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Politics: Mark Hookham's Westminster blog - 5.33pm

Keep up with what's going on behind the scenes in the corridors of power with Yorkshire Evening Post Political Editor Mark Hookham. 5.33pm...

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Wednesday October 6

5.33pm - David Cameron resurrected one of the basic rules of stand up comedy during his first party conference speech as PM - if you want a guaranteed laugh poke fun at the Germans. He therefore told how he had the endure the "punishment" of watching England's 4-1 World Cup drubbing against Germany with German Chancellor Angela Merkel. "It's brought a whole new meaning to Anglo-German diplomatic relations: whatever you do, don't mention the score."

Not sure if echoing Lord Kitchener's "Your Country Needs You" appeal was a great idea. As Chris Addison, star of the BBC's The Thick Of It, pointed out on Twitter: "the last time someone said 'Your country needs you' nine million people died."

Controversial Tory spin-doctor Andy Coulson attempted to discreetly watch the PM's speech from the back of a balcony section in Birmingham's Symphony Hall. A photographer, however, tracked him down and spent much of the speech snapping him, to the annoyance of Tory press officers.

It happens every year. Just before Tory leader David Cameron's speech, he is always photographed jogging. When the Conservatives are by the seaside, he will be snapped heroically running through the drizzle on the promenade. This year he jogged down the towpaths of Birmingham. Of course, the photographers are always told where to go beforehand to best capture the PM looking his athletic and manly best. The clever PR tactic is of course nothing new. Chairman Mao used to insist on being photographed swimming, while Vladimir Putin likes nothing better than stripping off to the waist and brandishing his hunting rifle. We can perhaps be thankful that our PM is only in to running.

The must-have item at the Tory Association shop in the market area of the ICC Birmingham is a babygro with the words "Future Prime Minister" stitched on the front.

Energy minister Charles Hendry is one of the government's biggest supporters of nuclear industry - but it seems even he gets slightly nervous at atomic power. Speaking at a fringe meeting, he said: "As shadow minister I went to Sellafield and thought it was one of most scary places I've ever been. As a minister I've gone back and realise I wasn't shown the half of it."

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Tuesday October 5

12.04pm - A hefy reporting workload over the last few days has prevented me from blogging.

Here, however, are few light-hearted observations from the Tory conference so far.....

What a difference a year makes.

Twelve months ago Tory big wigs were falling over themselves to persuade a sceptical media that after years of exile they finally understood northern England.

At last year's conference, journalists were invited along to a special Yorkshire and Humber reception where William Hague talked up his party's chances of a northern breakthrough at the coming election.

This year, after failing to win enough Yorkshire seats to guarantee a Commons majority, the journalists were politely turned away from the conference's North of England reception.

The Conservative's defeated candidate in Wakefield sounds as if he might be relieved not to have beaten Labour's Mary Creagh at this year's election.

Asked by a friend where he lives now, Alex Story was heard to reply: "Barnes - it's a step up from Wakefield."

There is nothing like local government reorganisation to get new York Outer MP Julian Sturdy in a bit of a froth.

He told a Leeds City Region fringe meeting of his excitement at the new Local Enterprise Partnerships which are being established to replace Regional Development Agencies like Yorkshire Forward.

He gushed: "There's never been a more exciting time to be in local government or be a local councillor. It's an immensely exciting time. If I hadn't been fortunate enough to be elected as an MP this time I would be relishing the opportunity to go back into local government because I really do think there are great prospects there."

Not sure those council staff at risk of losing their jobs will find the next few years exciting.

The Tories are always keen to use their conferences to poke fun at their opponents.

Two years ago party activists placed a series of life-size cardboard cut outs of David Miliband holding up that banana around the conference centre.

Last year, a party member dressed up as a butcher and handed out plates of 'Brown's Pork Pies'.

This year, following the election of Labour's new union-backed leader, the Conservatives have set up Red Ed's Diner, serving, you guessed it, beer and sandwiches.

Two Tory students are manning the stall dressed in cloth caps.

Chancellor George Osborne is topping the league for the best joke of conference season so far.

He admitted to delegates that many are surprised that at how well he has got on with Lib Dem Business Secretary Vince Cable.

He said: "People said we wouldn't get on, that we'd trade cruel nicknames, that we would knife each other in the back, that we'd try to end each others' careers.

"Who do they think we are? Brothers?"

Elitism seems to be slowly creeping back into David Cameron's Tory party.

A whole section of the Symphony Hall at the ICC in Birmingham has been sectioned off as VIP-only.

It was so exclusive that even the Conservative's new deputy chairman Michael Fallon was not allowed in for George Osborne's speech yesterday.

Meanwhile, for the first time in years, the main conference hotel has a VIP-only bar. Ironically, it's called Pravda after the Soviet Union propaganda sheet.

Best freebies of the conference so far can be found at the Conservative Friends of Azerbaijan where golfing umbrellas are being handed out.

One of Azerbaijan's biggest friends appears to be Local Government Secretary Eric Pickles who was last night guest of honour at a reception imaginatively entitled From Baku to Birmingham.

Local Government Secretary Eric Pickles has revealed how after entering his new department in May, he discovered that his one-time predecessor John Prescott had built up "the largest stationary cupboard in Whitehall".

He recalls finding a "sea of boxes" marked with "Office of the Deputy Prime Minister".

Inside were twenty thousand branded biros.

"They don't do punctuation and they don't work for more than five minutes," he quipped.

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Thursday September 30

5.17pm - As the conference season charabanc trundles on towards this year's annual Tory gathering in Birmingham, I hear that rebellion is already in the air.

Controversially, the Tories have, for the third year in a row, imposed a champagne ban.

Last year's prohibition of MPs and candidates quaffing 'Champers' caused chaos as tabloid photographers sneaked into receptions to catch anyone daring to breach the ban.

This year, following the party's General Election success, the temptation will surely be even greater.

This blog will keep you up-to-date with its very own "Champagne Watch".

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Sky News finally began watering down its exhaustive coverage of the Labour conference today.

Speeches by shadow housing minister John Healey and shadow communities secretary John Denham were overshadowed by an interview with Ronnie Corbett about a new statue to his late comedy partner Ronnie Barker which has been unveiled in Aylesbury.

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If he could have been bothered (and I'm sure he couldn't), Tony Blair would have watched this year's Labour conference with utter disdain.

Taking their cue from Ed Miliband, speaker after speaker has lined up to condemn the New Labour years.

Tony Woodley, joint secretary of Unite said he was glad the era of New Labour was over because "as far as I am concerned it's been a dark period for our party and for our country".

He obviously thinks winning three elections was some kind of disaster - at least, he'll be happy the party is now in opposition.

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Shadow Health Secretary Andy Burnham wins this year's "Worst Stand Up Prize".

After branding the Lib Dems "Tories in yellow ties", he launched into the following "humorous" skit based around the words of the song "Tie a yellow ribbon around the old oak tree".

(The Tory logo features a tree, geddit!)

He said: "Now we all know Nick likes the spotlight.

"But, incredibly, he is planning to sing the key lines himself in a very personal appeal to his friend David:

"'So tie a yellow ribbon round the old oak tree

"'It's been three long years, do ya still want me?'"

I can't think why he didn't win the leadership election.

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Wednesday September 29

6.19pm - Ed Miliband's young team of advisers and press officers have developed their own slightly strange language.

During the leadership campaign I asked for an interview with the then leadership hopeful.

I was told to send a formal "bid" request via email.

When, weeks later, I enquired about my "bid", I was told that it was still being held in "triage".

Triage, is apparently, a virtual holding area where bid emails are assessed by press officers before then being "processed" and passed on to the campaign advisers who allocate interviews.

Sadly, to continue the tortuous metaphor, my bid died in triage.

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The Labour Party must be pretty hard up after its election defeat.

Party stewards were yesterday flogging photocopies of Ed Miliband's speech for 2 to delegates as they left the conference hall.

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The inept way many MPs handled the media during the expenses fire-storm has apparently opened up a commercial opportunity.

One clever PR firm is distributing leaflets advertising their services in "crisis management, guerrilla campaigning & communications at street level".

The leaflets show an MP with his head on fire and the slogan "MPs - Need a fire putting out?".

I wonder which MP will be silly enough to try and put "crisis management" on expenses?

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Rumours are swirling the bar of the Midland Hotel about the identity of the "Turncoat Four".

Apparently four MPs changed their allegiance at the last moment and backed Ed Miliband.

Their defections effectively sunk David Miliband's chances.

Let's see if their new leader rewards them for their loyalty.

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A total of 49 MPs are standing for the shadow cabinet election.

However, trust is obviously in short supply at the moment.

A former minister told me he had amassed an impressive list of promises from colleagues who say they will vote for him but has no idea how many are telling the truth.

"I just don't know how many of those who said they'll back me actually will.

"I think 25 per cent but some say it's more like 10 per cent and others more like 50 per cent."

Just proves what a brutal business politics is – imagine if you feared that nine out of ten of your friends were lying to you.

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Ed Miliband has nervously described himself as a "lapsed" Leeds United fan.

Apparently he is an expert on United teams up until 1992. However, his knowledge of the last 18 years is full of holes.

He is a lot more clued up about the Boston Red Sox baseball team, which he follows religiously.

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Tuesday September 28

7.43pm - It was perhaps always inevitable that David Miliband would overshadow his brother's speech today.

The fact it's now three days since his narrow defeat and he still refuses to make his future clear, makes it highly likely that David Miliband will announce his withdrawal from front-line politics tomorrow.

This alone, and not Ed's speech, would probably have been the top line for most national newspapers in the morning.

But the way that the older Miliband's gaffe has now fuelled the "brother's at war" story is remarkable.

In case you weren't watching ITV News earlier, a canny cameramen was filming David Miliband's reaction as his brother denounced Labour's support for the Iraq war.

Turning to Labour's deputy leader Harriet Harman, who was sitting next to him, he was seen saying: "You voted for it, why are you clapping?"

She replied: "I am clapping because as you know, I am supporting him."

Criticising a key passage in your brother's (and party leader's) conference speech is not a great move.

It's also unbelievably naive - didn't he think cameras would be on him? Hasn't he learnt anything from Gordon Brown's bigot gaffe?

The Labour Party conference will stumble on tomorrow - but it will continue to be dominated by the saga of sibling rivalry which refuses to go away.

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Monday September 27

6.33pm - Eyebrows have been raised at the new Labour leader's TV viewing habits.

A national newspaper listed Ed Miliband's favourite TV shows as Desperate Housewives and Dallas.

Was this mention of the glamorous 80's soap a coded reference to the destructive sibling rivalry between JR and Bobby Ewing?

David Miliband can only hope that, like Bobby Ewing, he will tomorrow morning walk out of the shower and realise that the last few years have just been a dream.

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12.20pm - I've been to some pretty strange party conferences in my time, Tony Blair's last stand in 2006 and the plots against Gordon Brown in 2008 spring to mind.

But in the five years I've been doing this job, this Labour conference in Manchester has to be oddest.

Publicly the byword is "unity". When speaking 'on the record', MPs and shadow ministers use almost identical phrases.

"It's really important that get behind the new leader, unify the party, move on from the past and get on with opposing the ConDem cuts."

But privately this is a party still reeling from Saturday's result.

Ed Miliband's failure to win majority support among his own MPs and members has had a profound impact.

I spoke to David Miliband supporters last night who were still on the

verge of tears at the way their man's ambitions have been killed off by his own brother.

They feel a mixture of grief and, more worryingly for the party, anger.

One activist last night compared the election of Ed Miliband to Labour's decision in 1980 to be lead by the unelectable Michael Foot.

Meanwhile, an MP told me he is convinced the party will now lose the next election and that Labour will be electing another leader within five years.

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Thursday September 23

6.13pm - Staff at the Department for Communities and Local Government have taken the "we are all in this together" mantra to heart.

In an amazing example of the civil service doing their bit to drive forward efficiencies (to coin the civil service jargon), mandarins at the department's office in Eland House have agreed to...water their own pot plants.

A parliamentary written answer by local government minister Bob Neill reveals that a contract with an external company for the "maintenance of internal plants" is being terminated this month.

Mr Neill explained: "The pot plants are owned by the Department, rather than leased.

"When the contract ends, as suggested by staff in feedback on departmental cost savings, the plants will be looked after by departmental staff on a voluntary basis."

You may mock but the department has spent 38,858 on its plants since July 2004.

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Wednesday September 22

5.12pm - Here are a few light hearted bits and bobs from the last couple of days at the Lib Dem conference in Liverpool....

Lib Dem Euro MP Chris Davies was at one stage denied entrance to the conference centre after attempting to take a statue of a golden "Flying Penis" through the security scanners.

Mr Davies had been awarded the winged appendage by top shelf Forum magazine in recognition of his drive for liberal policies on prostitution.

After a lengthy explanation, the security staff eventually allowed him in.

Lib Dems have been lining up to try their hand at virtual archery at a stand outside the conference hall.

The trade organisation for the games industry set up a Nintendo Wii and were recording results on a leader board.

Sharp-shooting Greg Mulholland (Leeds North West MP) was joint sixth with a score of 24. Diplomatically, he manged to get exactly the same as his party leader, Nick Clegg. Second bottom of the pile was Business Secretary Vince Cable, who managed only three points.

The Lib Dem's annual Conference Glee Club is something of an institution among the party's activists.

Popular among the "sandal and beard" brigade, it's basically one big sing-song.

At this year's the gathered delegates sang a specially composed 'The Twelve Days of Coalition'.

Here are the lyrics (big hat tip to C4's Gary Gibbon, whose blog I've lifted this from):

On the first day of coalition

The Tories gave to me,

A referendum on AV.

On the second day of coalition

The Tories gave to me

Absolutely zilch

And a referendum on AV.

3rd day – "Sweet FA"

4th day – "a very small amount"

5th day "bu**er all"

6th day "very little really"

etc etc....

Lib Dem activists have been handing out special chocolate bars in the conference centre.

Their yellow wrapper says "Clegg & Cable's Credit Crunch Chocolate...that's a mouthful".

The bars have been produced on behalf of rebel Lib Dem Colchester MP Bob Russell.

It goes without saying, that they contain nuts.

Nick Clegg has taken a sanguine attitude to his party's decision to back a boycott of the government's flagship "free schools".

The DPM insisted it is right the party "keeps the government on its toes" before adding "we are not robots in the Lib Dems."

He also shrugged off the muted atmosphere at this year's gathering.

"These are serious and difficult and it was not a conference of frivolity and whooping and clapping."

You can say that again.

Eyebrows were raised when a draft of Lib Dem deputy leader Simon Hughes's speech was emailed to journalists ahead of his appearance at the podium.

During one impassioned section, the text reminded the party faithful of their "opposition to nuclear power".

And there I was thinking the coalition supported new nuclear power stations (as long as there is no public subsidy).

