David cameron

If there's one thing that the James Bond films has taught us it is that the Chinese are not our enemies. We should perhaps remember this as President Xi Jinping polishes his heels on our red carpets this week. Our enemies are cold war Russians, jewel-encrusted North Koreans, ex-Nazi rocket scientists, fat Europeans obsessed with gold, and, of course, bald Polish-Greek crime lords called Ernst with a love of bob sleighs and white cats. The imminent release of the twenty fourth Bond film is a handy reminder that if we're looking for threats, we should really look closer to home.

The launch party for Call Me Dave proved to be an eventful affair as it was revealed that Lord Ashcroft was unable to attend after falling critically ill around the time of the book's launch. As guests munched on cocktail sausages and sipped champagne, his co-author Isabel Oakeshott took to the stage to give a speech. To kick things off, Oakeshott recalled David Cameron's advise to her when she first planned to help Ashcroft write the biography. Oakeshott, who was the Sunday Times political editor at the time, says he warned her against joining the project: 'We had a conversation about my plans to help Michael with his book, I recently looked at the transcript of our conversation and was struck by his dark warnings about me getting involved.

The problem with Nicola Sturgeon is that she is, by the standards of contemporary politics, unusually straightforward. There is little artifice and even less deceit about Scotland's First Minister. What you see is what you get; what she says is what she mostly means. That is, even when she's sidling past the truth it's clear what she really means. And so, there it was, out in the open at last: a clear confirmation that Jeremy Corbyn and his Labour party are Nicola Sturgeon's useful idiots. Sure, there may not be any need for another referendum on independence before 2020 - not least because, as matters stand, that referendum might, like last year's plebiscite, be lost - but there will be another referendum at some point. And it will be won.

David Cameron is in Brussels today with the European Commission not hiding its irritation at the slow pace of the British renegotiation. One member of the Cabinet committee handling the renegotiation admits that ‘We were hoping to be further ahead than we are now’. Though, they blame the hold-up not on Britain being unclear about what it wants but on the migrant crisis taking up the time and attention of European leaders and the EU institutions. The upshot of all this, though, is that the date for the referendum is slipping back. At the moment, autumn 2016 is the government’s preferred date. But members of the Cabinet, including those on the Europe committee, are increasingly talking about a 2017 date.