Newslinks for Monday 31st October 2011

5.15pm WATCH: Tim Loughton MP: "There is too much delay in the courts, too much bureaucracy" in the adoption process

5pm Edward Timpson MP on Comment: Improving the adoption system will transform lives

5pm: Today's teatime newslinks, including Theresa May's new gun crime plans, Liam Fox, Lord Young and the Regional Growth Fund announcement

4pm Jim McConalogue on Comment: The UK will be hemmed in by an impoverished set of European neighbours when a two-tier EU is created

3.45pm WATCH: Ed Miliband: "We've got a perfect storm in our economy, a perfect storm of higher unemployment and higher inflation"

2.30pm MPsETC update: Robert Halfon MP's petrol prices e-petition has a "very, very high chance" of being debated, says the Chair of the Backbench Business Committee

2pm WATCH: David Cameron: "We need a real culture change in this country to be more pro-adoption"

12.30pm On Comment, Charlie Elphicke MP shows how Labour's deficit plans would saddle you with £8,000 more debt than the Coalition

11.30am John Stevens on Comment: Clegg should back an 'In or Out' referendum and finally resolve Britain's EU question

11am Columnist Anthony Browne: Move the clocks forward an hour

11am ConHomeUSA: Today's top Republican and American political news

ToryDiary: Dangerous distance opens up between Cameron and the country, party and centre right press on Europe

MajorityConservatism: The economic policy we have and the economic policy we need

Columnist Bruce Anderson: It is time for the Conservative Party to recognise and trust its Leaders

Nick de Bois MP on Comment: Parliament must debate the European Arrrest Warrant

Tim Montgomerie on Comment: In praise of City AM's Allister Heath, one of Britain's most insightful economic commentators

Local government: Second home owners to lose Council Tax discounts

Also on Local government: Councils failing on adoption to be named and shamed

MPsETC: A fourth e-petition reaches 100,000 signatures - on financial education

WATCH: Nick Herbert MP considers action to stop protests becoming permanent encampments

Councils with poor adoption rates to be named and shamed as Government launches... GiveAChildAHome website

"A Green Paper detailing new “floor standards”, similar to those issued to schools for their exam results, will set out the minimum proportion of children that should be adopted from care each year. It will also impose time limits on the process." - Times (£)

• "Control over adoption and fostering services will be removed from councils that are failing in their duty to find parents for children in care, David Cameron will announce today." - Daily Mail
• Private companies could take over the children's services of poorly performing local authorities - Telegraph
• "Cameron, who is meeting parents, carers and adoption services representatives, will launch the website www.giveachildahome.co.uk, which aims to open debate on reform and provide information on adopting and fostering." - Guardian

> Yesterday's ToryDiary: The scandal of the racist dogma that stops black children being adopted

Distancing ourselves from the EU would be suicide, warns Clegg - Scotsman

"Mr Clegg said the idea that the UK should position itself as a leader of the 10 EU member states that have not joined the euro was a fundamental mistake. “To limit our ambition like this would be an extraordinary own goal,” he suggested. “Why would we seek to head up a smaller club with a fast diminishing membership? Many of our fellow ‘outs’ eventually want to become ‘ins’.” - FT (£)

• States that opt to stay out of the euro should form a group to ensure their voices are heard - David Owen in The Times (£)

Sun attacks reported deal between Cameron and Clegg on EU

Sun Says: "The deal between David Cameron and Lib Dem deputy Nick Clegg on Europe looks suspiciously like a cheap PR stunt. Mr Clegg is to graciously agree to the UK trying to claw back powers from Brussels — but only if the same rights are returned to all the other 27 EU nations. And with Germany and France relentlessly pushing for more integration, not less, that's worth about as much as a Greek IOU."

