Newslinks for Monday 28th May 2012

6pm Ben Howlett on Comment: Today's start-up loans scheme backs young people

3.45pm Spencer Pitfield is the new director of the Conservative Policy Forum

1pm WATCH:

• Craig Oliver, David Cameron's Head of Communications, clashes with the BBC's Norman Smith over coverage of the Jeremy Hunt controversy
• Blair confronted by heckler during Leveson evidence in security breach

ToryDiary: Lord Young launches new business loans scheme for young people

Columnist Bruce Anderson: The Diamond Jubilee is a time for rejoicing and gratitude

Laura Sandys MP on Comment: We must be on customers' side - and be seen to be on their side

Local Government: Sir Clive Loader chosen as Conservative candidate for police commissioner in Leicestershire

MPsETC: What is the Fresh Start Project? Matthew Barrett profiles the Tory MPs trying to forge a new UK-EU relationship

The Deep End: From Grexit to Spexit

WATCH: Baroness Warsi's landlord says he never charged rent

Hague flies to Moscow after Houla massacre

"William Hague, the Foreign Secretary, who is leading attempts to draw up a hard-edged UN resolution, flew to Moscow to press Russia to lift its protective hand from the Assad regime. Kofi Annan, representing the UN and the Arab League on Syria, flies to Damascus today in a last-ditch attempt to save his ceasefire plan…Alistair Burt, the Foreign Office Minister responsible for the Middle East, said the UN had to ensure that all the options were on the table “to show that the international community cannot be thwarted”." - The Times (£)

• Assad’s gangster regime needs to be isolated; the people it represses need direct protection - Times Editorial (£)

> Yesterday: WATCH - Nick Clegg on Syrian Olympics officials: "If you've been shown to have abused human rights, you're not allowed in"

Grayling orders 40,000 to work for their dole

"Ministers will double the number who are signed  up to a work-for-welfare scheme to nearly 40,000. Those who refuse to take up the month-long placements will lose their jobseeker’s allowance, which can be up to £71 a week. Employment Minister Chris Grayling hopes to expand the programme, which targets those suspected of playing the system, to include thousands more claimants who repeatedly defy attempts to help them into work." - Daily Mail 

Lord Young launches loan scheme for under-25s

"My report is essentially a primer for all those who wish to start their own business. Compared with the 1980s, there is an enormous amount of help, from the private as well as the public sector, available today to the budding entrepreneur and it is my ambition that many tens of thousands of the businesses of the future will have their genesis in StartUp Loans. The only qualification needed is to be under 25, ambitious, to have a plan and to be prepared to work for yourself. We will help you with the rest." - The Times (£)

"A new breed of Iron Lady". Claire Perry is profiled in the Guardian

"The MP for Devizes is as good an example as any of the new generation of Tory women trying to change the image of the party, despite the fact that she entered parliament just six years ago. Credited with persuading the government to review internet porn earlier this month, involved in this week's putsch of the influential 1922 backbench committee and frequently in trouble for her shoot-from-the-lip behaviour, it is clear that Perry has no trouble being noticed in Westminster." - The Guardian 

Cameron must quickly rediscover progressive conservatism - Gavin Kelly, Financial Times (£)

Warsi Day Two: Graham attacks, Fallon defends...

"Sir Alistair Graham, a former chairman of the Committee on Standards in Public Life, said: “At the moment it all looks very muddy and blurred and worthy of a full investigation.” Speaking to Sky News, he suggested that if the standards commissioner decided to investigate then Lady Warsi should relinquish her ministerial office until any inquiries were complete…Michael Fallon, the Tory deputy chairman, said the controversy was “embarrassing” but added that Lady Warsi believed she acted within the “spirit and letter” of the rules." - Financial Times (£) 

...And the man who made the claims speaks out

"Asked about Baroness Warsi’s statement that she paid Mr Khan, Dr Moustafa said: ‘It’s for her to explain not me. ‘Naweed described the baroness as his guest but they were both my guests. He didn’t have any authority to receive money as it was not his house. He didn’t even pay for himself. If this is true [he received money], and I don’t believe it is, he was swindling the baroness.’ " - Daily Mail

• Sayeeda Warsi, the trailblazing peer who divided the Tory party - Daily Telegraph
• Disturbing claims - Daily Mail Editorial

Hunt Day 83...or whatever it is: Culture Secretary to face Leveson this week.  David Mellor says that Hunt "will probably have to go"

"With three days to his appearance at the Leveson Inquiry, fresh pressure was piling on Jeremy Hunt over his links with News Corp. The Culture Secretary, pictured, was urged to quit by one of his Tory predecessors, while Nick Clegg delivered a warning about politicians ending up "in the pockets of media moguls". David Mellor, who was National Heritage Secretary in John Major's government, said: "Jeremy Hunt will probably have to go."" - The Independent

• Cameron lounge suit wedding war rumbles on - Daily Mail
• Don't dress down, Prime Minister - Daily Telegraph Editorial
• Cabinet is worth £70million - Daily Telegraph
• Frances Osborne chooses a £29.99 Zara blouse and £32 trousers from Next at the launch of her new book - Daily Mail