Funnily enough, the rebellious line had dropped out of the speech by the time Mr Hughes stood up to deliver it.

Pint-sized Education Minister Sarah Teather was the butt of one of Mr Clegg's jokes, before he left the Lib Dem conference for New York.

The DPM said: "It is so wonderful to see Lib Dem MPs behind the government despatch box.

"Or, in the case of Sarah Teather, to hear them."

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Monday September 20

7.24pm - The level of the personal abuse suffered by Nick Clegg since the election emerged today.

Lid Dem sources have confirmed to me that dog muck was pushed through the post box of the Deputy Prime Minister's constituency office in Sheffield.

The incident took place shortly after coalition was formed.

There have also been reports that Mr Clegg was spat upon in the street.

His aides deny such an incident happened in Sheffield but were unable to rule out it happening elsewhere.

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3.28pm - It's not unusual for political parties to keep journalists in the dark during their conferences, but the Lib Dems have taken it a step further this year.

Hacks from regional newspapers, including the YEP, have been told to work in a gloomy curtained-off section at the back of the Echo arena.

Only a few dim lights in the roof have been switched on, leaving journalists fumbling around in the shadows.

This correspondent is considering bringing a head torch to work tomorrow.

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12.01pm - Sky News have distributed a set of Top Trumps, which rated politicians by their "fanciability"

Coalition partners David Cameron and Nick Clegg were level pegging on 80/100 but were beaten by Tory boy Zac Goldsmith (100/100).

David Miliband was seen as the best looking Labour leadership candidate - his score of 95 beat Ed Miliband's 77, Andy Burnham's 88 and Morley MP Ed Balls's 48.

Harriet Harman was more fancied than Pontefract MP Yvette Cooper (73 beats 66), while, despite her snazzy shoe collection, Theresa May scored a low 55.

Meanwhile, Eric Pickles was deemed the least fanciable on just 26/100.

The Communitities Secretary is obviously still reeling from Nick Clegg's "joke" that he was the only cabinet minister you could see on Google Earth

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Sunday September 19

10.26am - I didn't mention it (I didn't want you to make a fuss) but yesterday was this blog's first birthday (presumably your cards will arrive on Monday).

It is also nine years since I started my career as a journalist up here in Liverpool, England's second best city (after Leeds, of course).

To celebrate this double milestone (and because my next copy deadline is not until late this afternoon), I spent much of yesterday meandering around the city and checking out the brilliantly barmy Liverpool Biennial arts festival.

For anyone already bored of policy motions and fringe meetings, I highly recommend it.

The highlights included a life-size replica of the the Liverpool FC changing room with a collection of creepy looking toy pandas sitting in the corners, a room full ribbons hanging from the ceiling which you had to navigate tentatively by touch (the theme of the festival) and the Taiwanese artist who took a picture of himself on-the-hour, every hour for an entire year.

However, the best bit was the seven metre long bronze sword which dangles above your head from the roof of the Black-E, a rounded disused church near China Town.

A modern day Sword of Damocles....the perfect metaphor for the nervous Lib Dems locked into coalition with the Tories.

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Monday September 13

4.13pm - As a soon-to-be-abolished regional development agency, Yorkshire Forward's achievements have rarely been praised by the quango-burning coalition.

Interesting then that business minister Mark Prisk has accepted that the organisation created more than 225,000 jobs since its creation in 1999.

In a written ministerial answer he detailed how, in the wake of the worst recession since WWII, Yorkshire Froward last year created 27,161 jobs (its highest total in six years and its second most successful year).

It created another 23,635 jobs in 2008/09 at the height of the credit crunch.

Not a bad record for an "unelected, ineffective quango" (Copyright Eric Pickles)

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Friday September 3

12.35pm - David Miliband's campaign team have put out a fascinating opinion poll today.

Pollsters YouGov asked 714 northerners which, if any, of the candidates would make the best leader of the Labour Party.

Almost one third of northern respondents (32 per cent) said they didn't know, while 21 per cent said none of them.

David Miliband won the backing of 18 per cent of the respondents, beating his brother Ed who secured 10 per cent.

Diane Abbott and Andy Burnham both secured the backing of seven per cent of northern respondents.

In what must be a morale-sapping rejection, West Yorkshire MP Ed Balls came last on a dismal five per cent.

David Miliband's camp say the poll shows that their man has "overwhelming" support amongst members of the public as the best candidate to take on Cameron and be the next Prime Minister.

I certainly wouldn''t describe 18 per cent as overwhelming. The only person who will get a boost from this survey is David Cameron.

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Thursday September 2

9.19am - In today's YEP I look at the tense relationship between the two Miliband brothers and their childhood years in Horsforth.

Tony Blair's extraordinary memoirs makes it obvious that the former PM's loyalties lie firmly with David Miliband, his former Downing Street adviser.

Given the divisive nature of A Journey, the backing of his former patron is the probably the last endorsement David Miliband wanted.

When during my interview with David Miliband on Monday, I suggested that Blair's book would completely overshadow whatever he and his campaign did this week, the former cabinet minister mocked surprise and asked "will it?" (he then tetchily told off an aide who allowed a door to slam).

It will take a few days before it becomes clear what the the impact of Blair's book on the leadership race will be.

David Miliband has for his part stressed that he is is own man and that he will move the party on from the Blair-Brown era.

Ed Miliband, however, has used the publication to take yet another thinly veiled swipe at his Blairite older brother.

"I'm afraid he (Blair), along with others, is stuck in a New Labour comfort zone," he said during a debate last night.

We today learn that the Miliband rivalry is to be dramatised by Channel 4.

It seems that as one Labour psychodrama ends, another begins.

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Wednesday 11 August

6.35pm - There must have been some red faces in the Department for Work and Pensions press office earlier today.

At lunchtime, a press release was issued which said that Employment Minister Chris Grayling had "unearthed" "staggering new figures" which showed that 14 per cent of the total number of households in Yorkshire contain residents who have never worked.

This was pretty astonishing. 14% of all households in the county are work-shy? Really?

It didn't seem right and, sure enough, a corrected press release was later sent with a note on the top saying: "Our statisticians have just given us revised figures. The previous news release on this subject was incorrect."

The actual figure is 3%. It took the officials almost four hours to correct the blunder.

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Tuesday 10 August

5.29pm - The list of cabinet ministers who have been allowed to keep their chauffer-driven taxpayer-funded cars continues to grow.

Last September, before entering Downing Street, David Cameron said: "If there is something that really annoys people, it's politicians swanning around in chauffeur-driven cars like they're the Royal Family."

And shortly after the creation of the new government, David Laws, the then Chief Secretary to the Treasury, said: "In the future, no minister should have a dedicated car or driver other than in exceptional circumstances.

"Ministers will be expected to walk or take public transport where possible, or use a pooled car. The pooling of cars will allow big savings to be made."

Most of the government's junior ministers are now taking public transport or using pool cars - but the cabinet are more reluctant to rough it.

Research published by Labour MP Tom Watson earlier this week revealed that David Cameron, Chancellor George Osborne, Home Secretary Theresa May and Foreign Secretary William Hague are all keeping their cars for "security reasons".

Justice Secretary Ken Clarke, Communities Secretary Eric Pickles and Ulster Secretary Owen Paterson are also retaining their cars - while Chris Huhne (Energy and Climate Change) and Michael Gove (Education) have refused to say if they will get rid of their vehicles.

I've now had confirmed that both Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg and Defence Secretary Liam Fox are also keeping allocated cars, again because of "security" reasons.

And even Transport Secretary Philip Hammond has decided not to give up his chauffer.

A spokeswoman for the Department for Transport told me: "Our minister decided that there is a business case for him to have an allocated car."

Some ministers are obviously more equal than others.

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Friday August 6

8.47am - Although no final decision has been made, Tory ministers in the coalition government have hinted that they will NOT lower the drink drive limit.

Earlier in the summer a review commissioned by Labour said reducing the limit from 80mg of alcohol per 100ml of blood to 50mg would save hundreds of lives.

The report author Sir Peter North, a legal scholar, also said the mandatory 12-month driving ban should be kept for the new limit.

A 50mg limit would bring the UK into line with most of the rest of the EU, but combined with a 12-month ban it would be one of the toughest drink-drive regimes in Europe.

Appearing at a select committee hearing recently, Transport Secretary Philip Hammond sounded like a man preparing to ditch the central plank of Sir Peter's report.

He pointed out that there is only a limited amount of police time available to catch and process people guilty of drink and drug driving and that the government had to ensure there was "maximum impact on road safety within that constraint".

And he then went on to highlight how drunk drivers who die in crashes are normally well over the current limit.

"I think the figure is 90% of drivers killed in drink-driving incidents are at 100 mg or more, and 40% are at 200 mg or more, so we have a problem of really serious non-compliance.

"This is not about failing to comply at the margin, it is about a total disregard for the limits," he said.

Not lowering the limit will be a controversial step - especially as the National Institute of Clinical Excellence estimates that as many as 168 lives could be saved in the first year of a reduced limit.

Even many drivers' groups back the reduction, with the RAC offering its support and the AA saying that two-thirds of its members are behind it.

But of course on the other side of the argument are those who believe it would be draconian crackdown on hitherto law-abiding motorists.

From Mr Hammond's comments, and from the government's pledge to end the "war on motorists", I suspect he agrees.

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Wednesday August 4

9.07am - Anyone looking for a career change at the moment could do no worse that becoming a logo designer for the government.

There is certainly no shortage of work, according to a recent glut of parliamentary written answers.

Under Labour, even cabinet ministers kept forgetting the name for the old Department for Trade and Industry because it changed so often.

And each time it changed, some whizz kid penned a new logo and picked up a fee.

The logo change in 2005/06 from DTI to the Department for Productivity Energy and Industry (DPEI) cost 4,000.

That rebranding, however, only lasted a week, until its new head Alan Johnson said the initials DPEI had prompted various unflattering descriptions, including "penis" and "dippy".

So it reverted back to the DTI, (the old logo was used but other reorganisation costs came to 30,000).

Two years later it was split into the Department for Business, Enterprise & Regulatory Reform, the Department for Innovation, Universities and Skills and the Department of Energy and Climate Change. The BERR logo cost 17,700 alone.

Another two years on and it became Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS). The logo cost for Lord Mandelson's sprawling fiefdom was 8,282.

This one department's agencies have also been keen to throw money at their (often forgettable) branding.

UK Trade and Investment spent 9,755 on a logo design in 2003 and Companies House forked out 10,000 on a design in 2001.

The Skills Funding Agency has spent 3,600 "on associated costs for logo guidelines and templates" since April this year, while the Intellectual Property Office spent 9,650 on a logo design in 2008/09.

The National Measurement Office picked up a bargain logo for only 310 but then spent another 2,300 on its brand for the National Measurement System (whatever that is).

Maybe it's time this blog got a new logo. Any ideas?

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Tuesday August 3

5.35pm - After months of vague ministerial speeches, the government has finally given us a glimpse of what life in the mythical Big Society will be like.

Our Big Society.......will be one that is free from the toxic weeds.

Well, perhaps not all toxic weeds but certainly the nasty Ragwort - an innocuous yellow flower which is bad news for any horse, cow, sheep or donkey which grazes on it.

With the Ragwort season in rampant full bloom (hadn't you noticed?), Agricultural Minister Jim Paice is calling on landowners, local groups and nature-lovers to work together to help control it.

In a slightly breathless press release, he is quoted as saying: "This little flower may look like a pretty yellow daisy but it spreads easily and can poison horses and other animals – so tackling this problem can be a practical example of the Big Society working together to be part of the solution to control the spread.

"Landowners, conservation and community groups can all help by being on the lookout and to help remove this weed, where there's a risk that livestock will eat it, by following the advice in the ragwort code of practice."

Horse owners and farmers will no doubt be grateful for this new spirit of community action but I think it is only right to question where this is going.

A Big Society purge on stinging nettles? A collective struggle against Leylandii? A mass wasp swatting?

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Monday July 26

11.10am - With almost one third of all Liberal Democrat MPs now in government jobs (17 out of 57), Greg Mulholland has every right to feel a bit sore at the moment.

The Leeds North West MP missed out on becoming a minister while a string of instantly forgettable colleagues landed jobs (Paul Burstow and Mark Hunter spring to mind).

It was not as if the combative Mulholland lacked experience - he became a shadow minister for international development immediately after his election in 2005 and then did stints as a shadow schools and then health spokesman before last year's election.

Even on the day David Cameron was appointing his government, Sky News were reporting speculation that the Leeds MP had been given ministerial berth at the Department of Work and Pensions (although I understand the source was an excitable MP who misheard a telephone conversation and then started blabbing to anyone who would listen).

But perhaps, Mulholland should take solace from the fact that even former Labour ministers are baffled at his omission.

Former pubs minister John Healey (best job in government?) has told the Morning Advertiser that the coalition should appoint real-ale loving Mulholland as his replacement.

I'm sure Greg would drink to that.

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10.28am - The coalition is still stumbling on some pretty extraordinary revelations hidden deep inside the former government's books.

The new team at the Department for Transport has disclosed the whopping payouts received by civil servants at that department over the past few years.

At least 27 staff at the DfT or its agencies got more than 200,000 in the last three years as part of redundancy, compulsory early retirement, compulsory early severance or flexible early severance deals.

Nine had payments of at least 300,000 and 125 got between 100,000 and 200,000. In 2007/8, at least one received between 650,000 and 700,000.

Transport Secretary Phillip Hammond has described the figures as "shocking".

It will certainly make it easier for him and other ministers as they attempt to fend off public sector unions and implement cuts to civil service redundancy terms.

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Wednesday July 21

5.37pm - Amid the self-serving vanity of Peter Mandelson's memoirs is an interesting snippet about Hemsworth MP Jon Trickett.

Mr Trickett was one of Gordon Brown's two Parliamentary Private Secretaries during the former Labour leader's last painful two years in Downing Street.

As his PPS, Mr Trickett was the Prime Minister's "eyes and ears" and fixer, keeping him in touch with the ebb and flow of opinion among Labour MPs.

According to the Prince of Darkness, Mr Trickett did a good job.

In fact, he even warned Brown's bunker of a plot which was bubbling away against the PM in May 2009.

Shortly after that year's budget, Mr Trickett paid a discreet call to Lord Mandelson in his parliamentary office.

Lord Mandelson recalls: "He said fellow MPs were convinced that Gordon's critics were in discussions about getting a change of leader.

"One of them had even been approached and told that if he wanted a 'conversation' with Harriet (Harman) about a post-Gordon future it could be arranged."

Lord Mandelson told Mr Trickett not to tell the Prime Minister because "it will just wind him up".

Days later the Daily Telegraph splashed a story quoting "friends" of Harriet, saying that she would go for the top job if Brown was toppled. Harman then had to go on the BBC and deny the claims, which effectively killed of any potential coup attempt.

