Labour party

Britain is going to stay in the EU for the next ten years at least. Of that I'm sure. But after that, when David Cameron's retired, William Hague has taken to writing books, George Osborne's had his chance and the 2010 intake run the party, the Tories are going to be more openly hostile to the EU. Labour will too; it has a larger reservoir of pro-EU sentiment among its ranks, but one that is shallower than it was. Focusing on the Tories, it is worth noting that nearly all of the names being bandied about as future Tory leaders have a visceral dislike of the EU. By and large they will, by then reflect popular opinion (if they don't already): as veteran EU watcher Charles Grant notes, there is a limit to how long an elite can cross the population.

Ed Miliband came to PMQs hoping to turn the House into a rape crisis centre for the Justice Secretary. Quoting from Ken Clarke’s tricky Radio Five interview earlier he criticised him for distinguishing between ‘serious’ and ‘other categories’ of rape. Would the PM distance himself from his minister? Cameron claimed not to have heard the interview – conveniently enough – and pointed out that the policy is still at the consultation stage. His priority was to correct a system in which all but 6 per cent of reported rapes result in no conviction at all.

As I wrote on Friday, there is a sense that some on Labour's benches want to soften the party's education policy. It seems that the first subtle shift may have come over the weekend. Total Politics' Amber Elliott reports on a Fabian Society meeting where Andy Burnham apparently dropped his blanket opposition to free schools. Amber writes: 'Speaking at the Fabian Society conference at the weekend, Burnham signalled that he is not against free schools such as the one former-No10-strategist-turned-teacher Peter Hyman is setting up. Labour blogger Anthony Painter tweeted from the conference: "@andyburnhammp supports Peter Hyman's free school as a Labour alternative to the Tory concept. But also says whole system matters #Fabians.

Vince Cable, it seems, has notched his Tory-baiting down from 11 to about 8. Last weekend, in the bitter wake of the local elections, the Business Secretary labelled his coalition partners as "ruthless, calculating and thoroughly tribal". Today, in an address to the Fabians, he would only argue that the Tories will benefit most from tribalism in politics — and it was an argument delivered soberly and without obvious malice. He even praised David Cameron (along with Tony Blair) as someone who has tried to suck the poisonous partisanship from Westminster's bloodstream. Sunder Katwala has quoted the speech extensively here, so I won't dwell for too long on what was said.

The coalition is just a year old and Coffee House compiled an exhaustive Coalition A to Z to mark the occasion. It’s also a year since the Labour leadership saga opened. Writing in today’s Times (£), Phil Collins argues that party has not made much progress from its position a year ago, which he thoroughly examined for the Spectator last May. Beyond Brown and Blair, Phil Collins, The Spectator, 15 May 2010. So, they were looking in the wrong place all along. For years now the Labour party has been seeking a steely assassin to deal with its unelectable leader. Finally, where James Purnell failed tragically and Geoff Hoon failed farcically, Nick Clegg has succeeded.

A trickle of documents from the Chilcot Inquiry have been released today, among which is the written witness statement of former Europe Minister Denis MacShane. It's rather intriguing. MacShane told the inquiry that it was his understanding that France 'would not leave the US, Britain and other allies alone in any action against Saddam' and that President Chirac then vetoed military action in the UN at the stroke of the twelfth hour, apparently against the wishes of his colleagues and France's political establishment. MacShane says he gained this impression after speaking to a senior French official at the Anglo-French summit at Le Touquet on 4 February 2003, six weeks before the invasion.

This week's Spectator reveals the rather tantalizing fact that Peter Hyman, Tony Blair's former director of strategy, is setting up a Free School in East London. This – I kid you not – is a very good thing. Newham School 21 will teach kids between the ages of 4 and 18 – an ambitious span of ages – and will open its gates in September 2012 if all goes to plan. Whatever you think about Blair, Hyman is a quietly impressive figure, coining the phrase "Education, Education, Education" and then leaving Downing Street in 2003 to become a teaching assistant. Now, as the deputy head of a school in Ealing, Hyman could not be better placed to start a "free school" and his plans have the blessing of those at the very highest levels of Labour politics, I'm told.