Tory MPs line up to attack Clegg on Europe

• Peter Bone: "‘The Prime Minister wants powers back from Europe. Yet it seems to be Mr Clegg and a few Lib Dems dictating policy – it is outrageous."
• Douglas Carswell: "‘Nick Clegg needs to be reminded that he is leading a party which is now running neck and neck with UKIP. If he wants to trigger a General Election on this issue then good luck to him."
• Julian Lewis: "‘I am a conservative Conservative: if I had wanted to be a Liberal, I would have joined the Liberal Democrat party, and if the country had wanted the Liberals to be having as much influence as they have got, they’d have voted for them in rather larger numbers."

Quotes taken from the Daily Mail.

"Even now, with the eurozone sinking deeper into crisis, Clegg still clings to his party’s cherished doctrine of European integration. As the public mood in Britain turns decisively against the EU, Clegg grows ever more hysterical in his defence of Brussels." - Leo McKinstry in The Express

• Tory MP Mark Reckless claims that half of all Tory MPs would like to leave the EU - Telegraph
• Cameron under pressure from Tory backbenchers to veto a fresh EU bid to grab £40billion for its budget - Express

David Cameron vows to boost infrastructure projects - BBC | Telegraph

Ed Miliband suggests Government's tax changes penalise long-term investment - Guardian

"Companies should be given a £1,500 tax break for taking on a jobless 16 to 24-year-old in an attempt to combat rising youth unemployment, the CBI has urged. The employers’ group said the incentive, which would cover the first year’s national insurance for employers, would cost £150m a year and “is affordable within the context of the government’s deficit reduction plan”." - FT (£)

Cameron warns colleagues on talking down UK - FT (£)

> Yesterday evening's ToryDiary: Cameron sets out his three-pronged plan to revive Britain's economy

Smaller charities working with the young unemployed losing local government funding - Times (£)

Theresa May has launched a fresh attack on British judges accusing them of being overzealous in their use of the Human Rights Act - Daily Mail | Express

"Gun dealers are set to face life in prison as ministers launch a major crackdown on networks that fuel horrific gang crime. Home Secretary Theresa May will this week unveil a new firearms law aimed at smashing a deadly underworld of importers and middle-men." - Sun

Cameron gives green light to British merchant ships carrying armed guards to combat Somali pirate threat - City AM | Sun

Cameron: Developing countries which ban homosexuality may lose aid payments - Scotsman | Metro

Treasury Select Committee presses Bank of England on its handling of financial crisis - Guardian

The Public Administration Committee criticises executive's appointment of so many MPs to 'government jobs'

"The public administration committee says its call to reduce the ministerial ranks from 121 to 80 has been ignored... The committee said the government employed more parliamentary private secretaries (PPS) - or ministerial aides - than it needed and that they performed "few functions of real value"... [Bernard] Jenkin, a key figure during the recent rebellion by Tory backbenchers over a referendum on EU membership, said the employment of aides was "more about exercising patronage over MPs, and thus being able to influence debates and votes, than it is about efficiency and accountability."" - BBC | Guardian

"Ministers have been forced to seek permission from Prince Charles to pass at least a dozen government bills, according to a Guardian investigation into a secretive constitutional loophole that gives him the right to veto legislation that might impact his private interests." - Guardian

Hunt backed by PM accused of breaking rules to keep foxes - Independent

Britain would be better off and lives would be saved if we had summer time all year round - Boris Johnson in The Telegraph

Labour drops support for Heathrow runway - Independent

Tony Blair's Faith Foundation champions religious freedom. So why is he doing deals with a despot who persecutes believers? - Jerome Taylor for The Independent

Care in the community is 'a £100bn failure': Mentally ill patients have been neglected for decades, says Iain Duncan Smith think-tank - Daily Mail

> Please use the thread below to provide links to news topics likely to be of interest to ConservativeHome readers and to comment on political topics that haven't been given their own blog. This thread is moderated but during working hours (that's 6am to 10pm for ConHome) comments will usually be delayed no longer than sixty minutes. Read our comments policy here.