Given what happened 12 months later, I wonder how many Labour MPs now wish Mr Trickett had not been so good at his job.

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Tuesday July 20

11.06am - He has only been in his job for a few weeks but already the new chairman of influential Commons education select committee has clashed spectacularly with Labour's former Schools Secretary Ed Balls.

Graham Stuart, the combative Tory MP for Beverley and Holderness, accused Mr Balls of having a "luddite tendency" to reform and said the coalition government was "absolutely right" and "brave" to halt the school rebuilding programme.

A furious Mr Balls, the MP for Morley, hit back, accusing Mr Stuart of a "ridiculous, partisan and stooge-like performance" and reminding him that select committee chairmen should be independent of government.

"Maybe he should call some witnesses and hear some evidence before he decides to write his select committee's report - unless it is being written for him by Conservative Front Benchers.

"His credibility is very substantially undermined," he said.

The Labour leadership hopeful's attack goes further than the normal Commons political point-scoring - it's unusual for a frontbencher to openly question the impartiality of a select committee chair.

Expect the fireworks to continue next week when Mr Balls is called to give evidence to Mr Stuart's committee.

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Tuesday July 13

6.02pm - A group of MPs have tabled a parliamentary Early Day Motion which highlights the "declining importance of Early Day Motions".

EDMs are used to publicise the views of individual MPs, draw attention to specific events or campaigns and demonstrate the extent of parliamentary support for a particular cause.

They, however, have long been criticised for being a pointless waste of money.

Weighty subjects addressed by the current glut of EDMs include the revival of Welsh baseball, the plight of dolphins in Turkish holiday centres and the need for a UK pensioners' Parliament.

Now, seven Tory backbenchers have backed an EDM which brands other EDMs as ineffective campaign tools for external organisations.

They question the cost to the taxpayer (each EDM costs 290 and the annual cost is 500,000) and call for them to be reformed or abolished.

What could have prompted such an anti-EDM EDM?

Surely it wasn't EDM 424 tabled by Leeds North West MP Greg Mulholland, which states: "...this House encourages the efforts of the Cardigan Centre in Leeds to bring the community together by knitting patches in an attempt to break the world record for the largest cardigan ever constructed."

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5.20pm - MPs are preparing for another late night session tonight as Labour attempts to cause trouble for the coalition on the planned VAT hike.

All eyes will be on whether MPs use it as an excuse for another six hour drinking session in the terrace bar.

Last Tuesday's late night sitting reportedly led to a marathon booze up which left one new MP so drunk that he was unable to attend a vote.

Another female MP claimed the Commons chamber and voting lobbies "stank

of booze and sweat".

Bizarrely, one peer in the House of Lords today criticised the House of Commons catering department for encouraging drinking by not offering more cups of tea during early evening events and meetings.

Baroness Gardner of Parkes, 82, said: "In the Commons at afternoon tea time, between four and six, every group that has an event, to which many of us are invited, is very frequently not even offered the option of tea but encouraged by the catering department in that House to only have the option of having alcohol at four in the afternoon."

I'll have to remember that next time I arrive home feeling slightly tired and emotional: 'It's not my fault dear, I wanted tea but all they served was beer."

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Monday July 12

12.23pm - What on earth is going on at the Department for Transport?

Figures published in a written answer reveal that 22 laptops have been stolen from the department or its agencies during the last 12 months. That's some crime wave.

The replacement costs of these stolen computers was 22,902 (or 1,041 each), which seems ridiculous given you can pick up a pretty powerful laptop nowadays for less than 400.

DfT's civil servants also seem a pretty forgetful lot having lost 17 blackberries - with another eight stolen - during the last year at a cost of 5,875.

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Friday July 9

1.37pm - West Yorkshire Tory MP Philip Davies is fast becoming known as the "real opposition" to David Cameron's coalition.

The independent-minded Shipley MP is doing a better job of standing up to ministers than most of the supposed big-hitters on the Labour benches.

Only two months since the election and he has also spoken out against the government's "stupid mistake" of scaling back the DNA database and condemned Ken Clarke's plans to lock up fewer criminals.

As Mr Cameron has already discovered, Mr Davies is also not not shy about firing shots across the PM's bows during the weekly Prime Minister's questions.

And on Monday he will pile further pressure on Education Secretary Michael Gove when he quizzes him in the Commons about the cancellation of school rebuilding projects in his constituency.

He is concerned that Ilkley and Bingley grammar schools have "literally run out of space" and wants to know how they will now cope.

"The two schools need a new build on a new site. They are no longer big enough for their catchment area," he said.

With so many Commons careerists on the green benches, Mr Davies's rebellious streak is keeping the Tory high command on its toes.

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Thursday July 8

1.06pm - Is Big Ben about to go green?

Tory MP Phillip Hollobone has asked the powers-that-be in the Commons to look into lighting the iconic clock tower with energy-efficient LED light bulbs.

Each of the four 7m-wide clock faces is currently illuminated with 28 light bulbs that have a life of around 66,000 hours.

Mr Hollobone said LED lighting uses just 5% of the electricity of normal bulbs.

House of Commons Commission spokesman Sir Stuart Bell said the prospect was "intriguing" and added that he was happy to look into it.

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Tuesday July 6

4.01pm - Defence Minister Andrew Robathan has revealed to MPs that the Ministry of Defence has spent around 58,000 each year on protecting, preserving and maintaining its art collection since 2005 (that's a total of 290,000, if you include this year).

The MoD has some 1,500 works of art, complete with curating staff to look after them.

Even worse, a whopping 250,000 was spent in 2004 on eight abstract paintings by artists Zil Hoque and Louise Cattrell for the foyer of the main MoD's building.

The department's top brass said at the time that the art was required to turn the pillared hall into an area suitable for "defence diplomacy" and ceremonial events.

Mr Robathan said the coalition has not yet decided whether to sell them off.

I think I know what the view of the troops in Afghanistan would be.

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08.28am - We reveal in today's YEP what the winding up of Labour's Building Schools for the Future programme means for West Yorkshire.

Below is the list of schools which have had their rebuilding or refurbishing plans scrapped.....

Where the axe has fallen

LEEDS: Boston Spa; Wetherby High; City of Leeds; Garforth Community College; Brigshaw High; North East SILC; BESD SILC ; Bruntcliffe High; Morley High; Woodkirk High, Tingley; Royds in Oulton; South SILC ; Abbey Grange, West Park; Benton Park in Rawdon; Guiseley School Technology College; Horsforth School; Otley Prince Henry's; St Mary's Catholic High School in Menston; North West SILC; three pupil referral units.

WAKEFIELD: Airedale High, Carleton Community High, Castleford High, Freeston Business & Enterprise College and Knottingley High.

KIRKLEES: All Saints, Batley Business and Enterprise College, Batley Girls, Birkdale High, Birkenshaw, Castle Hall, Earlsheaton, Fairfield, Fartown, Gomersal Middle, Heckmondwike GS, Ravenshall, RM Grylls Middle, Spen Valley, St John Fisher, The Mirfield Free Grammar, Thornhill, West End Middle, Westborough and Birkdale (NCT), Westfield PRU, Whitcliffe Mount and Whitechapel Middle

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Friday July 2

5.16pm - These may be austere times but at least the new ministers at the Department for Culture, Media and Sport are enjoying their summer.

A list of declared corporate hospitality and gifts shows that the Minister for Sport and Olympics, Hugh Robertson, has so far chalked up tickets to an England v Bangladesh test match, the FA Cup final, the England v USA World Cup fixture (don't really envy him that one) and a day at Wimbledon.

He has also, strangely, been handed a framed picture by the British Gliding Association (presumably of a glider).

His boss, Culture Secretary Jeremy Hunt, has so far declared two tickets to the FA Cup final and two tickets for the England v Algeria match in South Africa (again, poor him).

He would have also enjoyed a night at the Royal Opera House but the tickets were mistakenly posted to the home of his Labour predecessor, Ben Bradshaw (who was good enough to send them back to the Department).

Meanwhile, Ed Vaizey, the new Minister for Culture, Communications and Creative Industries, was given a ticket to the Ivor Novello Awards, enjoyed a night at the Sadler's Wells theatre and was provided with a two night stay, food and concert tickets at the Aldeburgh Festival.

Pity though John Penrose, the Minister for Tourism and Heritage. He has only declared two mugs from VisitBritain, another mug from the National Trust (is he a collector?) and a book from English Heritage (about old mugs?)

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Thursday July 1

5.33pm - Nick Clegg has not exactly helped dispel the Labour claim that he is rattling around the Cabinet Office with not a lot to do.

The Deputy Prime Minister's crusade to strike obsolete laws off the statue book is provoking much mockery today.

Earlier on, he told an audience in East London: "It's a little known fact, for example, that under old laws that are still in place, failing to report a grey squirrel in your back garden is technically a criminal offence. That's one I think we could probably do without."

Personally, given the ravaged red squirrel population I think we should remain vigilant at all times.

But even if I did support the rights of grey squirrels to go about their business free from snooping and harassment, I'm not sure I would see changing the law as a top priority.

It's not been a great week for the Liberal Democrat leader.

During the cabinet's visit to West Yorkshire, he was tasked with announcing the Regional Growth Fund.

Seemingly the only new element to this announcement was the fact that the cash pot would amount to 1bn. However, closer inspection of Hansard showed that Treasury Minister Mark Hoban had 'accidentally' blurted this out in the Commons just a few days before.

Is it any wonder that Huddersfield MP Barry Sheerman today cheekily called for a Commons debate "on the role and responsibilities of the Deputy Prime Minister".

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Tuesday June 29

5.52pm - Two classic moments in the Parliamentary playground today.

First, a minister and backbencher were forced to apologise after they turned up late for a debate on apprenticeships, causing it to be cancelled.

Further Education Minister John Hayes and Tory MP Richard Graham (Gloucester) were summoned to say sorry by Commons Speaker John Bercow after they missed the start of a Westminster Hall debate, which Mr Graham had secured.

Then, later this afternoon in the Commons at health questions, junior health minister Simon Burns stunned the chamber by denouncing Speaker Bercow as a "stupid, sanctimonious dwarf".

He muttered the heckle after the Speaker reminded him that he should address his answers to questions through the chair and not directly to backbench MPs.

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Friday June 25

9.00am - Firstly, apologies for the ten day blogging hiatus. What with the constant stream of cuts announcements and the bloodbath budget, it's all been a bit manic down here in the press gallery.

I promise to be more attentive.

Heres a start - this week's column for the Lancashire Evening Post on the Lib Dem's dilemma......

Budget week was always going to put the coalition under immense strain.

But in putting together his bloodbath financial statement, George Osborne appeared to pay scant attention to the sensitivities of his Liberal Democrat bedfellows.

The eye-watering spending cuts and declaration of war on the welfare state has created huge unease among Lib Dem ranks.From my perch up in the press gallery, I was unable to spot a single Lib Dem (other than those in the cabinet) who waved their papers in support of Mr Osborne.

Yesterday, Simon Hughes, known as the "conscience of the Liberal Democrats", warned there will be "trouble" if there is any "unpicking" of the coalition agreement between his party and the Tories.

He made his comments because Mr Osborne keeps insisting that the government may go even further than its planned 11bn of welfare cuts.

The Chancellor has said that further reform of welfare and benefit payments would help the government ease the pain on government departments, some of which face budget cuts of more than 30%.

The unsaid implication is that pensioner benefits like winter fuel allowance, free TV licenses, free bus travel, free eye tests and free prescriptions could be included in the slash-and-burn.

All of these were supposedly offered protection in the coalition agreements and are very much "red lines" for the Lib Dem rank-and-file.

Those activists (some of mainly to the left of their young leader and are often employed in the public sector. Think teachers, social workers and nurses. They are often avid readers of the Guardian newspaper.

Yesterday's Guardian included two graphs which showed how, despite the Tory claims, that Osborne's budget overwhelmingly hits the poorest hardest (while Alistair Darlings last budget protected the poor and hit the rich).

It is a graph to chill the bones of your average Lib Dem.

These people did not come into politics to dismantle the welfare state (a Liberal Party invention) and make poor people poorer and there must be a limit to how much more of this they can take.

Yet the Lib Dem dilemma is that to walk away from the coalition would be to force a general election in which voters would probably heavily punish them for abandoning so many of their principles.

The Lib Dem's growing fear of the ballot box is why George Osborne is increasing relaxed about pushing them around.

The Tories have their "partners" well and truly trapped in a corner.

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Tuesday June 15

2.47pm - Morley MP Ed Balls seems to be doing surprisingly badly in the Labour leadership race.

A poll by the influential LabourList website showed he is trailing far behind the Miliband brothers.

Labour has a complicated electoral college system determined by the alternative vote method, where electors list candidates in order of preference, second, third and even fourth place votes.

According to the poll of 652 Labour members and trade unionists Mr Balls had the lowest number of both first preferences (4.9 per cent) and second preferences (8.5 per cent).

He also had just 18.5 per cent of third preferences.

The poll is good news for Ed Miliband who is emerging as a "compromise candidate" and seems likely to pick up the key second preference votes which could determine the outcome.

The shadow energy secretary has 30.8 per cent of first preferences, 34.1 per cent of second preferences and 20.4 per cent of third preferences.

Given the frenzied activity of their candidate over the last fortnight, Team Balls is bound to be disappointed by this poll.

Mr Balls faces a long summer of campaigning - but is it long enough to turn these figures around?

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Thursday June 3

5.24pm - The picture taken two years ago of Labour cabinet ministers Ed Balls and Andy Burnham sharing a rope swing like two naughty school boys was a classic.

The photo opportunity was supposed to highlight the former government's 235m expansion of playground facilities.

Instead, it left some asking whether the two political highflyers should have known better.

A recent Commons debate has revealed that the two shadow cabinet ministers now have different feelings about whether it was wise to invite the press to witness their cavorting.

Andy Burnham: "The Member for Morley and Outwood and I rarely missed an opportunity to promote joint working between our two departments, although we can probably admit now that jumping on a rope swing was, in retrospect, a promotional step too far."

Ed Balls: "I enjoyed it."

Andy Burnham: "I beg to differ."

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Wednesday June 2

8.57am - Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg reveals today that the most important decision-making body in government is becoming more family friendly.

The weekly meetings of the cabinet, which are normally held on a Tuesday, have been put back to fit in with the school run in the morning, Mr Clegg told The Independent.

Mr Clegg, who walks his children to school every morning, said: "In a sense I'm very lucky because David Cameron has young children.

"We agreed the other day were going to slightly delay the start of the cabinet meeting to allow us both to take our children to school, which is a reflection - if any was needed - of the fact that we are both of the same generation in this new politics."

He added that he is "very rigid in saying 'no' to endless dinner invitations, to try to make sure I'm back home regularly to put the kids to bed."

