6pm WATCH:
- Balls echoes Miliband's nostalgia for the era of bread rationing and emergency budgets
- The problems of Ed Miliband's personality
4pm Samuel Kasumu on Comment: The Conservatives must win a new generation
1.45pm
- Charlie Elphicke MP on Comment: Ed Balls is a deficit denier who has learned nothing and forgotten nothing
- WATCH: The Shadow Chancellor makes a joke in his speech to Labour's conference
Noon Columnist Andrew Lilico: Ed Miliband is wrong – Retail and investment arms of banks need not split
ToryDiary: It's too easy to challenge a Tory leader. It should be made harder
Lord Ashcroft on Comment: Conservative HQ's juvenile poster is a waste of money
Columnist Bruce Anderson: It's Miliband, not Cameron, who is possessed by a sense of entitlement
LeftWatch: Miliband's model for Britain – the era of bread rationing
Local Government: Despite Prescott's bluster, his misuse of a Government credit card shows him unfit for office
The Deep End: To tackle poverty we must tackle crime: "In already hard-pressed communities, we therefore have a choice – either
to exclude the anti-social minority or to exclude everyone who has
misfortune to live near to them."
Balls risks profligacy charge with housing announcement…
"Ed Balls will call today for an imminent £3 billion Treasury windfall
to be spent on new housing rather than reducing the national debt, in a
breach with new Labour orthodoxy. The Shadow Chancellor will urge George
Osborne to build 100,000 affordable homes from the proceeds of the sale
of the 4G mobile phone spectrum, insisting that the stalled economy
requires an urgent stimulus. The decision risks fuelling Tory claims
that, by prioritising more spending over reducing debt, Mr Balls has
failed to learn the lessons of the past." – The Times (£)
…As he uses same interview to woo Cable yet again
"Ed Balls has made his most public overture yet to Vince Cable, calling on the Lib Dem business secretary to "show leadership" and pull his party out of coalition and work with Labour. "Right now, if the Lib Dems said, 'ok, we got this one wrong, and we’re walking out', I think that would absolutely be in the national interest," Balls said…"I don’t think there's any possibility of getting Clegg to change his mind but I think there is a chance of changing Vince Cable’s." – Huffington Post
Balls accused of diving to win a penalty in a pre-conference football match against political journalists – The Sun
> Yesterday: WATCH – Ed Balls and Andy Burnham help Labour football team beat a team of journalists 3-0
Liz Kendall MP tells Labour to tackle wasteful spending to earn second chance – The Guardian
Murphy to present plan to close defence budget gap – The Guardian
Kinnock opposes EU referendum – Daily Express
Miliband to tell voters: I DIDN'T repeat DIDN'T go to a public school.
- "In a film to be broadcast on Wednesday, Labour will focus on Ed Miliband’s comprehensive schooling where the party leader will reminisce: “There were fights in the playground. You had to be streetwise… It felt like a tough school.” – Financial Times (£)
- "The party released some school reports showing his cleverness, but also the irritation of teachers at his chattiness. Labour polling shows that many voters do not even know that Miliband, unlike David Cameron, went to a state school." – The Guardian
Only Labour can stop UK break-up, says Miliband – Scotsman
Labour leader in action yesterday: 50p rate to stay, chaos on health bill policy, break with Darling approach to Glass-Steagall
- "Ed Miliband enraged business leaders last night by insisting that the punitive 50 per cent income tax rate for top earners should be permanent. The Labour leader kicked off his party’s annual conference in Manchester by urging the Government to ditch plans to cut it to 45 per cent in April." – Daily Express
- "Ed Miliband’s health policy was in chaos today after he took less than 24 hours to abandon his promise to protect the NHS from another costly reorganisation. The Labour leader went from warning yesterday that he would not reverse the coalition’s controversial Health and Social Care Act to promising to do just that." – Daily Mail
- "As Labour’s annual conference opened under drizzly skies in Manchester this afternoon, Mr Miliband rebuked the unions for being unrealistic in demanding public sector pay rises in a recession." – The Times (£)
- "Ed Miliband provoked concern in the City on Sunday when he warned that a future Labour government might forcibly split Britain’s biggest banks – a policy rejected by the party when it was in power.The Labour leader, speaking at the start of his party’s conference in Manchester, said drastic measures might be needed if banks tried to wriggle out of Vickers reforms, intended to make them safer." – Financial Times (£)
- Miliband – I'm proud to be a wonk – The Sun
Miliband hands over an hour of Labour's conference time to a Harvard professor called Michael Sandel
-
"Miliband likes gurus, and this one is a corker. "He fills football stadiums in Asia," the Labour leader told us, though I doubt that he would fill many here. ("We are pleased to announce that the match against Chelsea has been postponed. Instead we are going to hear a Harvard professor discuss how much of our lives should be dictated by market forces.")" – Simon Hoggart, The Guardian
- "Soon he was considering the intellectual foundations of a ban on children’s telly adverts, the ethics of casinos and the deeper moral connotations (I am not making this up) of the price of a pint of milk." – Quentin Letts, Daily Mail
Paul Goodman: Miliband is still Labour's biggest problem
"Nonetheless, these gathering clouds have a silver lining for the Tories – namely, the personality of the Labour leader himself. The poll ratings of the two main party leaders convey a clear message: better strong and smug (Mr Cameron) than weak and weird (Mr Miliband). Leader ratings aren’t always decisive in elections; Lady Thatcher was less popular than Jim Callaghan in 1979. However, they matter, and Mr Miliband’s biggest problem, like that of the Tories, is less one of policy than of people. Or rather of one person. Himself." – Financial Times (£)
- Only one in five Brits think Ed Miliband is a PM in waiting – The Sun
Comment:
- Labour cannot be trusted to rebuild Britain – Daily Telegraph
- Miliband is not fit to be Prime Minister – Daily Express Editorial
- This week is a chance for the Labour Party under Ed Miliband to show that they are a serious prospect for power – Times Editorial (£)
- Spend, spend Labour – Daily Mail Editorial
- Miliband should spell out what his 'better Britain' means for people – Jack Straw, The Guardian
Secret police probe into Keith Vaz's £500,000
"Detectives found
that over a six-year period, almost £500,000 was apparently deposited in
the MP’s accounts — in addition to his salary between 1997 and 2001.