Newslinks for Sunday 30th October 2011

8pm LeftWatch: Update - There's also a Head of Continuing and Professional Education, a former Labour head of media, a head of Cultural Studies, a sociologist, a head of history...When the Observer's 100 leading economists aren't 100 leading economists

6.15pm ToryDiary: Cameron sets out his three-pronged plan to revive Britain's economy

4.30pm WATCH: Assad warns the Daily Telegraph's Andrew Gilligan against foreign intervention in Syria

3pm Laura Sandys MP on Comment welcomes the Prime Minister placing ships flying our flag under armed guard - but says that Somali robbers aren't the only threat. Piracy, protection and tariffs: the triple threat to global trade

2pm ConHomeUSA: Today's top Republican and American political news

ToryDiary: The scandal of the racist dogma that stops black children being adopted

Ruth Lea on our Columnists Page: As the EU squabbles, the Commonwealth looks even more enticing

Charlotte Vere on Comment: Conservatives must start talking about women in order to help achieve true equality between the genders

Also on Comment: Nadine Dorries - Why I went to Equatorial Guinea

MPsETC: Geoffrey Van Orden MEP's surveys of party members keep him in touch with the grassroots

LeftWatch: When the Observer's 100 leading economists aren't 100 leading economists

John Bald on Local Government: Mossbourne Academy v Passmores Academy

WATCH: The Queen ends her visit to Australia

Cameron moves to kill Daylight Saving Bill

"The Prime Minister made his feelings clear after Mr Cable's Business Department announced that it was considering giving support to a Bill that would force us to join German citizens in living an hour ahead of GMT in winter and two hours ahead in summer. An immediate rebuke was issued by No 10, declaring that, as Scotland would never accept the darker winter mornings, the plan was dead in the water." - Mail on Sunday

Yesterday: WATCH - Rebecca Harris MP makes the case for moving to European time; Peter Hitchens makes the case against

Male Conservative MPs give way to female ones for seats behind Prime Minister at PMQs - Mail on Sunday

Downing Street to proclaim infrastructure projects

"David Cameron and Nick Clegg have ordered that Ministers take decisions this week on the 40 major infrastructure projects awaiting approval. The aim is to announce them on Tuesday to coincide with the growth figures for the third quarter, which the Government, privately, expects to be positive. Approval for these projects should give a significant boost to the economy over the next few years." - Mail on Sunday 

Pickles to councils: you can scrap second home rebate

"Local authorities will be told they can abolish the rebate, which can mean council tax on second homes is as much as 50 per cent lower than for main residences. Ministers say the proposal will benefit hard-pressed middle-income families - but it will be unpopular with second-home owners. It will form the centrepiece of a series reforms which ministers say if adopted, would allow a cut in council tax bills for most people." - Sunday Telegraph

Prime Minister prepares EU repatriation plans...

"German Chancellor Angela Merkel is forging ahead with plans for fiscal integration for the 17 eurozone countries in the wake of the Greek debt crisis. Experts believe that requires a Treaty change and talks, which begin next month, are set to come to a head by next spring – giving the Prime Minister a six-month window. With the change requiring the support of all 27 union members, Conservative MPs believe Britain’s veto is the ideal opportunity to ­barter powers back from Brussels." - Sunday Express 

…While Nick Clegg warns against doing so

"Writing for the Observer, Clegg mocks those who believe this country would survive outside of Europe based on the so-called "special relationship" with America. "Eurosceptics tend to gaze longingly across the Atlantic, but the Americans are interested in us, in large part, because of our sway with our neighbours," he writes. "We stand tall in Washington because we stand tall in Brussels, Paris and Berlin." - The Observer

Clegg article in full - The Observer

More Europe news and comment:

• Number 10 faces guerrilla war with Conservative MPs over Europe - Sunday Telegraph
• Lidington: Eurozone may split EU into two camps - Sunday Times (£)
• Work has already begun in Whitehall on moves to claw back powers from Brussels on employment and social policy - Sunday Telegraph
• EU cash crisis gives Cameron chance to regain powers - Sunday Express Editoral
• "The rebellion last week was no more mature than the camp outside St Paul’s Cathedral: it was the pinstriped Occupy Westminster protest." - Matthew D'Ancona, Sunday Telegraph
• No-one has the courage to destroy the Euro - Dominic Lawson, Sunday Times (£)
• Here's how David Cameron can win back his party's trust over Europe - Douglas Carswell MP,  Sunday Telegraph
• Greedy or not, we need to work to save the City - Sunday Times Editorial (£)