The DPM's family life has not, however, been totally insulated from the demands of government - he had to interrupt a brief weekend break in Paris with his wife Miriam when the David Laws crisis broke.

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Thursday May 27

2.07pm - Under the last government I received regular calls from the Department for Communities and Local Government informing me of their latest house-building announcements.

Seemingly endless pots of cash were being unveiled to "kick-start" stalled developments and help achieve Labour's pledge to build 10,000 council homes a year.

The most recent announcement for our area came at the beginning of April, with 4.4m announced for affordable housing schemes across Yorkshire.

This included 488,000 for Miller Homes to provide 58 of the 123 homes at the Priory Chase development near Pontefract Hospital through the HomeBuy Direct scheme.

At the time, then Housing Minister John Healey was boasting that he was "putting the weight of Government investment into building much-needed affordable homes".

Two months later and the new government's tune has dramatically changed.

DCLG this week issued a statement which may look bland but in mandarin-speak is pretty explosive.

"Full scrutiny of Government expenditure has showed that the previous Government made commitments that were not fully and securely funded.

"This includes a total 780m towards housing priorities including towards the Housing Pledge," it said.

In other words: 'the last lot promised three quarters of a billion quid which they didn't really have'.

The Homes and Communities Agency has now been told to cut an eyewatering 230m from its budget this year.

The coalition is providing 170m to pay for 4,000 "otherwise unfunded" social rented homes but a huge shadow is now cast over scores more housing announcements made by the last government.

Using typically colourful language, Local Government Secretary Eric Pickles has said that when he entered DCLG there was a "funny smell", which he later discovered was the " burnt earth" left by Labour's spending spree.

Mr Healey has claimed the coalition's failure to defend the housing budget would lead to cuts in jobs and homes.

But away from the political point-scoring, the debacle raises a number of questions.

Firstly, how can we trust a government department which announces 4.4m for Yorkshire as recently as two months ago but now confesses to having a potential 780m blackhole in its housing budget?

Secondly, and more importantly, what now for all those stalled developments in Yorkshire?

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Friday May 21

2.01pm - Nick Clegg sipped from a bright Conservative blue mug as he answered questions in his new office overlooking Horse Guards Parade and St James's Park.

A rabbit warren of corridors and security doors connects Mr Clegg's base in the Cabinet Office with David Cameron's office in Downing Street.

The PM and DPM meet "several times a day", although it's not clear if Mr Cameron's favourite mug is bright Liberal Democrat yellow.

Writing for the Yorkshire Evening Post's sister paper, the Sheffield Star (Mr Clegg's local paper), meant that I was yesterday lucky enough to secure only the second newspaper interview with the new DPM since he started in the job.

The 43-year-old looked pale and tired.

It's no surprise - he went from an exhausting four week general election campaign straight into lengthy coalition negotiations.

Despite an assortment of family photographs on his desk and by a cream sofa, the father-of-three has yet to make a visible mark on his office.

A photograph of the Queen posing for Lucien Freud and a giant picture titled Hotel Splendide (Mornington Crescent) by Arturo Di Stefano were handpicked by the previous occupant of the letter, Lord Mandelson.

The former Business Secretary left Mr Clegg a leaving note, although the Lib Dem leader stresses that it did not repeat former Labour Treasury minister Liam Byrne's boast that "there's no money left".

"Yes, I got a very nice letter. Just very good, straight, sensible advice about how the place works. I've written back - it's all very friendly and cordial," he said.

Mr Clegg described himself as "the anti-Prescott Deputy Prime Minister" and said he is determined to learn the lessons from the reign of his infamous predecessor.

"Far from trying to build some great empire, what I'm doing is actually keeping my operation deliberately small, totally integrated with just up the corridor with David Cameron's operation.

"We have people who are working interchangeably in our teams.

"I'm not in the slightest bit interested, as Prescott, was in having great fancy baubles and titles and hundreds and hundreds of civil servants," he said.

One fancy bauble that Mr Clegg will be able to enjoy is the magnificent Chevening House, a 115-room grace-and-favour mansion which he can use for official entertaining.

"I don't think I'm going to spend much time there," he insisted.

The relationship between Mr Clegg and Mr Cameron was characterised as a 'love in' after the two political leaders shared jokes at their first press conference in the garden of 10 Downing Street.

Despite the chasm which divided their two parties during the election, Mr Clegg says he is "very proud" of the way the coalition has been formed and says he is now working "hand in glove" with Mr Cameron.

"If you look at the coalition government it is a blend. We can draw up score cards until the cows come home on 'did you win here, did you win there'.

"I genuinely actually think that what we produced in many respects is better than what either of us would have delivered on our own."

Our interview over-ran by five minutes and as I was led out of the office I noticed that Sir Gus O' Donnell the Cabinet Secretary and Britain's highest ranking civil servant was waiting patiently outside.

He glided into he office to start the job of making Mr Clegg's policies a reality.

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Wednesday May 19

6.09pm - To understand why Nick Clegg was booed earlier today, just take a look at the website of the National Union of Students: http://bit.ly/9txzKn

The NUS is demanding an "urgent clarification" from the Lib Dems on the promises the party made over tuition fees during the election.

The Lib Dems campaigned on phasing out tuition fees over six years. As the NUS points out, every elected Lib Dem MP also signed an NUS pledge to vote against any increase in fees in the next Parliament.

Last week's coalition agreement says the government will await Lord Browne's report on higher education funding. This report is widely expected to recommend the removal of the current cap on fees.

The agreement allows Lib Dem MPs to abstain if they disagree with the government's response to Lord Browne.

But this is not what they promised during the campaign - they told students they would vote AGAINST tuition fee increases.

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5.39pm - I'm told that wily Labour backbenchers scored an early goal against the Scottish and Welsh nationalists yesterday.

A gaggle of long-standing MPs led by "Beast of Bolsover" Denis Skinner raced into the chamber as early as they possibly could to plonk themselves down on the seats which before the election were occupied by Nick Clegg and the other Lib Dem front benchers.

There were fears the SNP and Plaid Cymru would colonise these prominent positions in a bid to present the nationalist block as the second opposition.

Skinner, who sat there the last time Labour was in opposition, was wise to the threat and pulled off the political equivalent putting out Labour's towels on the best sun loungers.

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Tuesday May 18

6.22pm - West Yorkshire MP Ed Balls will tomorrow launch his campaign to be the next Labour leader.

The party has needed a "clear the air" contest for a very long time (Gordon Brown would have been in a much stronger position if he had encouraged David Miliband to stand against him in 2007, instead of demanding a coronation)

What, however, is pretty depressing is the lack of a female candidate.

Where, also, is the candidate with an interesting background or life story? (Balls, Miliband 1 and Miliband 2 are all products of Westminster's career conveyor belt)

There is also no 'wildcard' challenger: the three main candidates were all key figures in the government which has just been rejected by the voters and kicked out of office.

Finally, Labour has failed to learn one of the stand-out lessons from the Conservative's last leadership contest.

In 2005, the Tories turned their party conference into a beauty parade with each leadership candidate invited to give a 15 minute-long pitch.

Many feared it would be a bloodbath, but instead it electrified the conference and gave the party a much-needed adrenaline shot.

That party's recovery started the minute David Cameron sat down after finishing his no-notes speech.

Labour, in contrast, will simply use their conference in September to announce the leadership election result. It's the safe, but boring, option.

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2.01pm - The general election campaign saw each of the main political parties locked in a conspiracy of silence as they refused to spell out how painful the looming public spending cuts would be.

But now, at long last, we can at least see the tip of the huge iceberg poking out of the dangerous waters.

We report in today's YEP how both the Leeds trolleybus scheme and the plans to transform Leeds rail station are now now being reviewed by cost-cutting ministers.

The Tories and Lib Dems are determined to unpick the spending splurge carried out by the Labour government in its last six months in office.

This is of course just the start. Far, far worse is just around the corner.

None of this should be a surprise, after all economists now believe that every Whitehall department other than health and international development will have to slash budgets by an eye-watering 25 per cent.

Large capital projects which have yet to win a legally binding government commitment, like both these Leeds transport schemes, will be the easiest for the new administration to duck out of.

Labour MPs are bound to aim their fire at the coalition and remind voters that it was their lobbying which persuaded Gordon Brown's government to approve these schemes in the first place.

However, the painful truth is that these projects were given the greenlight far too late in the day.

The boom has spectacularly gone bust and the country is wallowing in debt.

As former Treasury Chief Secretary to the Treasury Liam Bryne pithily pointed out to his predecessor "I'm afraid there is no money".

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Thursday May 13

4.56pm - All this week's "love-in" press conference on the beautifully manicured lawns of the Downing Street garden needed were a few bridesmaids and confetti.

This was a well-attended summer's wedding - or maybe civil ceremony - hastily arranged after a whirlwind romance.

The proud groom and blushing bride pledged fidelity, loyalty and fiscal responsibility.

But will this shot-gun marriage between David Cameron and Nick Clegg actually last?

Mr Cameron may have described the arrangement as a "seismic shift" but it's already clear that this is a marriage of convenience with some pretty big fault lines running through the middle of it.

Vince Cable, the Lib Dem's saintly economics expert, refused to work alongside George Osborne in the Treasury and instead opted for the Business department.

He knows that the Mr Osborne was looking for a Lib Dem human shield to take some of the flak when the government starts making those deep spending cuts.

Step forward the affable, and soon to be nationally hated, David Laws.

Cable, a former member of the Labour Party, is a maverick who will struggle to keep a lid on his true feelings about his new Tory bedfellows.

I would put money on him being the first Lib Dem to flounce out of the cabinet in a huff.

Chris Huhne is apparently delighted to be the government's energy and climate secretary.

However, the Tories have now voiced strong support for a new generation of nuclear power station, a policy which Mr Huhne, in the past, has opposed.

Astonishingly, he is still allowed to still publicly oppose what will be the policy of his own government department.

Both Cameron and Clegg also face a monumental challenge in keeping their respective parties on board.

The right wing of the Tory party now seems to be in a fight for its survival. It would have been no mistake that Cameron referred to his "Liberal/Conservative" coalition on three different occasions.

This is a man who has long described his beliefs as being "liberal conservative," causing consternation among right-wingers who are anything but social liberal.

Like Tony Blair before him, Cameron has been on a mission to remould his party and guarantee that it permanently dominates the fabled centre ground of British politics.

This alliance with the Lib Dems finally allows him to break the grip of the right-wingers and gives him five years to completely side-line them.

It is no more straight forward for Mr Clegg, who leads a party which remains proud of one of its two forefathers - the SDP.

Those on the left of the Lib Dems would have shuddered yesterday at the pictures of Mr Clegg nestled between Ken Clarke and George Osborne around the cabinet table.

It seems churlish to ask this when the happy couple are still on honeymoon - but, really, how long do you give them?

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Monday May 10

6.38pm - The latest news from sources close to Morley MP Ed Balls is that he will not be announcing his intention to stand in the Labour leadership race tonight.

He is on the negotiating team which is starting formal talks with the Liberal Democrats and his team says his efforts are focused on protecting the Labour manifesto as part of those discussions.

I'm told that "other issues" (i.e the Labour leadership) can wait until a later date and that there is no need to rush.

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6.28pm - The pressure is now on David Cameron to give a robust response to Gordon Brown's extraordinary statement.

The outgoing Labour leader has effectively thrown a hand grenade into the middle of the Lib Dem/Tory talks.

The PM has gone over the head of the right-leaning Nick Clegg and appealed directly to the Lib Dem leader's left-leaning MPs.

He has attempted to remove a major stumbling block for those Lib Dem MPs who are naturally more sympathetic to the Labour position but would nevertheless never do a deal with a defeated Mr Brown.

This is now a really dangerous situation for both Mr Clegg and Mr Cameron. There is now even more of an incentive for the Lib Dems to string the Conservatives along.

To prevent this happening will Mr Cameron now set Mr Clegg a tight deadline and make it clear that he is willing to walk away from the negotiating table?

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5.56pm - Just under an hour since Gordon Brown's historic resignation announcement in Downing Street and there are two tantalising questions left unanswered.

First: did he go or was he pushed. Did cabinet minister effectively force Gordon Brown into announcing that he was standing down and if so which cabinet ministers stabbed Caesar?

Second: when will the Labour leadership race start? There are already rumours that David Miliband will make a statement later tonight confirming that he is throwing his hat in the ring. What about Ed Balls?

Leadership contests are all about momentum (what Americans call the "Big Mo") and Mr Balls will have to ensure that he gets out of the traps quickly.

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Sunday May 9

7.41pm - Love him or loathe him, journalist AA Gill has a fantastic turn of phrase.

The following, written in today's Sunday Times, perfectly captures the frenetic atmosphere which has gripped Westminster, and most political hacks, this weekend.

"This is the most delicious moment to be one of the lobby or a columnist.

"No one knows anything, it is all chaos and it's delightful.

"The streets of Westminster glister with the sweat of intrigue and the tears of disappointment."

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3.18pm - As the dust settles on Friday's election results, it's fascinating how important incumbency appeared to be in deciding the outcome of individual seats in West Yorkshire.

The amount of money thrown at seats by the Conservatives seems to have been less significant than the personal qualities and recognition factor of the local candidates.

Labour was swept away in both Pudsey and Elmet & Rothwell, where the party had selected two relatively unknown candidates.

Sources in the party believe that former MPs Paul Truswell and Colin Burgon would have stood a good chance of resisting the Tory tide.

Pudsey was particularly badly handled by Labour. Jamie Hanley was a hardworking candidate but he was only selected in November (five months after Truswell announced his resignation).There was simply not enough time for him to get around the constituency.

In contrast, Fabian Hamilton easily survived in Leeds North East, as did Mike Wood in Batley & Spen. Both were defending seats which were top Tory targets and both were completely out-spent by their opponents. However, both are also strong community campaigners and well known in their constituencies.

Incumbency was also crucial for the Lib Dem fortunes in the region. Greg Mulholland worked his seat hard during the last five years and his efforts were rewarded with a 9,000 majority. In Harrogate, Claire Kelley was unable to defend the large majority left to her by the retiring MP Phil Willis.

The rule stacks up further afield: newly selected Labour candidates in Colne Valley and Calder Valley were defeated, yet Halifax's well known Labour MP Linda Riordan surprisingly survived.

However, the exception is Dewsbury, where government minister Shahid Malik was ousted. However, his majority was always smaller and his decision to claim a massage chair and home cinema system on his taxpayer-funded expenses was always going to hinder his chances.

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Monday May 3

2.27pm - With only three days to go until polling day, this election is on course to be the most unpredictable in a lifetime.

I thought I'd better just blog my thoughts on the very different outcomes which could take place in the early hours of Friday morning or unfold over this weekend

The Labour meltdown...

Labour could be on course for its most disastrous election showing since 1918 and face the prospect of coming third in the popular vote.

