Uk politics

The Tory party is currently offering a campaigning masterclass on James Wharton's Private Member's Bill. As Coffee House revealed last night, any member of the public can sign up to co-sponsor the backbench legislation, and the party has spent a great deal of time squaring backbenchers on the wording of the bill to prevent further amendments clogging it up unnecessarily. And MPs continue to tweet about #letbritaindecide, #labourdoesn'ttrustpeople, #onlytorieshavetheanswer or perhaps #itweetthisbecausemywhipaskednicely. But how easy is it to replicate this sort of slick campaign with other policies? When it comes to more conventional legislation and policy rows, the Tories are struggling to work out how to get their message across, particularly when it comes to social media.

George Osborne is expected to respond to the Parliamentary Commission on Banking Standards's final report in his Mansion House speech this evening. The report is hefty and packed with recommendations, but there are two areas where the Chancellor will find himself treading a particularly tricky path. Both the proposal to defer bonuses and introduce a criminal offence of reckless misconduct in the management of a bank are designed to encourage responsibility and a greater regard of the consequences of bad behaviour. But Osborne will know that they also pose a threat to the success of the city. He will need to consider what effect deferring some remuneration for up to 10 years will have on London's competitiveness as a financial centre.

There are few worse insults for a minister than to be called ‘house trained’. It implies that the vested interests of your department have you under their thumb. So, Vince Cable and David Willetts should be rather alarmed that one notoriously left-wing academic is boasting that they pretty much are. In an article in Times Higher Education, Martin McQuillan of Kingston University describes the pair as ‘mostly house-trained.’ One person involved in the whole spending review conundrum irritably pointed me towards the McQuillan piece when asked how things were going with BIS. McQuillan’s essay is really a long screed against Michael Gove. His agenda is to stop universities being put back under the control of the Department of Education.

Remember that last communique signed at a summit of world leaders, the really challenging one that they're all worried they will never meet in reality? You don't? How strange. David Cameron mused at the weekend that these agreements that take days to draft end up in an 'elephant's graveyard', and to try to show that his rolled up sleeves are having an effect on this G8 summit in Lough Erne, he has insisted on a 10-point 'declaration' signed by the leaders. Here it is: Private enterprise drives growth, reduces poverty, and creates jobs and prosperity for people around the world. Governments have a special responsibility to make proper rules and promote good governance. Fair taxes, increased transparency and open trade are vital drivers of this.

Those cracking jokes about bears visiting the woods following Ken Clarke's latest warning about the dangers of Britain leaving the EU miss the point. The former Chancellor and Minister without Portfolio is firstly echoing the stance of his boss, rather than briefing against him, and is secondly continuing to plug away at the case for 'In' which has struggled to gain as much momentum and noise as that for leaving. The Europhile faction of the Conservative party has been very poor at organising itself and going on the attack thus far. Clarke uses yesterday's official opening of talks on the EU/US bilateral trade deal to warn in today's Telegraph that Britain would not have the same prospects for global trade were it outside the European Union.