Vaizey accused of information leak - Financial Times (£)

Blair to face Leveson today

The former prime minister is due to face a full day of interrogation at the Leveson Inquiry over his courting of the billionaire media mogul. Questioning is expected to focus on claims that he ‘cut a deal’ with Mr Murdoch in return for support from the Sun newspaper at the 1997 election. He is also likely to be asked about his decision to act as godfather to Mr Murdoch’s daughter Grace." - Daily Mail

• News International 'tried to blackmail select committee' - The Independent
• Chuka Umunna attacks ‘whinging’ union militants - The Sun 
• Denis Skinner interview - The Independent

Shapps gives MPs tweeting tips - Politics Home (£)

Boris Johnson: "Put out the bunting. This is the age of the Second Elizabethans"

"In her 60 years on the throne she has seen the people of this country grow incomparably richer, healthier and (arguably) happier than they were in 1952. If we measure monarchical success by the growth in longevity or per capita GDP of her subjects, then she is the most successful monarch in history." - Daily Telegraph

• Guto Harri V The BBC on Boris's behalf - The Guardian

Abu Qatada to press for bail release - BBC

Robert Halfon leads move to cut petrol duty

"MPs from all major parties will today demand a cut in fuel duty. Politicians want scrapped a planned 3p per litre rise, due to come in during August after being revealed in this year’s Budget. In a cross-party campaign on an “unprecedented scale”, MPs will table a formal clause for an amendment. The charge is led by Tory MP Robert Halfon, who has hosted House of Commons debates on the prices of petrol and diesel." - Daily Express

• E.U could force petrol rise - Daily Express

Cameron to warn François Hollande against challenging EU rebate

"Britain is to tell the new French government that it will demand major cuts in generous EU subsidies to farmers in France if President François Hollande challenges the annual £2.7bn British rebate. In a sign of how traditional tensions could complicate the prime minister's attempts to woo the new president, Britain is planning to warn Paris that Hollande would be well advised to abide by an informal deal struck with Nicolas Sarkozy." - The Guardian

• Sinn Féin surges as leader of anti-treaty forces as referendum looms - Irish Times

> Yesterday: WATCH - George Eustice MP: An EU vote would mean "the vast majority who are somewhere in the middle don't get given the option they want"

Geldof's obsession with aid hurt Africa. But now trade is healing the scars - Ian Birrell, The Independent

Clegg: Tory MPs MUST be whipped to vote for gay marriage...

"Mr Clegg warned yesterday that the vote should not become “a great free-for-all”, adding that providing equal marriage rights should not be seen as a matter of conscience. Tory whips have been concerned about the prospect of forcing their MPs to vote in favour of the legislation, which has become a resigning issue for some. Last week Owen Paterson, the Northern Ireland Secretary, became the first Cabinet minister to reveal that he could not support the change." - The Times (£)

• Clegg will this week announce that childcare support is to be more flexible for mums and dads who start work early or finish late. - The Sun

> Yesterday: ToryDiary - As Cameron allows a free vote on gay marriage, 45% of Tory MPs say it's the top issue constituents write to them about

...And as for open borders.  What's the problem?

"Nick Clegg yesterday denied that Britain is planning to ‘pull up the drawbridge’ to prevent an influx of foreign workers from crisis-hit eurozone nations. The Deputy Prime Minister hit out at ‘apocalyptic’ warnings that Britain could be hit by a wave of immigrants from Greece and other struggling countries if the euro crisis deepens.  His intervention came after Theresa May disclosed contingency planning was under way to deal with a potential influx of would-be immigrants." - Daily Mail

• MigrationWatch says Government policy needs radical change if Ministers are to hit immigration target - Daily Express
• 'Children were frightened by protesters', says Clegg - The Independent

Apathy poses threat to plan for elected police chiefs - The Times (£)

The Coalition could break up before May 2015, says Vince Cable

"Mr Cable was asked on last night’s Pienaar’s Politics on Radio Five Live whether the Lib Dems would break away “just short of the election…He replied: “Everybody involved knows that before the next general election - the two parties will have to establish their own separate platforms and identity but how that disengagement takes place, over what time period is very much an issue for the future, certainly not something we’re talking about at the moment.” " - Daily Telegraph

Chairman of the Senior Salaries Review Body says: Boost top officials’ pay or lose best people - The Times (£)

"Stronger together, weaker apart": will this be the No campaign's slogan in Scotland?

"Scotland's anti-independence campaign is considering using the slogan "stronger together, weaker apart" in the battle for votes ahead of the 2014 referendum. Coalition sources last night admitted the phrase is a strong option after the use of the word "union" was ruled out due partly to its negative associations with west of Scotland and Ulster politics. Pro-UK sources believe their proposed motto encapsulates the basic argument of why Scots should vote for Scotland to remain part of the UK." - Herald Scotland

• Influential SNP backer Sir Tom Farmer says he doesn't want independence - Scotsman

McGuinness offers to meet dissident republicans - Belfast Telegraph

Google stole information but executives 'covered it up' for years - Daily Mail