One opinion poll last week showed Labour support had crashed to 24 per cent following the Prime Minister's 'bigot' gaffe.

This would mean that Labour could perform worse than Michael Foot did in 1983's wipeout, when he polled 27 per cent of the vote.

Perversely, Labour could perform that badly and still end up with more than 200 seats and deny the Conservatives an outright majority.

Gordon Brown's political career would, however, be over.

The Conservatives win outright

Most polls are still predicting a hung Parliament but one over the weekend showed the Tories winning a wafer thin majority of four seats.

This, however, would be an highly unstable government with every controversial Commons vote signalling a potential government defeat.

The Conservatives run a minority administration

A projection by political website PoliticsHome, which incorporates polls published in yesterday's newspapers, has the Conservatives with 297 seats, Labour on 225 and the Lib Dems on 96.

This would mean the Conservatives would be 28 seats short of a majority.

Such a shortfall could result in David Cameron running minority government.

However, with tough choices to be made over public spending, the Tory leader might feel that he needs to call a second election this year to get a bigger mandate.

The Conservatives and Liberal Democrats do a deal

If he lacks an overall majority, one option for David Cameron would be to make a deal with the Liberal Democrats. However, the Conservatives would never accept the Lib Dem demand for major voting reform and this could be an insurmountable stumbling block.

Labour and the Lib Dems do a deal.

Convention dictates that in the event of a hung parliament, the sitting Prime Minister is given the first chance to form a government.

If Labour finishes second in the popular vote and have held on to enough seats, then maybe Nick Clegg and Vince Cable could be persuaded to join the cabinet.

It is likely, however, that the Lib Dem's would demand Gordon Brown's resignation as the price of such a deal.

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Sunday May 2

9.21am - Children's Secretary Ed Balls has said he is "shocked" at the way the Conservatives have responded to claims that the Wakefield Tory candidate paid a nanny 2.50 an hour.

Father-of-three Alex Story said he paid an adult nanny 6 per hour to look after his children, and that a girl who was shadowing her had been paid about 5 "pocket money" for about two hours.

He stressed the money was to cover her expenses "but she wasn't actually working."

The former Olympic rower said the claims against him were "absolutely outrageous" and a product of Labour's fear of losing the Wakefield seat.

Tory HQ in London issued a statement to the YEP, which read: "Mr Story had child care help on a trial basis for two weeks from someone who has herself acknowledged that she was self-employed, and therefore the minimum wage did not apply in this situation."

However, Ed Balls has now waded into the row saying: "There is a moral issue as well.

"The idea you can squirm out by saying 'well it's OK you can pay 2.50 an hour so long as we have a different form of tax status'.

"If that's the line I would be shocked and appalled.

"It's not like Alex Story lives in Wakefield – his house is in East London.

"The going rate for somebody in child care is not half the minimum wage - I would have thought it is closer to twice the minimum wage or more than that."

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8.39am - Ed Balls engaged in a bit of covert sledging during a public hustings event in Morley.

Standing on a soapbox next to his Conservative opponent, Antony Clavert, the Schools Secretary kept attempting to unsettle his opponent while he was speaking.

At one point, when Mr Calvert was speaking about immigration, Mr Balls whispered "shameful, shameful."

He was also seen to whisper "you need to calm down, you're doing yourself no favours" after Mr Calvert stoked the crowd with a passionate answer.

The Conservative candidate was not put off by the gamesmanship and gave as good as he got.

"Calm down? I'm trying to win an election mate," he whispered back.

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Thursday April 29

5.48pm - As well as a vivid insight into Gordon Brown's flawed character, the PM's "bigot" gaffe has also highlighted the disconnection between Labour's cabinet ministers and the party's traditional supporters.

For years immigration has been a major issue in Labour's northern heartlands.

I've lost count of the number of people I've talked to in marginal Labour seats in West Yorkshire during the last fortnight who have listed immigration after the economy as the issue which most concerns them.

The response of cabinet ministers to most questions about immigration is to praise the newly introduced points-based system while also pointing out how many people from the UK work abroad.

Gordon Brown proved in his conversation with Mrs Duffy that people's fears and concerns about immigration can be allayed when the argument is put coherently and the policies are explained (pity he then undid his good work by slagging her off behind her back).

But politicians from all parties would prefer not to make their arguments on this politically dangerous issue.

Memories are still fresh at the backlash prompted by Michael Howard's decision to make immigration a major campaigning issue for the Conservatives in 2005.

The three main parties believe that to talk about immigration is to risk all other policies being drowned out.

William Hague yesterday admitted as much today when he told me: "We have decided that if that is forefront in our campaign we don't get out other messages across."

He is probably right.

But Labour's problem is that some of its supporters desperately want to hear politicians discussing it.

And their failure to do so softens and weakens the party's vote at exactly the same time that other factors - like the recession, the Lib Dem surge and a dislike of Gordon Brown - are also having an impact.

This all means that, whatever the result on polling day, after the election Labour will have to find a way of reconnecting with its traditional base.

Which in turn poses interesting questions about who would be the right leader to succeed Gordon Brown.

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Monday April 26

11.53am - David Cameron's battle-bus is hard to miss.

It has been completely coated in the blue, red and green Conservative livery and has an enormous "Vote for Change" banner running down its side.

I was yesterday invited on board for a ten minute interview with the Conservative leader after a rally with parents in Batley & Spen.

The term battle-bus doesn't quite do the Cameron juggernaut justice - this is a swanky executive coach.

The seats are black leather throughout with generous leg-room. Five TV screens were showing a live Premiership match and those bored of the football could surf the internet courtesy of the coach's wireless network.

The assorted gaggle of reporters and photographers were kept refreshed from a large wicker basket of snacks which sat next to a microwave oven, coffee machine and fridge.

After almost three punishing weeks of touring the country, the young, casually dressed, team of Conservative press officers have started handing out bottles of beer in the evening to lift the sprits of the flagging photographers.

At the back of the coach is a separate compartment for the Conservative leader to meet his advisers and conduct interviews with journalists.

Amid the bustle and din of the campaign trail, this is a zone of relative quiet where Mr Cameron can relax on a semi-circle of leather sofas arranged under a large plasma TV screen.

Some of his aides have christened it the "love pod", although Mr Cameron and his press secretary Gabby Bertin looked as if they wished that tit-bit had not become public knowledge.

After a round of regional interviews, the coach, which was heading to Stockton-on-Tees in the North East, stopped in a lay-by and myself and another Leeds-based journalist were transferred to a car which took us back to the rally site in Birkenshaw where we had parked.

The bus pulled off a torturous five point turn and headed back towards the M1 and the campaign trail.

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9.50am - The Tories made major changes to the positions of their pieces around the chess board this weekend.

David Cameron used an interview with the YEP to confirm that his party is now targeting a batch of extra Labour seats with relatively large majorities.

The list of around 20 constituencies include Batley & Spen, where the Conservative attended a rally on Sunday, and Morley and Outwood, which is being contested by Schools Secretary Ed Balls.

The Conservatives believe the Lib Dems have made a major tactical error in not launching meaningful campaigns in these seats.

Nick Clegg's party have restricted their campaigning resources to seats like Leeds North West and Harrogate & Knaresborough, which means they are not able to make the most of their remarkable opinion poll surge in other Yorkshire constituencies where the Labour vote may be faltering.

The YEP highlighted the Lib Dem blind-spot in Morley earlier in the campaign when we revealed an internal party email from the party's candidate James Monaghan in which he admitted "we are not running a campaign in Morley and Outwood as we are focusing our efforts in Leeds North West".

The Tories have sensed an opportunity: if the Lib Dems are not going to campaign for votes in these seats, the Conservatives will.

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Friday April 22

09.56am - Labour campaigners in Yorkshire gathered at the trendy Oracle bar in Leeds last night to watch the second Prime Ministerial debate.

It was something of a New Labour choice: soft furnishings, flickering candles, the chinking of wine glasses and a huge wall hanging of a reclining Claudia Schiffer.

A fridge behind one of the three TVs set up in the upper room of the bar was full of Moet Champagne.

Harehills Labour club it wasn't.

The star guest of the night was comedian Eddie Izzard who was tasked with boosting the morale of weary Labour activists who are currently fighting an up-hill battle.

Few gathered there last night would have believed two weeks ago that Labour would be trailing a dismal third in some opinion polls.

Eddie Izzard did a brief introduction before taking his front row seat next to Leeds Central MP Hilary Benn.

For much of the debate the mood was subdued. The odd burst of applause erupted when Gordon Brown landed his punches the "Get Real" attack on Nick Clegg's policy to scrap Trident was enthusiastically received.

Most thought their man had improved this week but there was an acknowledgment that Clegg had again performed strongly.

The positive mood was, however, quickly pricked after the debate by the YouGov poll putting Cameron on 36 per cent, Clegg on 32 per cent and Brown on 29 per cent.

Eddie Izzard took the microphone and said the polls were "rubbish" before admitting that he thought 90 minutes of debate was too long.

It needed the internal optimism of Hilary Benn to lift spirits of Labour's foot-soldiers

"I think an hour and a half is great. I'll tell you why, because how often do you see on television senior politicians being able to speak without being endlessly interrupted by journalists.

"I had the chance to hear three politicians argue their case, I thought it was livelier than last week. Frankly, I thought Gordon was great," he said.

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Wednesday April 21

7.28pm - The electoral calculations with three parties slogging it out in our First Past The Post voting system can be mind-boggling.

Other blogs have tonight highlighted an astonishing analysis by Peter Kellner, the YouGov pollster, which shows how the Lib Dems could go on from where they are and form a parliamentary majority.

The electoral system works against the third party when they win around 20 per cent of the vote (one of the reasons they always bang on about introducing proportional representation).

However, should the Lib Dems get 40 per cent support, Kellner reckons they could actually win control of Parliament. This is because they are in second place in a lot of seats across the country.

There is, therefore, a tipping point which would see seats Lib Dems picking up seats everywhere.

The thought of the Lib Dems ever getting to such a tipping point is almost impossible to believe.

But then so is the thought that they would ever get up to 34 per cent in the polls….and that's exactly what has happened.

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Monday April 19

6.53pm - Shadow schools secretary Michael Gove today revealed to students in Leeds that the Tories have set up a team of experts to help the party's frontbenchers get their heads around Twitter.

He was asked by a post-graduate at Leeds Trinity University College whether the party was using social networking during the campaign.

He replied: "We see social networking as a compliment to the variety of different ways that we have of communicating our message.

"You will be aware that the amount of time that people use to consume mainstream media is diminishing, therefore you have to work harder and harder to catch people, where they are working, with messages that are pithy and relate to their lives."

Intriguingly, he then added: "We've set up a team which helps our front rank politicians to use Twitter and to use other social media as a way of getting our message across."

What help exactly does someone need to write a 140 character tweet?

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6.17pm - Labour Party chiefs were sent into a flap today when the party's regional manifesto failed to arrive from the printers in time for its launch at Leeds Metropolitan University's Rose Bowl.

Dozens of copies had to be printed off last minute using the party's own computer printers and given out before the ink had dried.

As a result, journalists and candidates alike were left with stains of red ink on their hands.

The front cover of the "manifesto" had what I think was the symbol of a rising sun (or maybe it was setting) drawn with what looked like Tipp-Ex.

Intriguingly, the manifesto also had three blank pages at the end. Did they run out of ideas or was this an invitation to write your own policy?

To be honest, most of the students who were looking on from the nearby coffee shop would have been able to knock together a better produced document.

It was also notable that, other than the assorted group of hacks and politicians, no "normal" people were invited (heaven forbid).

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Thursday April 15

11.30pm - So, Nick Clegg was the clear winner of tonight's debate.

His performance has made this election race much more interesting and could prove a historic moment for the third party in British politics.

His killer line, and the one which will be remembered, was: "The more they attack each other, the more they sound exactly the same."

His tactic to lump the "two old parties" together cleverly tapped into the public disillusionment, which I referred to in my earlier blog post.

Both the Brown and Cameron camps have cause to be worried.

Brown performed as well as he can, but it still wasn't good enough. In particular, his answers on immigration, law and order and defence equipment were weak and would not have connected with many viewers.

Cameron got his tactics wrong and underperformed. He decided to tone down his natural attacking instinct and tried to appear Prime Ministerial. Instead, he came across as nervous and unsure of himself.

What will be interesting next week is how the Tory and Labour leaders change their strategies to cope with the threat from Nick Clegg.

Will Gordon Brown go out of his way again to highlight areas of agreement with the Lib Dems? Will David Cameron be so meek again?

The opinion polls this weekend will make fascinating reading.

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7.36pm - The first Prime Ministerial debate, which starts in just over an hour, needs to kick-start this lacklustre election.

It might be the tightest race in a generation but the vast majority of the public appear to be oblivious, apathetic and jaded.

Many of those who do care seem to be confused about who to vote for.

Friends keep texting telling me they don't know who to support and, for the first time that I can remember, I would regard my parents as floating voters.

The main parties have already spent millions on their glitzy events and expensive manifestos. The leaders have travelled hundreds of miles as they have criss-crossed the UK's marginal seats. And yet still there is no breakthrough.

After the Westminster expenses scandal and the ravages of the recession, any political utterance is met with suspicion.

A focus group run by the pollster Populus this week found that voters are so cynical about politics that they even question the timing of Samantha Cameron's pregnancy.

Travelling north on the train last night I overheard a fascinating conversation between two businessmen who said they could not make up their mind who to vote for.

One described Gordon Brown as "tired", "knackered" and "dull". Another had been put off by David Cameron's call to arms for people power and a Big Society.

"He was standing there like Barak Obama as if he was the leader of some kind of mass movement, and he simply isn't." he said.

Many pundits thought the expenses scandal would provoke a huge outpouring of political fervour as voters use the opportunity of an election to reshape Parliament.

Instead, the year-long scandal seems to have switched people completely off politics and politicians, who are all regarded as untrustworthy.

The parties should also accept a large portion of blame for the way they have run their campaigns so far.

After months of highlighting the importance of bringing down the government's 169bn deficit, they all but ignored the issue once the election got underway.

The Tories committed the biggest volte face after deciding to use a 6bn cut in spending to block Labour's National Insurance rise.

A conspiracy of silence overshadows the whole campaign.

The parties know that ignoring the deficit during the campaign allows them to dodge questions about which services they would cut after the polling day and whether VAT would have to go up.

But the public are not fools and know when they are being treated with contempt.

Little wonder then that the Populus focus group also found that just 4% think that the parties are being completely honest about their tax plans.

Let's hope we finally get a bit of honest straight talking tonight.

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Wednesday April 14

4.53pm - This week's Grazia (I only buy it during election campaigns, honest) features a series of glamorous photoshoots with parliamentary candidates from the three main parties.

Leeds West candidate Rachel Reeves, 30, takes centre-stage in the Labour picture, wearing a scarlet cocktail dress.

