Newslinks for Sunday 24th June 2012

7.30pm WATCH: Col. Bob Stewart MP: We should enter sensible talks with Argentina on issues like trade - no talks over sovereignty

4.15pm WATCH: Tony Blair: Britain may have a "very interesting choice" to make over joining the €uro in the future

3.15pm Tory MPsETC: A tribute to former Conservative MP Ken Hargreaves, who has died

1.30pm ToryDiary: Michael Fallon says "huge safeguards" on Lords reform should satisfy most Conservative MPs

11.15am ToryDiary: Andrew Mitchell unveils new logo so all DfID projects will carry the reminder that aid is "from the British people"

10.45am ToryDiary: What questions should we ask in the end-June readers' survey?

ToryDiary: The Government needs David Laws back round the Cabinet table

Columnist Nadine Dorries MP: What I believe should be done to whoever dreamed up the slogan: "Maxing Out Plan A"...

Chris Skidmore MP on Comment: Saving enough for care means caring enough to save

Local Government: More children in care need to go to boarding school

WATCH: Caroline Spelman: "We're not unprepared... I'm just so sorry for the flood victims who are affected"

David Cameron plans fresh crackdown on benefits

"Every person under the age of 25 will be banned from state help with housing costs, under controversial plans set out by David Cameron. Mr Cameron will use a major speech tomorrow to outline the prospect of a fresh crackdown on the welfare state... He wants to impose further cuts on the system, which he claims "encourages people not to work and have children"." - Independent on Sunday

• "Scrapping the benefit for that age group would save almost £2bn a year." - BBC
• "Cameron promises another round of curbs on benefits. To which The Sun says: We’ll believe it when we see it." - Sun on Sunday editorial
• Full Cameron interview with the Mail on Sunday

Cameron faces defeat in bid to halt Tory revolt over elected Lords

"Cameron is facing the biggest and most serious backbench rebellion since the last general election as his plans to avert a Tory mutiny on reforming the House of Lords looked set to fail. ... It is understood that at least two parliamentary private secretaries – ministerial aides on the lowest rung of the government ladder – are ready to resign... Last night there were reports that as many as five junior members of Government were prepared to step down over the plans." - Sunday Telegraph

• "The five Parliamentary Private Secretaries... include Conor Burns who works for Northern Ireland Secretary Owen Paterson. ... Angie Bray, PPS to Cabinet Office Minister Francis Maude, is also expected to rebel, and Mark Menzies, PPS to Energy Minister Charles Hendry, is understood to be ‘unhappy’" - Mail on Sunday
• "Elected peers will have bigger constituencies, non-partisan candidates with real-world expertise will be highlighted on ballot papers, and the supremacy of the Commons over the Lords will be enshrined in law, as part of the Prime Minister's amendments." - Independent on Sunday

> Yesterday - WATCH: House of Lords referendum "inevitable"

Gove ready for deal with Clegg over axeing GCSEs

"A source close to the education secretary said: “We are ready to change and modify aspects of what we have proposed to secure the maximum consensus. We believe the argument is winnable. If the essence of what we are trying to do remains, we are perfectly happy for the Liberal Democrats to say they have watered down the wilder excesses.” ... David Cameron is throwing his weight behind the plans, however, and a compromise now looks increasingly likely" - Sunday Times (£)

• "The education secretary's O-level plans – and the way they were announced – are the latest example of his growing profile and ambitions for the leadership" - Observer
• The Education Secretary's O-Level announcement was a trap that Nick Clegg and the teaching establishment lumbered into - John Rentoul for the Independent on Sunday
• Our divided society cries out for Michael Gove’s school solutions - Matthew d'Ancona for the Sunday Telegraph
• Parents to be told best schools for uni places - Sunday Times (£)

> From yesterday - Martin Parsons on Comment: Reintroduce O-Levels - but don't abolish GCSEs

George Osborne seeks to bypass third runway at Heathrow

"The chancellor has secretly been pushing proposals that would see more than 1,000 extra flights a week and as many as 20m more passengers each year. Behind the scenes, Osborne is understood to have argued that the permanent use of so-called “mixed mode” flights — allowing both runways to be used all day for both takeoffs and landings — would help kickstart the economy and boost competitiveness." - Sunday Times (£)

