Uk politics

I suspect that David Cameron was in a better mood at the end of PMQs than at the start. He sailed through the session with relative ease. Ed Miliband went on living standards, his specialist subject, but his delivery was oddly flat. It was as if he was giving Cameron throw-downs in the nets rather than trying to bowl him out. Cameron, who has been bested on the joke front these past few weeks, also had the better one liners. He gleefully read out an email from the Labour press office inviting people to a Miliband speech on the economy but warning there was no new policy in it. Labour, though, are claiming that they’re grateful for the plug for the speech.

Alarming news reaches this blog from the Eastleigh by-election, where the battle has descended into a catfight about a policy the two main parties support at national level. How unusual for parties to detach themselves from their own policies when a prize seat is in sight: this time round it's the Lib Dems and Tories fighting over a development of new homes in the area on greenfield land. The Lib Dem leaflets promoting Mike Thornton say 'residents are angry with the Conservatives for putting green fields under threat from big builders'. The Tories backing Maria Hutchings point out that Thornton and his Lib Dem colleagues on the council voted in favour of the local plan for Eastleigh, which includes provisions for up to 4,700 new homes on greenfield land.

Deputy Prime Minister's Questions is rarely an uplifting experience: more like watching some hapless chap stuck in a room full of his ex-girlfriends, all pointing angrily at him, like the wedding reception scene in Four Weddings and a Funeral. Somehow Peter Bone either manages to get his name on the Order Paper or to tag along at the end of another question to bring up one of the more painful rows in the Coalition relationship, the boundary reforms, or when he's in a really good mood, what the DPM would do if David Cameron were run over by a bus. He did so again today, even though the Tories have already lost the boundaries vote. Zac Goldsmith was moodily grumbling, too, because the promised Recall Bill still wasn't making its way onto the books. Others were less kind.

Last week ministers managed to rewrite some of the protections in the controversial Justice and Security Bill while it was being scrutinised in committee: this week backbenchers MPs are starting to hit back. I reported in late January that Andrew Tyrie was considering amending the legislation, and that a group of Tory MPs was minded to support him. He has now tabled a series of changes for the report stage of the Bill in the Commons, with the support of Liberal Democrat deputy leader Simon Hughes. Tyrie's proposals involve creating an elected chair of the Intelligence and Security Committee who is an MP, which is one of the recommendations in his CPS paper on the Bill. These proposals relate to part I of the Bill, which is perhaps the less controversial section of the legislation.

The Conservatives publish their plans for a Royal Charter to underpin regulation of the press today. Although the cross-party talks have been more successful than most imagined, with no rows or public posturing, today is the day when that consensus is tested. There's also another test on the way for the three parties, which is the return of the Defamation Bill to the Commons towards the end of February or start of March. This Bill was amended last week by peers - including Tories - to include low-cost arbitration for members of a press regulator, overseen by a 'recognition commission' and a statutory requirement for pre-notification.