She tells Grazia that her most defining political experience was going to an inner city London state school which had been starved of funding by the Tories.

Meanwhile, Aqila Choudhry, 47, the Lib Dem hopeful for Leeds North East, is pictured with other Liberal candidates but interestingly admits that "throughout my life I have voted Labour".

She says her most defining political experience was "the failure of Labour to listen to the millions who marched against Iraq".

Yet, the million person march against the war took place in February 2003...and there was a General Election two years later.

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4.32pm - There was something slightly strange about David Miliband having a pop at George 'Dubya' Bush today.

The Foreign Secretary criticised Tory leader David Cameron for quoting former US president John F Kennedy.

He said: "The words may be John F Kennedy but the policies are pure George W Bush."

Miliband is a former adviser to Tony Blair and is seen as one of the most ardent "Blairites" in the government.

I can't remember him criticising George Bush in 2003 when Blair was riding the President's coat-tails and dragging the country to war.

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Tuesday April 13

5.48pm - Today's launch of the Tory election manifesto was a significant moment in the campaign.

Firstly, Mr Cameron opened up a key ideological difference between the two parties.

Labour believes in an active state which has a crucial role in making society better. The Tories believe that individuals and communities should be empowered to make their own decisions and drive improvements.

This divide between Labour and the Conservatives has to some extent always existed but Mr Cameron has stuck his neck out decided to make it the central issue of the election.

His party's fortunes now rely on him winning this argument and persuading voters that he is right.

The big second development was the return of "sunshine" to the Tory message.

Last year's Conservative Party conference was all about austerity and tough choices. Cameron and Osborne painted a grim picture of the future which scared the living daylights out of an electorate desperate for good news.

The Tory has got the message that elections are won by optimism and not pessimism. After all, who would vote for a gloomy doomsayer? Hence his declaration today that his manifesto is "unremittingly positive, optimistic and upbeat".

The third development today was that Mr Cameron proved his credentials as a passionate "conviction" politician. He is at his best when he goes off-script,

He answered a question from a Sky journalist with a impressive rhetorical flourish which ended with "Glad I got that off my chest." It was similar to his genuine anger at a recent press conference over what he described as Labour's "lies" in election leaflets.

Whatever you think of his politics and his policies, he does believe in what he says and he articulates it better than nearly any other politician.

Labour chiefs will tonight be more nervous than they were about the outcome of the leaders' TV debate on Thursday.

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Friday April 9

3.14pm - A source who has been out on the election trail in Leeds tells of his surprise at how often the proposed Leeds Arena has been raised with him as an issue by voters.

He claims that many of those who raise it as an issue question whether it is worth the money and how it will actually benefit their community.

Bitter political rows surrounded this scheme earlier in the year, with Tory joint council leader Andrew Carter accusing the Labour government of initially blocking it.

However, since ministers finally gave it the greenlight it has enjoyed all-party support (with the exception of two retiring Labour MPs who grumbled about the cost in private but refused to go public).

It would be fascinating to hear some of the door-step conversations about the arena during this campaign. Will all the candidates be telling voters that they support it?

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09.01am - Sir Michael Caine yesterday added a bit of scene-stealing Hollywood glamour to the General Election campaign.

Winning the endorsement form the Oscar-winning star was quite a coup for Tories.

The star of Zulu, The Italian Job and Get Carter is a national institution.

Was this a turning point after years of Labour hoovering up all of the highest profile 'sleb' backing?

JK Rowling, Patrick Stewart, Sir Alex Ferguson, Eddie Izzard and Lily Allen have previously given Brown their backing - but have so far been quiet in this campaign.

The Conservatives will no doubt be relieved. Until Sir Michael popped up, Mr Cameron was relying on Bill Roache from Coronation Street, Tony Hadley of Spandau Ballet, ex-champion jockey Richard Dunwoody and - drumroll - I'm A Celebrity's David Van Day (ex-Bucks Fizz front-man).

Even the Liberal Democrats were doing better with Colin Firth, Brian Eno and Daniel Radcliffe (aka Harry Potter).

Of course, Sir Michael's support for the Tories is not really a surprise.

After last year's budget he was quoted as saying that if tax rose above 50% he would go back to America.

"We've got three and a half million layabouts laying about on benefits and I'm 76 getting up at six o'clock in the morning to go to work to keep them," he said.

Despite his huge wealth, he still reminds of us of a section of the working class which was supported Margaret Thatcher's no-nonsense brand of Conservatism.

Nevertheless, celebrity backing will only get you so far - it might make a youthful party leader appear as if he is riding a wave of popularity but it can also look pretty cheesy.

It also puts a politician's often scant knowledge of popular culture in the spotlight.

The Miliband brothers messed up last week when they presented David Cameron as Ashes to Ashes detective Gene Hunt (the Tories adopted the poster but used a much funnier slogan).

And Lord Mandelson came unstuck when he tried to respond to Nick Clegg's claim that an offer from Labour concerning electoral reform was like getting an offer from Del Boy.

A flummoxed Business Secretary said: "Look..look…Del Boy, whoever it is, whoever he would like to identify, has put electoral reform on the table."

Del Boy drawing up proposals for voting reform? As Sir Michael might say - not a lot of people know that.

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Wednesday April 7

10.35am - Gordon Brown's choice of transport on day one of the general election campaign was meant to convey a very deliberate message.

In opting to travel in a standard class carriage on the high speed rail service to the historic Medway town of Rochester, the PM was drawing a contrast with David Cameron and his fancy helicopters and chartered aircraft.

This was the the self-confessed "middle-class" man from an "ordinary home" off to meet voters in work canteens and supermarket aisles.

Reality is, of course, always slightly different from the presentation.

The PM's bubble of security officers and campaign aides swept through St Pancras station where gaggles of Labour students had assembled to clap, cheer and look enthusiastic.

Gordon Brown and his stylish wife were ushered into one of the two carriages which had been reserved exclusively for the Labour team (a passenger later bustled through saying that she had been asked to move along the train).

A Sky camera crew, a reporter from the Guardian and myself sat in the next door carriage as photographers were invited on board to picture Gordon and Sarah, who attempted to look relaxed in their rigid, standard class seats.

Five minutes into the journey and I was invited to join the PM's bubble.

Sarah, the high-priestess of Twitter, had already fired up her netbook and was waiting for it to pick up a wireless reception. She moved over to another seat and tapped away on her keyboard while the interview took place.

"It must be great to be finally up and running?", I asked. "Yes, it's great" the Prime Minister replied. Small talk was obviously not really on the cards.

Leaning against the window, Mr Brown appeared pretty relaxed, although he sounded a bit hoarse and finished a few questions with a rasping cough.

His aides had prepared a two page briefing note on Leeds and West Yorkshire, which the PM referred to after every question.

Facts, statistic and long lists of Labour 'achievements' peppered every answer, sometimes with little relation to the questions.

He answered one question about transport spending in Leeds by hailing the opening two years ago of the pioneering cancer centre at St James's hospital (before then reading out pre-prepared lines about high speed rail).

The only laughter came when I suggested that the Tories are hoping to decapitate his favourite cabinet minister, Normanton MP Ed Balls.

He said his ally always lets him know "what Yorkshire needs" before adding: "Ed Balls will fight for every single vote."

After ten minutes, Mr Brown's chief press officer signalled that our time was up. I was politely guided out of the bubble.

Back in the next door carriage Nijole Kelly, a semi-retired teacher, was bemused to learn that the Prime Minister was travelling on the same train.

"Are you the man from Yorkshire," she asked? She admitted she probably will vote Labour "even though Gordon Brown has had such bad press with his temper".

Outside Rochester station a small crowd gathered as the Browns dodged BBC Newsnight's Political Editor on the way to a waiting car.

An elderly couple were bemused to learn that the PM was off to visit the town's branch of Morrison's.

"Well he looks better than he does on TV. Maybe the the Queen has asked him to pop to the shops," the husband joked.

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Thursday April 1

4.24pm - According to the Daily Telegraph, the House of Lords debate on the Parliament's mice infestation (which I've previously written about on this blog) has been picked up by foreign newspapers as an example of British comedy at its finest.

The peers' lengthy discussion about a "mouse helpline" and the preference of Commons rodents for salmon sandwiches has been praised by Twitter users as the "best House of Lords debate ever".

Well, I've just uncovered possibly the second best Hold debate ever.

On March 29, their Lordships debated the scandalous phasing out of Royal Mail bicycles and the impact that replacing them with vans and trolleys will have on reducing carbon dioxide emissions.

Lord Colwyn brought personal experience to the debate when he said: "My Lords, the Minister probably is not aware that the last two times I have been knocked off my bicycle were by GPO vans."

An angry Lord Faulkner claimed that the redundant cycles could not even be handed over to charities for use in Africa "because of heath and safety fears there" (a point vigorously denied by the government minister, Lord Hunt).

But the most brilliantly irrelevant intervention came from Lord Brooke of Sutton Mandeville.

He said: "My Lords, is the minister aware that the reason Crown Post Offices in central London were so close together up to a quarter of a century ago was because you had to allow for the ability of a small boy on a bicycle to deliver a telegram, which occurred so frequently in the narratives of Mr Sherlock Holmes?"

A baffled Lord Hunt replied: "My Lords, I am delighted that the noble Lord has solved that mystery for us."

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Tuesday March 30

4.14pm - Ed Balls was on mischief-making form when he talked to regional reporters in Westminster earlier today.

He revealed that a number of Tory MPs have approached him and his schools minister Vernon Coaker to implore them to include their councils in the government's school rebuilding programme before the election is called.

They, apparently, told him that they were "really worried" that if David Cameron was to become PM he would slash the Building Schools for the Future scheme.

Intriguing, but asked to name names and the cabinet minister went all coy, saying: "That would be a gross breach of parliamentary etiquette."

And pressed on how many Tory MPs had made such an astonishing request, he would only say "certainly more than one or two, for both of us."

He also stirred the pot on when his mentor Gordon Brown might call the General Election.

Most pundits think Brown will go to the Palace next Tuesday. However, the fly in the ointment is that the country's transport network could be crippled by a national rail strike.

Asked about this, the Normanton MP replied: "I don't think the national rail strike is a factor in when he calls the election at all."

Does this mean Labour is not concerned about calling the election on the same day as the strike, or is it a hint that Mr Brown could be travelling to Buck House this week?

What a tease!

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09.42am - Vince Cable won the highest public ratings after Channel Four's Ask The Chancellor's debate last night - but then he had it the easiest.

Standing in the middle between Darling and Osborne, he could play up the the public feeling of "plague on both your houses". It also helps that he is naturally the wittiest of the three.

What I thought was more interesting though was that they all agreed that they would cut spending more savagely than Margaret Thatcher.

Have the three parties ever gone into an election with such pessimistic prescription for the future?

Osborne scored the biggest single hit when he forced a flapping Darling to admit that the government was rowing back on its 10% death tax plans.

Darling, however, came across pretty well and was convincing in his criticism of Osborne's planed to block the planned NI rise.

Overall, it was occasionally sparky, especially when Darling and Cable combined to attack Osborne.

But there were no real fireworks, and I bet Channel Four lost quite a lot of viewers by half time.

Nevertheless, it was a serious debate for what is a pretty serious economic situation and voters will now have a lot more information with which to make their choice in five weeks time.

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Monday March 29

6.58pm - A very curious written answer by culture minister Gerry Sutcliffe has revealed how eight pieces from the Government Art Collection are currently "missing".

Four pieces of art, valued collectively at 5,600, have disappeared from the British High Commission in Nigeria and one, ironically, from the Royal Courts of Justice.

Two government departments are also missing paintings.

Apparently, the Department for Children, Schools and Families, which is run by Normanton MP Ed Balls, is missing a 250 print of "The Cathedral Church of St Peter in Chichester" by Leonard Knyff. It went walk-about in March 2009.

Meanwhile, Leeds Central MP Hilary Benn's DEFRA is missing two prints of W.P Frith paintings - 'The Railway Station' and 'Derby Day' - which are valued at 600 each. They went missing a month after the DCSF print vanished.

Could there be a light-fingered art thief at work in Whitehall?

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Friday March 26

4.37pm - Today's ComRes poll will be setting off panic alarms all over Tory HQ.

Some 33% of those questioned for BBC2's The Daily Politics said they trusted the PM and Chancellor most to steer Britain's economy through the downturn, against 27% favouring David Cameron and George Osborne.

The last time pollsters ComRes asked the same question in a survey for the programme in December, the Tory team were in the lead by 33% to 26%.

If this poll is accurate, the message from voters seems to be: 'better the devil you know'.

It's no coincidence that during the last fortnight David Cameron has been a lot more aggressive (he would say passionate) in his tone. This week's press conference saw the Tory leader banging the lectern and attacking Labour ministers as "appalling people".

It's as if his focus group junkies are telling him to toughen up.

You can imagine his worried advisers saying: "Look, people don't like Brown but they grudgingly respect him because he is strong. They like you a bit more but they think you are weak. It's time to toughen up, old chap."

Unfortunately, such advice isn't helping. When Cameron turns on the macho routine, he can't help but sound even more shrill and posh.

Not only that, but he exposes a hectoring arrogance which plays into the whole 'Eton-educated-born-to rule' thing.

What currently eludes him is an aura statesmanship, which is crucial if voters are going to trust him. Trust is not normally quickly won...and Mr Cameron now has less than six weeks before polling day.

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08.44am - "Let cider be the spice o' loife! Arr!"

Or so sang The Wurzels in their novelty hit 'I'm A Cider Drinker'.

Now that anthem to downing scrumpy and falling in ponds has become the rallying cry from those drinkers fed up of repeatedly being clobbered by the Chancellor's red box.

In an otherwise lacklustre budget, Alistair Darling announced a whopping 10 per cent hike in cider tax, adding 10–20p to the average pint. An additional 2 per litre was also slapped on super-strength ciders.

The increases were partly a measure to curb the alarming tendency of young binge drinkers and alcoholics to gulp dangerous quantities of industrial strength white cider.

The Treasury no doubt also had a beady eye on the phenomenal growth in cider sales during recent years (driven by clever marketing campaigns persuading young trendy-types to drink it with ice).

But two days later and it's clear that government bean-counters hugely underestimated the scale of the likely backlash from cider drinkers.

A group called "LEAVE OUR CIDER ALONE!" attracted 13,343 members in fewer than 24 hours, suggesting it is the budget measure most likely to be remembered by voters

It was the most discussed tax announcement on Twitter, with site Tweetminster recording 185 original Tweets about cider on Budget Day compared to 153 about stamp duty and only eight about inheritance tax.

A campaign is now under way to take The Wurzels to the top of the charts, with the West Country group pledging to donate profits from sales of their song to charity.

Mr Darling told the Commons there was a "long-standing anomaly" which meant cider had been under-taxed in comparison to other alcoholic drinks.

