Isabel Hardman

It's easy to forget that the Budget took place five long months ago when it is still being unpicked and argued over now. The Treasury Select Committee published the  responses from the government and the Office for Budget Responsibility to its report on that Budget today, and it includes a curious denial from the Treasury. Andrew Tyrie and his colleagues on the committee had criticised the amount of pre-briefing and leaking of the budget that took place in the weeks before George Osborne stood up in the Commons, arguing that 'coalition government is not a justification for budget leaks'.

Exams regulator Ofqual is due to publish its findings on the gradings in the GCSE English paper today. The afternoon is yawning along, though, and there's still no sign of the report, so while you're all waiting with bated breath, here's an update on the wider picture on GCSE reform. Michael Gove rather shocked the rest of the coalition government earlier this summer when his plan to abolish GCSEs and replace them with a two-tier O level-style exam system appeared on the front page of the Daily Mail. Since then, he and his advisers have been deep in negotiation with the Liberal Democrats on what an acceptable reform might look like.

Nick Clegg may or may not be thrilled that Paddy Ashdown has urged party members to stand by their leader after Lord Oakeshott's rather vicious attack on him yesterday. It depends slightly on the Deputy Prime Minister's reading of history: as Tim Montgomerie observed last night, the endorsement of a former party leader can sometimes seem like a death knell. It is interesting, though, that it was Lord Oakeshott who launched the first public attack on Clegg's leadership (that is, if you discount the helpful suggestions from ex-MP Lembit Opik). Not surprising, of course: the party's former Treasury spokesman in the Lords is not known for delicacy when it comes to radio interviews.

Conservative backbenchers are worried that the Prime Minister and his colleagues leading the Conservative party do not have a clear plan for winning the 2015 election. The Times reports today that they will try to corner David Cameron at a supper of the parliamentary party next week to ask him what his strategy is. They are also taking tips from Boris on how to win elections at a meeting of the 1922 committee. If Cameron does not divulge his strategy next Wednesday, he risks reading more hostile briefings against him in the papers from backbenchers panicked about their own job security. There are also growing concerns on the Tory benches that the government needs to show it is doing everything it can to tackle a key cause of voter desertion: the cost of living.

Justine Greening will be relieved: Downing Street has just poured cold water on suggestions the government could U-turn on a third runway at Heathrow. At the morning lobby briefing, a Downing Street spokeswoman said: 'Their stance is as laid out in the Coalition Agreement: that's not changed. The coalition parties have made a pledge not to have a third runway and that is a pledge that we will keep.' She added that the government did not 'see an argument for a third runway' but that there was a need to 'look more broadly at aviation policy'. It was of course unlikely that Downing Street was going to turn round this morning and say 'we've listened to the concerns of Tim Yeo and we've decided to man up and change our policy'.

It was difficult not to feel sorry for Transport Secretary Justine Greening this morning as she twisted and turned to avoid questions fired at her by Jim Naughtie on a third runway. Each time Greening thought she had escaped having to tell Radio 4 listeners whether she could remain in the Cabinet should the Prime Minister decide he is indeed a man rather than a mouse and U-turn on expanding Heathrow, Naughtie kept returning to the question: Naughtie: Let's be clear about the third runway: is your government open to argument about it, or not?