryDiary: Capitalism is in danger
• The PM: "Boards have got think, when they’re making pay awards ‘is this the right and responsible thing to do’. Of course you’ve got to attract the best talent to run the business that you are accountable for as a non-executive director, but is what you’re doing responsible?" - PolHome (£)
• Gerald Howarth: "The capitalist system has been proven to have delivered. It's not perfect, of course, but we had the experiment in communism, and a slightly milder version of it here called socialism, and the Government of 1945 did irreparable damage to the United Kingdom, followed by Wilson and Callaghan, and was rescued of course by Margaret Thatcher in 1979." - PolHome (£)
• Ed Miliband's soundbite for the day: "I think it’s wrong because what we see is rewards not based on performance, not a something for something culture, but a something for nothing culture." - PolHome (£)
• Mark Field MP: "What’s interesting about St Paul’s – obviously it’s in my constituency and I’ve been down there a few times during the course of this week – is the sense that it’s not just the usual suspects, not just people on the Left of politics, but there’s increasingly an unease from a lot of middle-class people that somehow the rules of capitalism are skewed against them." - PolHome (£)
• Blue Labourite Maurice Glasman: "How the St Paul's protesters seek to democratise London"

Teatime newslinks for Thursday 27th October 2011

EUROPE

• Osborne tells the Commons that Britain is ready to contribute to the IMF, but not directly to EU bailout mechanism - Guardian
• €urozone deal must not lose momentum, says Osborne - BBC
• George Osborne: 'Our view about how to solve the €urozone's immediate problems has been clear, consistent and forcibly expressed' - PlayPolitical
• Peter Hoskin: 'Osborne's response to Europe's gappy deadl' - Spectator
• Nick Wood: 'Cameron must put Britain first in this €uro-shambles' - Daily Mail
• Dan Hodges: "Europe, as a political concept, is dying. The great irony is that the only people who can’t see it are the Eurosceptics themselves. It was their manic Europhobia and constant cries of “wolf” that ceded the debate, by default, to the pro-Europeans. And now it is that same mania that is keeping the fading embers of the great European debate alive" - Telegraph
• Simon Heffer describes the €urozone crisis deal as "smoke and mirrors to calm the markets" - Daily Mail
• John Palmer: "The combination of eurozone political union and backbench Euroscepticism may herald a gradual departure from the EU" - Guardian
• Dionyssis G. Dimitrakopoulos: "Cameron and many in his party appear to believe that legislation that improves workers’ rights, and efforts to curb the devastating power of financial markets is not in Britain’s interests. This is the real meaning of the Tory EU rebellion" - OpenDemocracy
• James Chapman: Iain Duncan Smith will quit if Cameron mishandles EU vote again - Daily Mail
• Ed West: "Re-reading George Orwell’s "The Lion and the Unicorn: Socialism and the English Genius", it’s telling how little has changed among England’s Europeanised intelligentsia" - Telegraph
• UKIP leader Nigel Farage claims that discussion are underway over possible defections of Tory MPs and MEPs - politics.co.uk I Evening Standard

Teatime newslinks for Wednesday 26th October 2011

PMQ'S

• Before attending the EU summit in Brussels, Cameron says that stopping the "contagion" of the €urozone crisis from spreading, is a priority - Guardian
• Cameron denies split with Clegg over EU powers - BBC
• It's rally round Cameron time at PMQs - ToryDiary
• James Forsyth says that Cameron "came out swinging" but suggests 3 friendly questions from female MPs show how worried the Tory party is about the female vote - Spectator
• Cameron calls Miliband a "complete mug who wants no rebalancing at all" of EU powers - PlayPolitical
• David Hughes: 'Who exactly is the mug, Mr Cameron?' - Telegraph
• Kiran Stacey: The Conservatives were temporarily united in laughing at Miliband - FT
• Peter McHugh: 'Tory tribalism saves the day for Dave' - New Statesman
• Ed Miliband should have had it easy, says Daniel Knowles, but he chose to focus on Cameron-Clegg differences - Telegraph
• Lloyd Evans: Miliband was "truly walloped by Cameron", as his attack had "no sense of bite, or surprise" - Spectator
• "If Monday's vote on Europe turned Cameron's hair grey, then Wednesday's not-so-awkward follow up at PMQ's will have sent him to the continent with colour in his cheeks" - ePolitix.com