But one of the unintended consequences of the scrumpy tax could be that farm house cider-makers and orchards are forced out of business.

And it has also stirred a lobby which former Tory Chancellor Ken Clarke knew was best left well alone.

He said: "When I was Chancellor there was sort of an understanding that cider was a British drink and such a tradition that you just didn't do much about it. I have a recollection that I narrowed the gap a little bit, but I had no desire to upset the lobby for what was a much-loved industry with a big base."

Mr Darling noted in Cabinet this week that a North Korean finance minister has just been executed by firing squad for being economically incompetent.

Our Chancellor should perhaps bear this in mind and watch out for Wurzels bearing pitchforks.

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Wednesday March 24

09.32am - Chancellor Alistair Darling has been keen to stress that today's budget will be "workmanlike" and not a "Christmas tree" of pre-election give-aways.

This seems a tad disingenuous given the head-spinning number of spending pledges and commitments made by the government for our region during recent weeks.

We have had the blueprint for a 30bn High Speed rail network, the approval of a 250m trolley bus scheme in Leeds, the greenlight for a new entrance at Leeds train station, a 6m grant handed to Ferrybridge power station, a plan to create 100,000 jobs in low-carbon industries and millions more pounds to get stalled building projects underway.

Given the dire state of the public finances, this flurry of cheque-writing in a key election battleground is both remarkable and utterly cynical.

Fingers crossed there will be a second election later this year - who knows how many more goodies would be passed our way.

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Tuesday March 23

09.28am - Leeds Central MP and Environment Secretary Hilary Benn must this morning be thinking 'with friends like these, who needs enemies?'

In one of his boasts caught on camera by an undercover Channel 4 Dispatches reporter, former cabinet minister Stephen Byers claims that he stepped in on behalf of supermarket giant Tesco to hobble Mr Benn's plans to introduce new food labelling rules.

Byers said: "So you ring Peter Mandelson and say, 'Peter, did you know what Hilary Benn's about to do?

'He's about to introduce a regulation which is going to have this huge nightmare in every supermarket.'"

As a result, Byers claimed, "Peter got it delayed and then got it amended."

Peter Mandelson last night categorically denied that Byers had contacted him about the food labelling issue and said his claims were "untrue" and "unfounded".

Tesco also said that it had not spoken to Byers about food labelling, describing his claims as "completely fictitious". Even Byers issued a statement saying he exaggerated his claims and "overstated" his influence.

Nevertheless, Hilary Benn must today be fuming that someone on his own side of the Commons would openly brag about trying to scupper one of his department's key policies.

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Wednesday March 10

09.41am -

Communities and Local Government is fast gaining a reputation as Whitehall's most dysfunctional department.

We report in tonight's YEP how the department is unable to say how many jobs have been created by the government's 1.1bn coalfield regeneration scheme.

It cannot even say how many businesses are based on former pit sites or or how many people have benefited from the 13-year investment.

Meanwhile, the CLG's policy of streamlining England's 46 local control rooms into nine centres continues to swallow up ever greater sums of taxpayers' cash.

(It was recently disclosed that the new control centre at Wakefield's Paragon Business Park, which is not due to become operational until July 2012, is standing empty at a cost of 5,000 each day.)

The department last year went through a completely pointless rebranding exercise. A total of 24,765 was spent changing the Department for Communities and Local Government (DCLG) into simply Communities and Local Government (which confusingly now sounds like a quango or pressure group, rather than a government department).

As if this wasn't all bad enough, civil war recently broke out between the Secretary of State John Denham and his permanent secretary Peter Housden over plans to create a new unitary authority in the South West.

Civil servants at the department are said to be demoralised and relations between ministers are believed to be increasingly tense. The joke among Whitehall-watchers is that CLG makes even Downing Street look like an appealing place to work.

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Tuesday March 9

3.20pm - An MP has just run me through how he thinks the key election dates will pan out over the next couple of months.

The widespread assumption is that Budget Day will be on March 24.

This MP (a former minister) thinks Gordon Brown will then announce the date of the election (which will be May 6) in the week before the Easter weekend (the most likely day for the announcement would be March 31, as the PM wouldn't want to call it on April Fools' Day).

The election campaign would effectively be underway over Easter but MPs would still come back to Westminster on April 6, 7 and 8 to finish up the government's remaining legislation (the period known as the 'wash up').

Parliament would then be dissolved on Thursday April 8 and the four week campaign-proper would be underway. It's obviously a bit of a stab in the dark but it seems to be a pretty reasonable guess.

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Thursday March 4

2.56pm - I've noted on this blog before the growing calls for a resident Parliamentary cat to rid the historic Palace of Westminster of its mice infestation.

It has now emerged that a mouse hotline has been established for people to report sightings and the issue has even been debated on the floor of the House of Lords.

Baroness Finlay of Llandaff recalled how a previous Westminster cat caught up to 60 mice a night.

"The corpses were then swept up in the morning," she told her fellow peers.

She went on to warn of the consequences of mice eating through cables, saying: "it would be a tragedy for this beautiful Palace to burn down for lack of a cat."

Her appeal, however, did not persuade the Chairman of Committees, Lord Brabazon of Tara (yes, he is a real person), who warned that a hit squad of cats would be as much bother as the mice.

He replied: "...there would be nothing to keep them where they are needed or stop them walking around the House on desks in offices or on tables in restaurants and bars - and maybe even the Chamber itself."

Controversially, he then went on to blame the refined lunching tastes of their lordships for encouraging the vermin.

"If you were a mouse, you would rather eat the crumbs of a smoked salmon sandwich than the bait," he said.

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Thursday February 25

5.03pm - Leeds East MP George Mudie has scotched rumours that he is to stand down at the General Election.

There was a growing feeling that the 65-year-old was preparing to follow in the footsteps of fellow Labour MPs Paul Truswell (Pudsey) Colin Burgon (Elmet), Colin Challen (Morley) and John Battle (Leeds West) and quit Westminster.

However, he today made it clear that he does intend to fight again for the seat (which currently has whopping 14,131 Labour majority).

He told me: "I am selected and will be contesting the election because it is a great honour to represent the people of East Leeds."

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Tuesday 23 February

6.45pm - Business Secretary Lord Mandelson today hosted a summit at his Whitehall department to hail the work of regional quangos during the recession.

The heads of the country's regional development agencies, including the chairman of Yorkshire Forward, travelled down to London to hear how essential they are in promoting the "Going for Growth" policy agenda (nothing to do with the Henry Kelly TV gameshow).

Despite being an official government event, there was the distinct whiff of party politics about the whole thing.

The Tories want to abolish RDAs because of they loath regional government, however, many businesses in Yorkshire are quite complementary about Yorkshire Forward's performance and would prefer it be saved from the chop.

Lord Mandelson seems to have spotted a good opportunity and is praising RDAs to the rafters, while reminding business leaders that the Tories would axe them.

However, this love affair with regional quangos is hard to square with the fact that Yorkshire Forward has had its budget raided by the government this year to the tune of 30 million. Further, and deeper, spending cuts are coming down the track.

This was Lord Mandelson's reaction when I asked him why, if Yorkshire Forward is so great, his government is cutting its funding.

"You may not have noticed that the public purse is just feeling a little squeezed.

"When you have had a hole in your balance sheet blown by the sort of crisis we have in the banks, it is going to make a difference."

Perhaps more surprising, was his reply when asked about the undemocratic nature of RDAs (they make major local decisions yet their boards are appointed by ministers in London).

"Of course they are accountable because the regional media ensures that they are.

"But sometimes you have got to get on with the job and when you are faced with the sorts of challenges that your region is, it is better to have a regional development agency, working with central government and local authorities but also able to get on with the job, deliver the decisions, deliver the business backing that people need sooner rather than later," he told me.

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Friday February 19

4.52pm - Just to update my last post......Labour are calling their high profile launch this weekend "Operation Fightback".

Party sources say Labour's footsoldiers will fight the election "street by street, hospital by hospital, school by school, Children's Centre by Children's Centre and workplace by workplace".

Those same sources say that Gordon Brown will declare that although behind in the polls and "clearly the underdog" his party can still win the General Election.

Labour activists in West Yorkshire are being sent Operation Fightback packs, which include magazines, stickers and "key doorstep messages for campaigning".

The four campaign themes for the election will be: securing the recovery; supporting new industries and future jobs; reducing the deficit while protecting and not cutting frontline services and standing "up for the many not the few".

Sources have also confirmed that the campaign's slogan will be unveiled tomorrow.

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2.17pm - Hold on to your hats - this weekend is going to be the first big political weekend of the election campaign (OK, it hasn't officially been called yet, but it might as well have been).

Gordon Brown will fire the starting gun tomorrow with a major speech laying out Labour's four key pledges to voters. It is said that he will also unveil the party's campaign slogan.

Cabinet ministers have already fanned out across the country and will be holding their own electioneering events to run alongside the PM's speech.

Critics say the aim is to overshadow another big political story which will break on Sunday, when the Observer starts serialising a new book on Gordon Brown by well-respected journalist Andrew Rawnsley.

Rawnsley's previous book, Servants of the People, lifted the lid on the simmering tensions and jealousies at the heart of the New Labour project. His new title is likely to be crammed with explosive stories of Prime Ministerial temper tantrums.

The shockwaves of this weekend are likely to rumble on for some time.

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Wednesday February 17

5.23pm - Tally Ho! Hilary Benn is leading the pack of Labour MPs seeking to embarrass the Tory Party over its addiction with fox hunting.

The Leeds Central MP and Environment Secretary has organised a mass letter to David Cameron, calling for the Conservative leader drop proposals to abolish the hunting ban and make clear if he also plans to repeal the ban on stag hunting and hare-coursing.

The letter has apparently already attracted 2,000 signatures in under 24 hours.

Labour spin-doctors have sent out a press release which highlights how Mr Benn's opposite number on the Tory frontbench, Nick Herbert, was master and huntsman of the Newmarket Beagles for 14 seasons.

Mr Benn is quoted as saying: "David Cameron's plan to repeal the hunting ban shows that beneath the gloss the Tories haven't changed.

"Five years ago, Labour banned fox hunting, stag hunting and hare coursing because there is no place for animal cruelty in a modern, civilised society. Making animals tear each other apart is cruelty, not sport."

Drink in the nostalgia, it's just like 1997 all over again.

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Tuesday February 16

3.59pm - It's official: the Commons authorities have hoisted up the white flag and abandoned their campaign to banish mice from the Palace of Westminster

With its numerous crooks and crannies, the 140-year-old Palace is the perfect home for furry rodents.

I got a shock a few years back when a plucky mouse ran out from under my desk in the press gallery while I was working at my computer.

Pendle MP Gordon Prentice recently called for the Commons to introduce a resident cat after he spotted a mouse scurrying around in the MPs' tearoom.

He said: "The mouse was in the tearoom for a good 10 minutes. Darting here and there. Bold as brass.

"There are traps all over the place but they are clearly ineffective."

"A cat in the tearoom would have a very enjoyable life."

However, the House of Commons Commission, which runs the Palace, has rejected his suggestion.

The Commission's spokesman Nick Harvey MP has made clear that even the most cunning and ravenous of moggies would fail to get on top of the problem.

He said: "The clear advice we have is that all effective measures possible are being taken, but that in a building such as the Palace, pests such as mice can only be controlled rather than eradicated."

Jerry always was smart than Tom.

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Monday February 15

5.34pm - Ladbrokes has started publishing seat-by-seat betting odds for this year's General Election - and they confirm West Yorkshire's status as a key battleground

Despite the narrowing in the polls, the bookies still expect the Tories to win Elmet & Rothwell and Pudsey. In both seats the odds on a Tory victory are 1/3, while a Labour win is priced at 2/1.

Greg Mulholland is currently expected to retain Leeds North West for the Lib Dems. His odds on survival are 4/6. The Tories chances of victory currently stand at 7/4 and Labour's at 6/1.

Meanwhile, Ed Balls is still seen as having a big enough notional majority to fend off the Tory challenge in Morley and Outwood - Ladbrokes are offering odds of 2/5 that he will survive and 7/4 that he will lose to the Conservatives.

Other seats are really tight. The bookies are offering odds of 8/11 on the Tories taking Leeds North East, while Labour is at evens. That seems to be the bookmaker throwing up his hands saying "it's too close to call".

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5.10pm - Today is probably the first of the "phoney election campaign" in which the Tories have gone out of their way to target voters in Labour's northern heartlands.

The pledge to let public sector workers take charge of key health and education services is an attempt to repeat Thatcher's "right to buy" policy, which led to a generation of working class and lower middle class voters turning to the Conservatives.

The new policy was unveiled alongside a poster campaign designed to appeal to voters who previously backed Labour.

The images, which will be on billboards across the UK from today, depict three individuals explaining why concerns over the economy and social breakdown have made them opt to vote Conservative.

However, despite their big push, it doesn't feel as if the Tories have really pulled it off today.

They were derailed early on after it emerged that a Conservative document claimed that the conception rate among under-18 girls in the 10 most disadvantaged areas was 54 per cent. The real figure was 54 per 1,000.

Labour pointed out that even that figure had fallen from 60 per 1,000 in 1998.

This is damaging because it once again opens the Conservatives up to the accusation of being "out of touch" with deprived areas of the country.

Senior Tories seem all too willing to seize on an appalling crime or depressing social statistic and use it as evidence of a "broken society".

The anger provoked by David Cameron's remarks about the Shannon Matthews case back in December 2008 springs to mind.

The Tory leader described the area where Karen Matthews lived in Dewsbury Moor as "an estate where decency fights a losing battle against degradation and despair" and "a community whose pillars are crime, unemployment and addiction".

To his credit, he later visited the Moorside estate and admitted that he had "overreacted".

Nevertheless, it is probably going to take more than a complex policy about public sector co-operatives and a few posters to persuade people that the Tory leadership understands what it is like to live in areas where people for so long have refused to give them their vote.

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Tuesday February 9

5.57pm - Dewsbury MP and Fire Minister Shahid Malik was given a rough time when he appeared before the Commons Local Government Select Committee yesterday.

Mr Malik was answering questions on the long-delayed and hugely over-budget policy of establishing nine new regional fire control centres.

First, committee chairman Dr Phyllis Starkey revealed that Mr Malik's boss John Denham, had refused to hand over crucial documents demanded by MPs.

In her best impression of a school mistress, Dr Starkey described the situation as "unsatisfactory", before adding icily: "I would have though that members of this committee could be trusted with commercial information."

Mr Malik, who is the eighth fire minister in as many years, then endured a series of forensic questions from Tory MP Sir Paul Beresford about the contracts signed between the government and the main contractor for the control rooms.

The exchange ended with Sir Paul saying: "There is an Australian phrase...you don't know if you're Arthur or Martha, do you minister?"