> Yesterday:

• ToryDiary: The 81 rebels are vindicated as Cameron and Osborne change gear on Europe... at least for now
• WATCH - Iain Duncan Smith and Nigel Farage clash on Cameron and EU referendum

May: I'll speed up deportation of foreigners involved in British gang crime

"The Home Secretary will announce proposals for immigration services and police to work together to remove those operating in British gangs as quickly as possible. She will say that a pioneering scheme in London, which boasts a ‘100 per cent’ success rate in deporting ‘highest-harm’ foreign offenders, will be rolled out across England and Wales." - Mail on Sunday

• May says judges are too soft over human rights immigration appeals - Sunday Times (£)
• Home Office Minister Lynne Featherstone fights department's police budget cuts in her constituency - Sunday Times (£)
• Call it indeterminate, call it life – just keep them locked away - Minette Marrin, Sunday Times (£)
• Burglars need to feel our fear - Jenny McCartney, Sunday Telegraph

Harman "rides roughshod" over Miliband as she launches women-only frontbench team

"Ms Harman, Labour's deputy leader, sparked fury among male party colleagues by announcing that the 11 women in the Shadow Cabinet were holding their own meetings. They said Ms Harman informed the Labour leader of the plan – already being dubbed 'Harriet's Kitchen Cabinet' – at a full Shadow Cabinet meeting earlier this month." - Mail on Sunday

Harman interview - The Observer

More Labour news:

• While her colleagues battle to save the Euro, Baroness Ashton jets off to top Australian hotel - Sunday Times (£)
• Tony Blair, the billionaire donor Lakshmi Mittal... and a major deal in Kazakhstan - Mail on Sunday
• BBC boss takes second job advising Labour - Mail on Sunday
• Mandelson shows how to play the property game with £600k profit - Mail on Sunday
• Grant Shapps and Prescott clash over the former Deputy Prime Minister "playing Russian roulette with taxpayers' cash" - Sunday Times (£)

"What does David Cameron stand for?"

"He did join Sarkozy in backing the Libyan people against Gaddafi, after all, whereas Gordon Brown, if he had held on last year, might well not have done. Brown might have been too scared of the shadow of Iraq to assume joint leadership of a Nato effort. But on the big domestic questions – and most Britons are still in the phony war in which the cuts have yet to fall and the recession was something that passed them by – Cameron has nothing to say except that he inherited a mess from Labour.' - John Rentoul, Independent on Sunday

50 Tory councils rebel over planning policy - Sunday Times (£)

Mike Freer MP forced to abandon mosque surgery after being assailed as a "Jewish homosexual pig" - Mail On Sunday

Health spending fell in real terms in Cameron Year One - Independent on Sunday

Richard Benyon's civil servants offered to spend their voluntary work day clearing trees on his estate - Mail on Sunday

New law to put service families at top of housing queue - Sunday Telegraph

Zac Goldsmith's £300 million divorce - Mail on Sunday

Political News and Comment in Brief

• All women get right to caesareans - Sunday Times (£)
• MPs set to break £150 million ceiling on expenses - Sunday Express
• Assad: challenge Syria at your peril - Sunday Telegraph
• Saturday first class post now goes same as second - Mail on Sunday
• The Army won't face the truth about Afghanistan and Iraq - Patrick Cockburn, Independent on Sunday

And finally...How Laurence Olivier gave Margaret Thatcher the voice that went down in history

"According to an article by Mrs Thatcher's biographer and close friend Charles Moore in next month's Vanity Fair, it was Olivier's intervention that should be credited with giving her one of the most instantly recognisable voices in modern history. 'Soon the hectoring tones of the housewife gave way to softer notes and a smoothness that seldom cracked except under extreme provocation on the floor of the House of Commons,' he writes in the piece, which marks the 20th anniversary of Mrs Thatcher's retirement from the Commons." - Mail on Sunday

> Please use the thread below to provide links to news topics likely to be of interest to ConservativeHome readers and to comment on political topics that haven't been given their own blog. This thread is moderated but during working hours (that's 6am to 10pm for ConHome) comments will usually be delayed no longer than sixty minutes. Read our comments policy here.