Teatime newslinks for Tuesday 25th October 2011

THE DAY AFTER THE EU REFERENDUM DEBATE 

• The Conservative party is as divided as ever it was ... and a referendum is the only way to acheive closure - ToryDiary
• Cameron says there is no "bad blood, rancour, bitterness" towards the rebels - PlayPolitical
• Conservatives focus on limiting fallout of the EU referendum vote - Guardian
• He has two things to consider the day after, says Benedict Brogan: The future of the coalition, and his credibility as leader - Telegraph
• Tory MPs feel Cameron is both weak and heavy-handed on Europe - Guardian
• James Forsyth: 'Cameron needs a new management style' - elements of the party "want him to stop acting like a medieval monarch and start behaving in the manner of someone who is first among equals"  - Spectator
• Alex Massie responds to James Forsyth -  Cameron "these days is something of an elected monarch" but "not first among equals in any meaningful sense" - Spectator
• Chris Moncrieff: 'Cameron tried to bully MPs with a whip that he didn't need ... now he's the one with egg on his face' - Daily Mail
• George Eaton: Cameron was right to take on the backbenchers, "he has shown that he is prepared to adopt a position - that a referendum on EU membership is not in Britain's interests - and stick to it" - New Statesman
• Michael White: 'Tory revolt over EU referendum bursts into flames' - Guardian
• Gove says he "respected the passion" from backbenchers, stressing consensus in the Tory party over the EU - MPsETC
• Daniel Knowles: Is Gove serious to say the Tories are "united as never before?" Knowles argues that "most of the party doesn't really disagree with the public statements of William Hague or David Cameron: they want guarantees against further integration and a return to Westminster of some powers (nobody is sure which)." - Telegraph
• Steven Baxter: "The rift over Europe -- the faultline that runs through the Conservative Party and has done for so many years -- is not going to go away, but that it has popped up so soon in this administration could be an indication of strength rather than weakness" - New Statesman
• The treasury denies that Andrea Leadsom MP swore at George Osborne over the telephone - Telegraph
• Clegg rules out repatriating powers from Europe - BBC  I Times (£)
• Clegg says the Tories "have a bee in the bonnet" over Europe - Telegraph

Teatime newslinks for Monday 24th October 2011

EU REFERENDUM VOTE

• MPsETC: Ahead of this evening's debate, Tory MPs rehearse the arguments for and against a referendum
• ToryDiary: David Cameron: A referendum now would be "rash" and "premature"
• LISTEN: George Eustice MP: There is a sense that the government "don't have any serious intentions of sorting the European Union out"
• Invictus: There is no prospect of holding the Conservative Party together without the serious prospect of EU renegotiation
• Number 10 claim they expect 85 rebels... Pete Hoskin has your scorecard for today's EU referendum vote
• James Forsyth: "It looks like about a third of Tory backbenchers will rebel in tonight’s vote on an EU referendum. 18 months into government, this is a massive rebellion and one that should make the Prime Minister think again about his style of party management. Those in Number 10 who claim that many of the rebels will ‘never be happy’ are missing the point that, while there may be a hardcore of MPs keen to rebel, many more are reluctant rebels who feel they have been pushed into it by Cameron’s failure to engage with the party on the whole issue of Europe."
• Labour rebellions? Guido blogs: "one Labour source suggests that up to thirty of Ed’s own side are preparing to call for a referendum. Other sources, closer to the leadership, spin that they are expecting less than fifteen…"
• Referendum vote tells us Tories are divided over David Cameron, not Europe - Benedict Brogan
• Why will Cameron impose a three-line-whip? "For Dave, this is about the one unforgivable sin: not so much disloyalty as the even graver crime of insubordination." - Damian Thompson

Teatime newslinks for Friday 21st October 2011

EU REFERENDUM

• Chris Moncrieff: "Some of the 2010 intake are showing refreshing signs" -  'Will Tories defy Cameron's EU whip?' - Daily Mail
• Jim Pickard: 'Cameron's big European problem' - FT
• Daniel Knowles: 'This EU referendum vote shows that David Cameron doesn't control his party' - Telegraph
• Dan Hodges: 'For Labour, Europe is the gift that keeps on giving' - Telegraph
• Michael White: 'David Cameron on Europe: Time to lead from the front' - Guardian
• Nick Wood: 'Is Cameron about to strike another blow against trust in politicians? - "With 60 per cent of Tory Party members wanting out of the EU, the gulf between the governed and the governing could not be starker. Talk about a democratic deficit" - Daily Mail
• Daniel Hannan: 'Gibraltarians understand what it means to be British. Do we?' - Telegraph

Teatime newslinks for Monday 17th October 2011

ENERGY

• Government sets out plans to tackle rising energy costs - Guardian
• Cameron to meet energy companies at summit - FT
• Industry bosses warn gas prices will continue to rise - Telegraph
• In a joint article, Cameron and Huhne say the Government must work "harder and faster" to reduce energy bills - Evening Standard I Independent
• Cameron and Huhne: 'Our plans to tackle rising energy costs' - Moneysavingexpert.com
• On energy prices, Chris Huhne says the Government is "working with Ofgem, the independent regulator, to simplify dramatically the number of tariffs" - PlayPolitical
• As energy bills look set to soar by another £300, minister Chris Huhne claims UK energy prices are 'relatively good' - Daily Mail I Telegraph
• James Forsyth: 'Miliband's challenge' - Spectator