Isabel Hardman

The Lib Dem leadership has been trying its best this weekend to address the Lord Rennard allegations. I understand Tim Farron has been meeting activists to discuss any ongoing concerns. And the party also announced last night that it was creating a new group, Liberal Democrat Women, which, slightly confusingly, merges Women Lib Dems and the Campaign for Gender Balance. Another group with a more imaginative name is Rock the Boat, set up by Lib Dem activist James Shaddock, as a way of pressuring the leadership to examine not just the Rennard allegations, but the wider culture in the party. It boasts around 300 members currently. Female activists told Coffee House last night that they were frustrated by the way some of the rally speakers addressed the allegations.

Will the Lib Dems support Labour's mansion tax vote? Vince Cable praised his pet policy idea last night, telling Lib Dem activists that it was an effective way of the government collecting revenue because properties can't move. But on Tuesday, the party will have to decide how it should vote on a very carefully-worded Labour motion (which you can read here). I understand that the Lib Dem leadership is holding a meeting on Monday to decide its strategy for the vote, which is an Opposition Day debate, not government business. A source close to Vince Cable tells me: 'It's unlikely the party will end up voting for the Labour motion.

Vince Cable managed to hit all the Lib Dem spots last night with his fringe speech at the Lib Dem spring conference. He didn't just mention the words 'land value tax', which set many Lib Dem heads nodding away with approval, but also managed to say 'there's no such thing as a free lunch' in Swahili, and accuse right-wing Conservatives of waging 'jihad' against public spending and public services. Here are three main points from his speech: 1. Cable said certain Tory 'ideologues' were waging 'jihad' against public spending.

So David Cameron says there is 'no magic money tree'. In his big economy speech today, the Prime Minister said:  'Now of course there are plenty of people out there with different advice about how to fix our broken economy. Some say cut more and borrow less, others cut less and borrow more. Go faster. Go slower. Cut taxes. Put them up. We need to cut through all this and tell people some plain truths. So let me speak frankly and do just that. 'There are some people who think we don’t have to take all these tough decisions to deal with our debts. They say that our focus on deficit reduction is damaging growth. And what we need to do is to spend more and borrow more. It’s as if they think there’s some magic money tree.

What is the political impact of the Chris Huhne/Vicky Pryce case? It's a question that you'll hear a lot from those who view everything through what Edward Leigh might call the merciless prism of politics. And yet, as James Kirkup points out on his Telegraph blog, this is more about a terrible family breakdown than it is about the Liberal Democrats. However, as we're still holding up that merciless prism of politics, here are a few thoughts. The first is that of course people will discuss this in the bars at the Lib Dem spring conference this weekend. But will it overshadow the event itself? Not really: this has become a story about a broken family and a broken law, not a political party.

The only Tory more Tiggerish than Michael Fabricant is the party chairman Grant Shapps, and perhaps that's why the two work so well together on campaigns. But even the jovial Conservative vice chairman is exhausted after the full-throttle Eastleigh by-election. Fabricant was shouted at in the street by a voter who, thinking he was a Lib Dem, harangued him about Chris Huhne, and one voter placed notice on a wheelie bin telling campaigners to dump their leaflets there, not through the letterbox. But in spite of that, from the glowing way he describes the campaign, you might be forgiven for thinking the Tories won it, or at least came second, not a dismal third behind UKIP.

After today's slightly confusing PMQs line from the Prime Minister about unidentified 'people' who 'should be thinking of their positions' after the Mid-Staffs scandal, ministers and loyal backbenchers have gone out to bat for the government. After PMQs, the Prime Minister's sources refused to say who these 'people' were who needed to consider their positions. But now Jeremy Hunt has written a piece for ConHome saying 'Labour can and will be held accountable for what happened at Mid-Staffs'. He then warns that the party appears to have learned no lessons at all from the Francis Report and that the public shouldn't trust them again: 'Labour’s reaction to Mid Staffs has been a deafening silence which is shocking both in its arrogance and complacency.

Today's Prime Minister's Questions highlighted the problem Cameron has on high earners and bankers. Ed Miliband chose to attack on George Osborne's opposition to the EU's bonus cap, and he had some pretty good jokes to back it up, too. He started his attack with a case study, which tricked Tory MPs into thinking he was talking about the 'bedroom tax', so they groaned a little. But this wasn't about a benefit cut, it was about a bonus: 'Mr Speaker, I’d like to ask the Prime Minister about an individual case: John works in East London and is worried about what’s happening to his living standards. His salary is £1m and he’s worried that his bonus may be capped at just £2m – can the Prime Minister tell us what he’s going to do for John?

Today is, according to the party's own institutional memory, the first time Labour has talked about immigration in a party political broadcast. As I blogged yesterday, the party struggles to raise its voice when this policy area is debated in parliament because of the mistakes ministers made on migration when in government. Ed Miliband knows this, and so tonight television audiences across England will be treated to this party political broadcast: The first thing that's clear, aside from the emotional backing music that would be more at home on an animal rescue programme, is that this isn't about announcing big new policies. Miliband announced all of these ideas on English lessons, tougher restrictions and a focus on skills for those competing with migrants back in December.