The source of the funds has not been declared publicly and the evidence
gathered by police may contradict assurances given by Mr Vaz during an
investigation into his finances between 2000 and 2001 carried out by
parliament. The Labour MP has denied any wrongdoing and claims that any
money passing through his bank accounts came from the proceeds of
property deals." – Daily Telegraph
- British politicians have rarely been so ridiculed and despised, and that should worry us all – David Blunkett, Daily Mail
Labour demand that the civil service advice Andrew Mitchell received
over his decision to reinstate Britain's suspended aid programme to
Rwanda be published – The Independent
> Today:
- Columnist Bruce Anderson: It's Miliband, not Cameron, who is possessed by a sense of entitlement
- LeftWatch: Miliband's model for Britain – the era of bread rationing
Yesterday:
- Columnist Nadine Dorries MP: Ed Miliband is still a mystery opponent – to underestimate him would be foolish
- WATCH: Miliband: "If I was in government tomorrow", I would put the top rate of tax back up to 50p
12.30pm - WATCH: Miliband insists union leaders are not pulling the Labour Party's strings
- WATCH: Miliband holds pre-conference question and answer session
- WATCH: David Miliband dismisses leadership speculation: "The grass always seems greener on the other side"
- WATCH: Harriet Harman: Labour will formulate its economic policies closer to the next election
Tim Montgomerie: Cameron is best placed to halt with the rise of the minor parties
"Not since Jonathan Swift introduced us to the war between the miniature people of Lilliput and the tiny tots of Blefuscu have we known such a clash of shrunken warriors…Nearly a quarter of all voters are now considering voting for none of the three big parties. If neither Labour nor the Conservatives can find ways of becoming bigger — and most importantly broader — the next election will actually be decided by the parties who make the Lilliputians look big." – The Times (£)
Cameron seeks to square Boris as Conservative conference looms, and takes him out for a pub lunch
"David Cameron took Boris Johnson out for a pub lunch yesterday in an attempt to smooth over the increasingly fraught relationship between them. The Prime Minister had invited the London mayor to Chequers for a ‘wide-ranging discussion’ over Sunday lunch. But in the end they went to a nearby pub – believed to be the same one where Mr Cameron’s daughter, Nancy, was left behind earlier this year." – Daily Mail
- The Prime Minister and Mayor of London took on their children in an adults-versus-kids football match. And lost – The Times (£)
Boris: "The party leader is a drip of the first order". (Actually, he means Miliband, and he writes: "David Cameron will be returned with a thumping majority in 2015")
"Yes, it is perfectly true that I was at the same school as the party leader, and yes, we went to the same university. I have absolutely nothing against him personally — he has a very nice wife, after all, and a good degree (admittedly in PPE). But the time has come to say it loud and clear: he is emerging as a total disappointment; and as leader of a major political party, he looks to me like a drip of the first order." – Daily Telegraph
Warsi: First interview since leaving CCHQ. "Delighted" with new job. Party must "stay on track" over promoting women. And she didn't walk out of a meeting with the Prime Minister: "I don't storm, I don't do huffing. And I go to Yorkshire every week"
"The reshuffle has happened. I am delighted with the job. I mean, God, Cathy, I am at the UN! Who could possibly say that's not a fantastic job and I am throwing myself into it. When you sit in the General Assembly, and you are literally surrounded by the world, I am hugely privileged to be doing this job. It was a great privilege to serve my party; it's an even greater privilege to serve my country", she enthuses." – Daily Telegraph
- Grant Shapps: My use of an alter ego was not sign of double life – The Guardian
- Our conference battle over positive discrimination – Jenny Willott MP, Daily Telegraph
Opponents of gay marriage dominate MPs' postbags – Daily Telegraph
Justin Welby, Bishop of Durham, is first choice for Archbishop of Canterbury, but Crown Nominations Commission divided over whether John Sematu, Archbishop of York or Graham Jones, Bishop of Norwich, should be second choice. David Cameron may have to step in – The Times (£)
Wind farms given £34m to switch off in bad weather – Daily Mail
BAE merger 1) Hollande warms to BAE-EADS tie-up – Financial Times (£)
BAE merger 2) The putative BAE merger is starting to look like a cosy establishment stitch-up – Stephen Glover, Daily Mail
Gerry Adams was on IRA army council, says Irish PM – Belfast Telegraph