Newslinks for Saturday 29th October 2011

2pm Local Government: Is Brent Council worried volunteers running a library would fail? Or that they would succeed?

1.45pm ConHomeUSA: Today's top Republican and American political news

1pm MPsETC: Apprenticeships - the government's "remarkable, unprecedented" success story

11.45am ToryDiary: Cameron must reject £100 million taxpayer bailout for political parties

ToryDiary: The 81 rebels are vindicated as Cameron and Osborne change gear on Europe... at least for now

Matthew Hancock MP responds to the big increases in directors' pay: For markets to work properly, we need a change of culture at the top of big companies

MPsETC: It won more than 100,000 signatures but Backbench Business Committee denies a debate to Robert Halfon's petrol prices petition

Local government: Councils win Icelandic banks court case

John Moss on local government: Right to Buy should be protected against re-selling for quick profit

VIDEO:

• Mark Field MP attacks "Third World shanty town" protest outside St Paul's Cathedral
• Rebecca Harris MP makes the case for moving to European time; Peter Hitchens makes the case against
• Nigel Farage and Iain Duncan Smith clash on Cameron and EU referendum

"Benefit claimants convicted of breaking the law will be forced to repay up to a third of their handouts each week in fines under a new welfare crackdown." - Express

Iain Duncan Smith quoted by the BBC: "I do not want to be in the business of leaving people without any money to support themselves but, equally, individuals must know that they cannot commit crime that impacts on the livelihoods and the communities of hard-working people without consequences."

Cameron said City was under "constant attack" from "badly drafted, badly formed" EU regulations - Independent | Express

"Mark Field, the Tory MP for Cities of London and Westminster, said: “It is great to hear the Prime Minister talk about the importance of protecting the City of London from anything decided by the eurozone.” He added: “It seems now he is moving to specifics.”" - Times (£)

• Whitehall officials are urgently reviewing every aspect of Britain’s membership of the European Union to support David Cameron’s promises to bring back powers from Brussels - Telegraph
• Cameron and Clegg differ as to whether Whitehall work to discuss EU repatriation is underway or not - Guardian
• Daily Mail/ Harris poll finds "massive" support for repatriation of powers. Same poll also finds "Cameron falling further our of favour with women voters".

The Times (£) interviews Andrea Leadsom MP, one of last Monday's rebels: "She considers herself a loyal MP but felt that she had no choice. “Rebelling last night was a point of principle. I could not vote it down.” It was not about the motion, which she thought was badly worded. Rather, it was the idea that the British people have not had a vote on Europe since 1975."

She’s been patronised and ridiculed – but Angela Merkel’s quiet diplomacy has won the euro a reprieve - Daniel Johnson profiles the German Chancellor in The Telegraph.

David Cameron and Nick Clegg criticise directors' '50% pay rise' - BBC

"For every protest junkie in a tent outside St Paul’s yelling: “Down with global capitalism” there are a thousand middle-income householders in Bromley, Bletchley and Barrow, studying directors’ pay and muttering: “It just isn’t right.”" - Matthew Parris in The Times (£)

Polly Toynbee attacks "curiously bloodless" Labour Party for not capitalising on anti-capitalist protests - Guardian

> Yesterday's ToryDiary: Capitalism is in danger

David Cameron makes human rights plea at his first meeting of Commonwealth Heads of Government - BBC

"Piracy, forced marriage, calls for the 54-member body to appoint a rights commissioner and pressure on Sri Lanka to properly investigate war crimes trials were among items on his agenda. Mr Cameron, attending his first Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) since entering Downing Street, warned it must work harder to uphold basic values if it is to remain relevant." - Press Association

