Public spending row continues
‘George Osborne, the shadow chancellor, is considering plans to stage a two-day emergency cabinet session soon after the Tories gain power, at which cabinet ministers would be collectively bound into large-scale spending cuts, according to shadow cabinet sources.’ – Patrick Wintour, The Guardian
‘All main parties base their future spending plans on the totals set out in the last budget. Labour and Tory instincts remain different, of course. Over time a Tory government would no doubt try to reduce the size of the state, reduce public services and cut taxes for the rich – and there is fertile territory for Labour to attack here. But Mr Brown cannot begin to make progress on this while he refuses to admit that, in the years immediately after the election, overall spending will be frozen deep in a block of ice.’ – Editorial, The Guardian
Speaker Bercow starts work
‘Order, order! Speaker Bercow certainly looked rather different from his predecessor. And his manner was more confident, bordering on the self-satisfied. But it was continuity, not change, that was most striking.’ – Leader, The Independent
‘John Bercow, the new Speaker, today insisted that ministers should make significant annoucements through the House of Commons, and not the media.’ – Patrick Wintour, The Guardian
‘New Speaker John Bercow has ticked off MPs for making too much noise during prime minister’s questions.’ – BBC
Crisis in Iran
‘More than 100 MPs appear to have snubbed an invitation to celebrate Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s election win, local press reports say.’ – BBC
‘Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has called on Barack Obama to apologise for alleged US interference after disputed elections in the Islamic republic.’ – Sky News
‘Iran’s repressive mullahs misunderstand the point of sport. The Iranian people – for whom football is a second religion, worshipped in a 120,000-seater national stadium – do not. The Government’s clumsy treatment of the national football team may yet prove to inflame the rebellion against Iran’s rulers every bit as as fiercely as has the clergy’s rigged election and the savagery with which they have sought to quell protests.’ – Leader, The Times
Tories in Europe
‘How much trouble is a Cameron-led government going to find itself in over its break with fellow-EU conservatives at the Strasbourg parliament? Not a lot, say all but the ultra-zealots on both sides of the Tories’ European divide. “We can still be friends with them and work together on many issues,” members of the Keep Calm Tendency insist.’ – Michael White, The Guardian
Cyber security strategy
‘Britons face a growing online threat from criminals, terrorists and hostile states, according to the UK’s first cyber security strategy.’ – BBC