Osborne defies PM and blocks plastic bag tax

"A tax on plastic carrier bags has been blocked by the Treasury despite pressure from David Cameron, senior government sources claimed last night. ... Those close to the government negotiations said there has been a "firm push back" from the Treasury. "After granny taxes, pasties and fuel fiascos there doesn't seem to be the stomach for any cost-of-living consequentials. It looks dead in the water from here," said a source." - Independent on Sunday

• Treasury borrowing fails to contract - Independent on Sunday

"Senior Tories" discussing how to prevent a Brown-style coronation for Osborne when Cameron steps down.  Kwasi Kwarteng, Jesse Norman and Elizabeth Truss touted as candidates

"The talks about an open race, which is being planned for when David Cameron steps down, rather than a plot to unseat him, have been prompted by concerns by backbenchers that the next leadership contest is already being carved up as a "narrow choice" between Mr Osborne, Michael Gove and Boris Johnson." - Independent on Sunday

Conservative MPs react angrily after it emerged one of Nick Clegg’s most senior officials is to play a key role in David Cameron’s delegation at this week’s EU summit

"The move threatened to expose a fresh coalition rift as Conservative MPs accused the Liberal Democrat leader of seeking to undermine the Prime Minister with a high-level “spy in the camp”, with specific instructions to report back at every stage. ... Conservatives fear that this will make it much less likely that Mr Cameron threatens the use of Britain’s veto." - Sunday Telegraph

• "This can only aggravate the feelings of many Tory MPs, who think increasingly that the Conservative leader should stand up to Mr Clegg." - Iain Martin for the Sunday Telegraph
• It's cruel European judges who are destroying jobs - Bruce Anderson for the Sunday Telegraph

Brussels offers to buy Britain a flag pole to force Eric Pickles' department to fly EU flag

"A row over the Government being forced to fly the European Union flag took a farcical turn last night after Brussels offered to pay for a new flagpole if it complied with the demand. " - Mail on Sunday

Maude clamps down on Whitehall contracts - Independent on Sunday

> Yesterday on ToryDiary: Alan Duncan bans civil servants from using jargon

Tory former MP Ken Hargreaves dies

"Tory former MP Ken Hargreaves has died aged 73. Mr Hargreaves, who represented Hyndburn from 1983 to 1992, was a prominent Catholic and anti-abortion campaigner." - ITV News

Top Tory donor linked to Jimmy Carr tax scheme - Observer

Clegg says 'bring on the hatred'

"First he was ignored. Then he was more popular than Churchill. Now, with his poll ratings flat-lining and the prognosis bleak, Nick Clegg is looking to Roosevelt and planning to "welcome the hatred" of the Great British public. The embattled Liberal Democrat leader is to embark on a national tour, putting himself in the line of fire as hundreds of members of the public tell him what they really think." - Independent on Sunday

David Laws calls for cut in state spending

"State spending is too high and likely to be leading to "waste and inefficiency", ex-Liberal Democrat Cabinet minister David Laws has said. Mr Laws said the public sector's share of the economy should be cut to 35% from the 49% it reached in 2010-11. It needed to be "back in kilter with the amount of tax people are prepared to pay", he told the Sunday Telegraph." - BBC

• "The return of the Liberal Democrat David Laws to the Cabinet would improve the chances of reforming public services and cutting state expenditure" - Sunday Telegraph editorial

Danny Alexander plans laws to tackle tax schemes - Scotland on Sunday

SNP ducks question of migrant limits post-independence - Scotland on Sunday

• Row over support for second question - Scotland on Sunday

Government stalling on GDP aid pledge - Independent on Sunday

A sense of pride and justice over the war memorial that rights a 67-year wrong - Lord Ashcroft for the Mail on Sunday

Rowan Williams pours scorn on 'big society' - Observer

• "Two bishops have broken ranks to speak out against the Church of England’s opposition to same-sex marriage" - Sunday Telegraph
• "If the Church of England no longer likes our independence from Europe, then what is the point of the Church of England?" - Rod Liddle for the Sunday Times (£)

Environment Agency defends its response to Spelman Rain Goddess flood overkill - BBC

Argentina ‘to disrupt’ Olympics - Sunday Times (£)

And finally... Chancellor George Osborne reunited with fat cat Freya who disappeared three years ago - Mail on Sunday

 

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