David Cameron revives the British Empire Medal

"The British Empire Medal (BEM), described as the working-class gong, is to be revived as David Cameron reverses one of John Major's signature reforms that was designed to create a classless society. The prime minister, who is consulting the Queen on the change, hopes the revived medal will be awarded to people involved in voluntary work." - Guardian

Philip Hammond talks of regret at forces cuts in first interview as Defence Secretary - The Sun

Ken Clarke is losing the argument on prisons by ducking it - Guardian leader

Political parties could get more state funding to make up for donation caps - Guardian

Simon Hughes backs legal aid rebellion - Guardian

"The Government's Legal Aid (and lots of other things) Bill will make it impossible for many people to get justice because it will make no-win no-fee agreements virtually a thing of the past." - Chris Bryant in The Independent

Police have been granted permission to take possession of Sunday Times emails which could provide evidence that Chris Huhne asked his wife to take speeding points on his behalf - Telegraph

"Damning emails in which the ex-wife of Energy Secretary Chris Huhne discusses how to ‘bring him down’ could be handed to police within days. Detectives have won a court order forcing the Sunday Times to disclose more than 100 messages between Vicky Pryce and the newspaper. They believe the evidence is the final piece of the jigsaw required by prosecutors to bring a case against Mr Huhne for perverting the course of justice." - Daily Mail

Scottish Conservative leadership contender Jackson Carlaw has been taken to hospital after being diagnosed with appendicitis - Scotsman

Rupert Matthews' beliefs under scrutiny as he prepares to succeed Roger Helmer as East Midlands MEP - FT (£)

As the economy slows, poverty falls - Dan Hannan blogs on the silliness of a relative poverty measure

Bercow sent six pages of corrections to parliamentary profiler, Andrew Roth

"In six pages of corrections sent in 2003 the now House of Commons Speaker claimed, among other things, that his hair was "no longer centrally-parted or spikey!". Roth instead documented how Bercow had progressed from aggressive right-winger to Portillo-style social liberal "with only his hair formerly parted in the centre". Bercow also rejected the accusation that he had "a talent for abandoning sinking ships in favour of others floating in his desired direction"." - Independent

Blair defends opening the door to mass migration and says it had a very positive impact on Britain - Daily Mail

Only 100 people expected at divided BNP's annual conference - BBC

The unintended consequences of rigid Labour laws

"The unintended consequences of rigid labour laws have been devastating for younger generations in places such as Spain and Japan. Companies there find it fantastically expensive to fire permanent staff. So they only employ newcomers as part-timers, temps, or on short-term contracts. Such “precarious” work offers no security and minimal prospects. Meanwhile, long-serving staff can coast in comfort, knowing their employer cannot afford to sack them. A two-tier system has evolved which is fuelling anger among the young who are railing against politicians, bankers and the like." - Luke Johnson in the FT (£)

Elder statesmen Higgins wins Irish presidential election - Times (£)

VOTE IN THE END-OCTOBER CONSERVATIVEHOME SURVEY - HERE

> Please use the thread below to provide links to news topics likely to be of interest to ConservativeHome readers and to comment on political topics that haven't been given their own blog. This thread is moderated but during working hours (that's 6am to 10pm for ConHome) comments will usually be delayed no longer than sixty minutes. Read our comments policy here.

Newslinks for Friday 28th October 2011

7.15pm WATCH: Nick Clegg: "These reports of huge increases in top pay are just a slap in the face"

6pm WATCH: William Hague presents Australian Foreign Secretary Kevin Rudd with an unusual gift - goose fat

5.15pm Local government: Council byelection results from yesterday

5pm: Today's teatime newslinks feature St Paul's, the Royal Family, and Berlin time

3.30pm ToryDiary: Europe, Tax, Candidates, Climate Change, Candidates - all feature in the end-October ConHome survey

2.30pm MPsETC: Tobias Ellwood returns as new PPS appointments confirmed > Updated with news of Mel Stride's appointment as PPS to Skills Minister John Hayes

