‘Furious David Cameron unleashed a four-letter rant at Iain Duncan Smith over his ‘dishonorable’ resignation, The Mail on Sunday has been told. Mr Cameron is said to have ‘exploded with rage’ when anti-EU rebel Mr Duncan Smith rejected repeated pleas not to walk out of the Government in a bitter row over disability benefits cuts. The animosity deepened last night after this newspaper obtained a letter which Mr Duncan Smith sent to MPs before he quit the Cabinet, endorsing the Budget reforms he now claims to oppose.’ – Mail on Sunday
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>Today: ToryDiary: The IDS aftermath
>Yesterday: ToryDiary: Why Duncan Smith resigned – his story
‘George Osborne’s leadership hopes were pronounced “dead in the water” last night as friends of Iain Duncan Smith branded the chancellor “unfit” to be prime minister…Eurosceptics said Cameron was “certain” to face a leadership challenge after the European referendum on June 23 — whether he wins or loses — and Osborne’s chances of succeeding him were “zero”. Osborne was already thinking about abandoning his ambition to be Tory leader even before Duncan Smith resigned. A close ally of the chancellor told MPs last week that he was no longer certain to be a candidate when Cameron stands down, as a result of his plunging popularity with MPs and the Tory grassroots.’ – Sunday Times (£)
‘The man overseeing the nation’s benefits system is someone who has had direct experience of it. As a schoolboy, Crabb was bullied because his mother, a single parent, could not afford a uniform for him. He played truant so he could go potato-picking to earn enough cash to buy a pair of trainers. When people talk about hard choices between heating or eating or buying clothes, I know what it’s like,’ he once told The Mail on Sunday. Crabb’s mother Jacqui fled the family home in Wales for Scotland with her three sons after one violent row too many with her husband. One of his earliest memories was ‘getting between my mother and father as he came at her with a knife – terrifying’. All a far cry, say friends, from the more comfortable early experiences of David Cameron and many of his Cabinet colleagues.’ – Mail on Sunday
>Yesterday: MPsETC: Crabb. A Remainer. A social justice Tory. And now, as he replaces Duncan Smith, a possible leadership contender
‘“My fear is turnout,” he says, bluntly. “I think a lot of people might think: ‘Well, in the end, it’s the rational thing to stay, but I’ll let other people make that choice for me.’ Don’t. This is very close, no doubt about it.” Turnout, he says, is going to be a “really important” factor in the result. “Whether you either passionately think we should stay in, or on balance think we should stay in, or on a balance of risks think we should stay in – for heaven’s sake get out and vote in, because you might wake up and find out you’re out.” Mr Cameron is concerned the “rational” argument for staying in the EU will not be enough to defeat the out campaign.’ – The Independent on Sunday
‘The government itself sought through the renegotiation to regain power over who can claim welfare in the UK…These were modest and popular demands, endorsed in a general election, but the EU still rejected them. That failure sent a clear message about the reality of EU membership – we have lost the right to define the rules of our own welfare state, and have thus lost the ability to manage its costs or focus its resources as we wish. Whatever your preference might be regarding the size and nature of the welfare system, it is hard to argue that the voters who fund it and use it should not have democratic control of its terms and scope…All the political agony and fury of the coalition years saw a total of £17bn saved from the welfare budget. And yet last year our gross contribution to the EU exceeded £19bn.’ – Mark Wallace, The Observer
‘More than 100 MPs have written to the US ambassador in London telling him it would be “highly damaging” for Barack Obama to back Britain remaining in the European Union. The American president is due to visit Britain on April 22-23, when he will call on the Queen at Windsor Castle, hold a press conference with David Cameron and attend a rally for the “remain” campaign. But the letter to Matthew Barzun, organised by Liam Fox, the former cabinet minister who backs Brexit, warns the US government that any intervention from Obama would undermine the “validity of the result” on June 23 and its “acceptance by the British people”.’ – Sunday Times (£)
”‘I have some questions, Prime Minister, for the Cabinet,’ announced Michael. ‘Don’t we need to think more about what we are all doing? Why are we bothering with the Troubled Families Unit? What does it cost and will it ever achieve anything? How is the Home Secretary’s “Gang Task Force” going? How many gangs have closed? What’s the use of cross-departmental work? Why do Ministers bother going on the Today programme? Isn’t it a complete waste of time? Why do they ask stupid questions about where the money comes from for Government initiatives? Why don’t we just say it all comes from the Treasury? What do party conferences ever achieve? Why don’t we just stop them?’ On and on he went…The Prime Minister looked irritated…‘Well, Michael, some interesting and wide-ranging points there,’ he said. ‘But I think it’s time for lunch.’” – David Laws, Mail on Sunday
‘George Osborne’s flagship new savings product could lead to “millions of poor pensioners”, the pensions minister, Baroness Altmann, has warned in another blow to his “ultra-shambles” budget. She raised serious doubts about the new “lifetime Isa”, dubbed a “Lisa”, which will allow savers, who must be under 40 when they open one, to save up to £4,000 a year. They will receive a 25% bonus from the government for every £1 that they put in. The money can be used either to buy a first home or for retirement from the age of 60.’ – Sunday Times (£)
‘A blueprint to end the scandal of more than 3,500 stillbirths in Britain every year will be announced this week in a breakthrough for The Sunday Times Safer Births campaign. Unveiling the plans, Simon Stevens, chief executive of NHS England, said it was unacceptable that one in every 200 babies is stillborn in the UK, more than double the rate of the best-performing nations.’ – Sunday Times (£)
‘Jeremy Corbyn will return to the era of “beer and sandwiches at Number 10” with union leaders if he becomes Prime Minister, John McDonnell has said. The shadow chancellor suggested that a future Labour government would return to the politics of the 1960s and 1970s, with union leaders have a place at the “top table”. The shadow chancellor made the comments as he addressed the Federation of Small Businesses’ (FSB) conference in Glasgow, promising the FSB would be included in such a set-up.’ – Sunday Telegraph
‘Police and special forces troops have been told to prepare for up to 10 simultaneous terror attacks on the streets of London. The National Crime Agency has been ordered to make a crackdown on firearms a priority amid fears of a Paris-style attack by terrorists returning from Syria. A minister familiar with the proposals said: “We used to plan for three simultaneous attacks but Paris has shown that you need to be ready for more than that. We are ready if someone tries with seven, eight, nine, ten.”’ – Sunday Times (£)