2pm ToryDiary: Capitalism is in danger

1.45pm LeftWatch: Labour's Shadow Education Minister, Kevin Brennan, argues for the abolition of private schools

12.45pm WATCH: David Cameron: "Some outdated rules, like some of the rules on succession, just don't make sense to us any more"

Noon ConHomeUSA: Today's top Republican and American political news

11am MPsETC: Tobias Ellwood returns as new PPS appointments confirmed

10am JP Floru on Comment: Diageo stops hiring: 50p flight is real

ToryDiary: How the Government could break down over Europe

Danny Kruger on our Columnists' page: We should regard deprived communities as mini-economies, and attempt to kick-start them as we do developing nations

Andrew Lilico on Comment: Lord Ashcroft is right about the dangers of a split on Europe but the split will be very big if the leadership defies the Eurosceptic majority

Tobias Ellwood MP on Comment: A long week at the Ministry of Defence

Local Government: Bureaucracy to be reduced for councils selling empty properties

WATCH: Barack Obama: The €urozone deal has calmed global markets

David Cameron: London is under constant attack from Europe

"The City of London is "under constant attack" from European Union regulations, David Cameron has said. Speaking on his way to Perth, Australia, for a Commonwealth summit, the Prime Minister also warned against the 17 eurozone nations colluding to undermine the European Union's free market rules. He said: "London is the centre of financial services in Europe. It's under constant attack through Brussels directives. It's an area of concern, it's a key national interest that we need to defend." Mr Cameron said that he will fight to prevent closer integration of the Eurozone countries leading to anti-competitive regulations." - Daily Telegraph

• "Prime minister believes Britain needs to be careful amid fears that euro countries will join forces to impose will on rest of EU" - Guardian
• "As eurozone leaders spent Wednesday evening thrashing out a rescue package for the single currency, David Cameron, UK prime minister, dined with his Polish and Swedish counterparts in an effort to make sure the 10 European Union “outs” were not marginalised in the new Europe." - FT (£)
• Now even Europe’s human rights chief admits British Bill of Rights is ‘the right thing to do’ - Daily Mail

> Yesterday on ToryDiary: Cameron greets "good progress" before Eurozone deal is struck

George Osborne vows to claw back powers as Europe heads towards a two-tier state

"George Osborne vowed to ‘rebalance’ Britain’s relationship with the European Union last night as he faced growing controversy over moves towards a two-tier Europe. The Chancellor sought to reassure rebellious Conservative MPs by giving the clearest commitment yet to using discussions over changing EU treaties to extract the UK from some of the burdens of membership. Mr Osborne said: ‘We have to be alert  to the danger of the 17 eurozone members, which will have qualified majority voting, caucusing on areas that are legitimately the preserve of the 27 member states. ‘We need to ensure that they do not caucus in the future in a way that undermines our voice and influence or that bounces all 27 member states.’" - Daily Mail

> From yesterday - Anthony Browne on our Columnists' page: Merkel wouldn't be warning about war if we hadn't the €uro in the first place

Osborne to block IMF cash for eurozone bail-out as Tory MPs start planning areas for repatriation of powers

"Mr Osborne said he would not allow the International Monetary Fund, which is partly bankrolled by British taxpayers, to provide money for the new euro bail-out fund. The announcement was a fillip to Conservative backbenchers who have demanded that the Government acts to claw back powers from Brussels. The Daily Telegraph has learnt that Tory MPs will meet next month to begin drawing up a detailed plan calling for the return of employment and social laws following the back-bench rebellion over a European referendum." - Daily Telegraph

> From yesterday - WATCH: George Osborne: "Our view about how to solve the €urozone's immediate problems has been clear, consistent and forcibly expressed"

Sarkozy and Europe turn to China for help

"Mr Sarkozy spoke to President Hu as he sought backing for the European rescue fund after the late-night deal to save the euro. The fund’s chief, Klaus Regling, is due to fly to Beijing today to woo investors." - Times (£)

"China is very likely to contribute to the eurozone’s bail-out fund but the scope of its involvement will depend on European leaders satisfying some key conditions, two senior advisers to the Chinese government have told the Financial Times. Any Chinese support would depend on contributions from other countries and Beijing must be given strong guarantees on the safety of its investment, according to Li Daokui, an academic member of China’s central bank monetary policy committee, and Yu Yongding, a former member of that committee. He added that Beijing might also ask European leaders to refrain from criticising China’s currency policy, a frequent source of tension with trade partners." - FT (£)

• Sarkozy says Greece was not ready to join euro - Guardian
• Furious Greeks lampoon German 'overlords' as Nazis with picture of Merkel dressed as an SS guard - Daily Mail

Fraser Nelson: As Europe is reshaped, Cameron must seize Britain's moment - which may come sooner than anyone expects

"The crunch will likely come sooner than anyone expects. If the eurozone starts to merge tax and spending plans, a two-speed Europe becomes an inevitability. Members with their own currencies will have to decide what relationship they want, and this will require a new treaty. This time last week, Cameron might have believed he could get away with pushing a deal through, and calling it a “tidying-up exercise”. As of Monday night, he knows that will no longer work. The Prime Minister is discovering – and not before time – that keeping the Coalition together means more than keeping the Lib Dems on side. Indeed, the euro crisis is so deep-rooted that even they have to acknowledge the need for change." - Fraser Nelson in the Daily Telegraph

• "The EU referendum can wait no longer in the face of this terrifying economic crisis." - Daily Mail editorial

Ken Clarke’s reforms "will send 2,500 fewer to jail"

"The Justice Secretary has announced an overhaul of prison terms for the most serious and violent offenders, including a “two strikes” life sentence. ... But official estimates published yesterday showed the new regime will result in 2,500 fewer prison places being needed in the long term. Only 20 offenders a year are expected to be handed the new life sentences for those who commit two very serious crimes." - Daily Telegraph

• "The Justice Ministry says repeat offenders responsible for a quarter of a million crimes had more than 25 previous convictions each. Clearly, they had no fear of a stretch. And until Ken Clarke goes, they will continue not to worry." - The Sun Says

> From yesterday:

• ToryDiary: In the battle against knife criminals it's Nick de Bois MP 400 and Ken Clarke nil
• WATCH: Nick de Bois: Mandatory jail sentence for young people using knives to threaten is "another means of capturing part of the growing knife problem"

Royal equality act will end succession of first born male - rather than older sister

"Commonwealth leaders will pledge to amend legislation dating back to the 17th century to allow daughters of the monarch to take precedence over younger sons in the line of succession. David Cameron will hail the agreement of the 16 Queen's realms, the Commonwealth countries where the Queen serves as head of state, to amend "outdated" rules that also prevent a potential monarch from marrying a Catholic." - Guardian

Anna Soubry: The green belt could be destroyed by open cast mining

"Anna Soubry, a Parliamentary Private Secretary at the Department for Health, said the draft National Planning Policy Framework failed to prevent mines from being opened up on the green belt. ... In a House of Commons debate, Ms Soubry told MPs that the draft NPPF “makes it clear that such works are not necessarily inappropriate on green belt land”. She added: “I respectfully suggest to the Government that they are wholly inappropriate on green belt land.” Ms Soubry, the Conservative MP for Broxtowe in the the east Midlands, said the threat of open cast mining “sits hanging over my constituency”." - Daily Telegraph

Figures show sharp rise in apprenticeships

"The number of people starting apprenticeships rose by more than half during the past year, according to government statistics. During the 2010-11 academic year, 422,700 people took up government-subsidised training positions, compared with 279,700 the previous year. More than three-quarters of the growth came from over-25s, whose numbers more than tripled. These workers now account for 40 per cent of the total number of starts. The number of under-19 starts grew by 10 per cent." - FT (£)

'Mickey Mouse' courses to be axed from league tables - Daily Telegraph

Coalition breaks green pledge with Siberian coal deal - Independent

Elderly care funds cut - Daily Telegraph

Baroness Thatcher claimed £535,000 public allowance

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