Mr Malik, who appeared stumped at the bizarre comment, replied: "Yeah, it's well known in Lancashire and Yorkshire as well."

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Monday February 8

3.56pm - There is only one story in town today - the Prime Minister's banana-eating habits.

According to The Sun today, Mr Brown is "scoffing" up to nine bananas a day as he tries to shape up for the General Election.

Sarah Brown has apparently urged her husband to eat more fruit instead of his normal fix of three KitKats a day.

The Prime Minister's Official Spokesman was tackled on the issue at a briefing this morning.

Quizzed on how many bananas the PM was eating, the spokesman refused to be drawn, saying that it was simply "speculation".

But he added: "The Prime Minister has always taken the view that a balanced diet is very important.

"Portions of fruit and veg taken on a daily basis can only lead to good health and radiance."

It was pointed out that eating nine bananas a day is not exactly a balanced diet.

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Thursday February 4

5.23pm - Engulfed by yet another expenses firestorm, MPs abandoned any pretence of being legislators today, choosing instead to go into hiding.

The Palace of Westminster was like a ghost town and the Commons, remarkably, simply packed up at 3.11pm.

According to the Order Paper, the Commons should have been debating two pieces of tax legislation until 6.00pm.

MPs were then due to hold an adjournment debate on the East Coast Mainline until 6.30pm.

However, not enough bothered to turn up to allow the debates to continue.

Business finished and those few who had not done so already, scarpered off home.

The working week for MPs seems to be getting shorter and shorter.

Many will turn up at Westminster late on a Monday and then leave on Thursday morning, or, if they are lucky, Wednesday night.

Even on Tuesdays and Wednesdays the attendance in the Commons can be abysmal.

Yesterday, Defence Secretary Bob Ainsworth made a Commons statement on the future of the armed forces (kind of important, wouldn't you think?)

As usual, an hour was allotted for the statement and subsequent questions.

Within 45 minutes, Labour (which has 349 MPs) had run out of backbenchers wanting to ask questions.

Isn't the country at war? Why could only six Labour MPs find the time to sit through the whole statement and questions?

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Tuesday February 2

09.23am - The Bishop of Ripon and Leeds believes that Gordon Brown's proposals for reforming the voting system do not go far enough.

The Rt Rev John Packer has said that Parliament could learn a few things from the Church of England when it comes to democracy.

Speaking during a little-noticed House of Lords debate, the Bishop highlighted how the vast majority of members of the Church's ruling body, the General Synod, have been elected by proportional representation since 1970.

Gordon Brown is expected today to offer MPs a vote on calling a referendum to ditch the traditional first-past-the-post voting system for Westminster elections in favour of the Alternative Vote system.

AV, as it is known, is seen as an improvement on the current system because it retains the constituency link and ensures MP have the backing of more than 50 per cent of their constituents.

However, it is not regarded as being truly proportional.

In contrast, the Bishop is an advocate of the Single Transferable Vote - which as well as General Synod elections is used in some elections in Scotland and Northern Ireland.

This involves the creation of large multi-member constituencies or regions. Voters number candidates in order of preference. All candidates achieving more than a set quota of first-preference votes are elected, and their votes redistributed.

The Bishop said that the current electoral system only "produced the appearance rather than the reality of democracy".

He added: "I strongly commend STV to your lordships as a proven system to express the democratic will and I hope that there will be a renewal of the determination to introduce it more widely in our national electoral system."

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Friday, January 29

09.19am - You have got to love Ken Clarke.

In an age of political spin and slick presentation, the Hush Puppy-clad Shadow Business Secretary is a joyful aberration.

In his wake follow a retinue of worried press officers, their fingers nervously hovering over the button on their Blackberry which lets HQ know that another one of Ken's hand grenades have gone off.

Clarke, a pro-European, once boasted that he had never even read the Maastricht Treaty, which he so passionately campaigned for.

He seems to still abide by the same detail-skipping philosophy.

He yesterday held a briefing with regional journalists in which he confirmed what most had suspected for sometime - that the Tory policy on regional development agencies is in chaos.

Now, I'm not pretending this is the end of the world for David Cameron's Conservatives.

After all, few people have heard of Yorkshire Forward and those who have are unlikely to be too bothered about what its future holds.

But for many businesses the issue is important.

There are hundreds of firms out there who have a high regard for the way the Yorkshire Forward and other regional development agencies have sought to minimise the impact of the recession.

The quango has directed business grants, spearheaded skills and training campaigns and helped coordinate major developments across the region.

However, the Conservatives are determined to have a bonfire of the quangos if they win power. This would see RDAs scrapped, or, at the very least, gutted of most of their powers.

Some of these powers would be handed to so-called Local Enterprise Partnerships, which sound, look and smell very much like.....quangos.

This has caused quite a bit of confusion. If you speak to three different senior Tories you will get three different interpretations of the policy.

Clarke, himself, sounded a bit confused yesterday: "We're trying to add some detail to the policies. If you look at something like that it isn't crystal clear we're going to scrap them."

This is all a bit embarrassing for Caroline Spelman, the shadow Communities Secretary who drew up the plan.

"I've been debating with my colleagues very recently. What we're trying to do is clarify this," Clarke added.

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Thursday, January 28

08.46am - New figures have revealed that MPs sat for the lowest number of hours in 30 years in 2008/09

Westminster politicians spent just 139 days working in the Commons chamber during the parliamentary year.

The average length of the sitting day was only seven hours and 35 minutes, according to the official figures.

It's something to bear in mind next time you hear an MP whinge that his or her job isn't just nine-to-five - it's more likely to be nine-to-4.35.

Funnily enough, separate statistics show that Bellamy's Bar, one of the favourite watering hole for backbenchers in Parliament, made a cool 216,000 last year.

Surely just a coincidence?

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Wednesday, January 27

09.30am - Peter Mandelson intriguingly used an interview in The Mirror today to name-check Labour's current crop of cabinet young Turks.

He listed Ed Balls, David Miliband, Ed Miliband, and Andy Burnham as the party's next generation of stars (although most of them are already pretty prominent now). He then added the older Alan Johnson to the list, who he said was "no less first rate".

The arch strategist would have know that these comments will increase speculation about possible contenders for the leadership contest which would follow a Labour election defeat.

It is obvious that Mandy sees himself as Labour's "king-maker". After all, he has already performed that duty once - it was his backing of Blair after John Smith's death which torpedoed Gordon Brown's ambitions.

However, Brown might not allow his Business Secretary to enjoy such influence for a second time.

I have talked to a few Labour MPs who think that, should Labour be defeated, Brown will actually hang-on to the leadership for say six months in a bid to ensure that one of "his own" gets the job (Ed Balls or Ed Miliband).

Not quitting immediately after his 2005 defeat was one of the few things Tory leader Michael Howard got right. He reshuffled his shadow cabinet, which boosted the prominence of David Cameron and George Osborne and paved the way for their effective take-over of the party.

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Thursday, January 22

3.55pm - Labour might still be getting a battering in the polls but Leeds MP John Battle told me this week that he believes the days of the Lib/Con alliance which controls Leeds Councils are numbered.

Labour strategists increasingly believe they can win back control of the council at the local elections in May.

The bitter bin strike has particularly inflicted damage on local Lib Dems.

Morley and Rothwell Labour MP Colin Challen picked up the baton and ran with it during a parliamentary debate this week.

He said: "We could indeed make a start on more democracy by having the largest party on the council taking control of it.

"That would be a good step away from its present problematic leadership.

"People in the business community have told me that the Tweedle-Tweeldedum leadership arrangement in Leeds does the city no good at all."

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9.47am - "Record number of patients starving on NHS wards" screams the headline on a Conservative press release which dropped into my inbox yesterday.

Wow, I thought, this sounds like quite a story.

New figures "uncovered" by the Tories show how the number of patients leaving hospital malnourished has risen by "record levels" in the last year, it claimed.

Not only that, but a hospital-by-hospital breakdown showed that 1,946 patients were discharged from either the LGI or St James's Hospital with either "malnutrition, nutritional anaemias or other nutritional deficiencies" in 2008/09.

Clear the front page, this was a walk-on splash.

Except it wasn't.

Statistics are always subject to a degree of interpretation - as the saying goes, 'there are lies, damn lies and statistics'.

And in this case, a closer look at the figures showed a much more complex picture.

Firstly, 1,760 of those 1,946 patients at Leeds Teaching Hospital had nutritional anaemia, compared to 47 with full blown malnutrition.

Of course, nutritional anaemia is serious but I wonder how many doctors would agree that it can accurately be equated to "starving".

Also, 1,754 patients had actually been diagnosed with nutritional problems when they were admitted to the hospitals, including 38 who were diagnosed with malnutrition.

So this leaves a difference of 192 Leeds patients who, on the bald face of things, could be said to have developed nutritional problems during their stay on the wards.

But even this is probably an assertion too far.

This is because although the figures show the last diagnosis made before a patient is discharged, it does not actually mean the patient left the hospital with that problem.

For instance, a patient has an operation to remove a stomach ulcer, which is 100% successful.

For obvious reasons, he then has a nutritional problem immediately after the operation, which is diagnosed by his doctor.

He is then discharged a couple of days later, when he has recovered his strength. However, his nutritional problem still shows up in the official figures.

Even if he was discharged before a full nutritional recovery, the problem has been spotted and he will have a care plan in place to follow at home.

There are more problems with these stats, which I will not bore you with. Together they explain why the Department of Health attach a huge health warning to the figures.

It clearly states: "Whilst data shows a greater number of discharge episodes with malnutrition diagnoses than admission episodes, this does not imply that patients are becoming malnourished during their time in hospital and direct comparisons should not be made."

Funnily enough, this important qualification does not make its way into the Conservative press release.

I don't want to let the NHS completely off the hook. Many patients do complain about the quality of hospital food. Many elderly people do not receive the help with eating their food that they need. Maybe some are starving on the wards - but these figures do not prove that.

It also begs the question: what would the Tories do? Would they hire more nurses and build new hospital wings? No - their solution is to free up nurses by reducing the burden of red tape.

The Conservatives do point out that the government is sitting on a report by the Nutritional Action Plan, which has 21 recommendations to reduce malnourishment in hospitals.

Officials have had the report since July but have still not published it. What has the DoH got to hide?

The Tories should concentrate on bashing the government about this, instead of stretching statistics to breaking point.

Wednesday January 21

9.16am - Schools Secretary Ed Balls was on combative form on Radio Four's Today programme earlier.

He attempted to portray the Tory party as returning to its nasty party past.

He said David Cameron's pledge to recognise marriage in the tax system was unfair on lone parents, widows or women who have been thrown out of their homes by abusive husbands.

Pretty tough stuff and he left a wonky David Willets floundering. This kind of attack which will again strike a chord with Labour's "core vote"....but what about those Daily Mail-reading Middle Englanders?

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Thursday January 14

4.59pm - Word has belatedly reached me that Elmet MP Colin Burgon ripped into the government's flaky cabinet during Monday night's Parliamentary Labour Party.

Mr Burgon was one of two Labour MPs who angrily condemned the plot to unseat Gordon Brown. He particularly vented his fury at those senior ministers who delayed their support for the Prime Minister in a bid to wring out policy concessions.

Addressing the culprits directly, he told them they were obsessed about their own positions and not what is good for Labour.

He then widened his attack and criticised the party's lack of radical thinking.

I'm told he quoted Harold Wilson's famous line "the Labour Party is a moral crusade or it is nothing".

Mr Burgon, who is standing down at the next election, was speaking out on behalf of a growing number of Labour MPs who despise the Blairite rump of the party and regard most of the cabinet as intellectual lightweights.

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3.17pm - It was back to Downing Street last night night for a reception for the regional press. Almost the entire cabinet were out in force to meet editors and political reporters (there must be an election on the way).

But cabinet harmony doesn't seem to have been restored since last week's failed coup attempt.

One cabinet minister looked at his watch and asked what time the Prime Minister was turning up. When he was told Mr Brown would be there any minute, he replied "right, well I'm going before Gordon arrives."

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2.39pm - Headteachers are normally not averse to giving the government a rough time. Ministers are used to enduring a litany of complaints about endless Whitehall initiatives, testing and league tables.

So, it was strange on Monday night to see 150 members of this normally bolshy profession rendered starstruck during a visit to Downing Street.

Heads from improving schools across the country had been invited to No.10 to celebrate their school's success. They first formed a huge queue to have their picture taken outside the famous black door.

Once indoors, they mobbed by the Prime Minister like adoring groupies and gave a speech he delivered two standing ovations. Even Mr Brown's aides were taken aback at the love-in.

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Tuesday January 12

4.15pm - Britain's salt shortage appears to have reached crisis levels this afternoon.

Transport Secretary Lord Adonis has just released in a statement in which he reveals that he has ordered councils to slash the amount of salt being used to grit roads in a desperate bid to conserve dwindling supplies.

They were already told on Friday to reduce the amount being used by 25% but now Lord Adonis has demanded that they cut salt spreading by between 40% and 50%.

This means that only the "essential" roads will be gritted, leaving thousands of smaller roads iced up and some communities cut off.

He said: "It is essential that we all work together to keep Britain moving through the worst period of cold weather we have experienced for 29 years.

"This is a time for subsuming individual interest in our overall national interest in keeping open the essential road network in all parts of the country."

The Highways Agency has also been told to conserve "the maximum possible salt usage each day" and go further than last week's 25%reduction.

The Transport Secretary added: "We will strive to keep the strategic road network open as we have done throughout the snow and freezing conditions since late December."

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Wednesday December 23

3.56pm - Phew, thank goodness 2009 is almost over.

The last 12 months have been pretty grim. The war in Afghanistan went from bad to worse. Thousands of jobs were lost. Businesses went to the wall.

And as if that was not bad enough, the reputation of politics scraped new lows.

The revelation that duck houses, bell towers and moat cleaning had all been claimed courtesy of the taxpayer did not exactly amount to a banana republic-style scandal.

And yet in many ways it was the perfect British political controversy because it was rooted in the issue of class. It shone a light on an elite who saw it as their right to fleece the system, while many of their constituents wondered whether it was too optimistic to iron five shirts on a Sunday night.

This blog is now going into hibernation until the New Year but before I go - and for what it's worth - here are my five predictions for 2010...

1) Labour's vote holds up much better than expected in the north with fewer seats changing hands than expected at the General Election. The Tories, however, just squeeze in to power.

2) Little-known Climate Change Secretary Ed Miliband becomes the next leader of the Labour Party

3) New Prime Minister David Cameron confirms that the top rate of income tax will stay at 50p

4) Tony Blair's remaining credibility is destroyed following a series of damning evidence sessions at the Iraq war inquiry

5) Hunting is back as a massive issue with demonstrators on the street and new battle lines drawn in Parliament.

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Tuesday December 22

5.01pm - Former Europe minister Caroline Flint has revealed how she went to extreme lengths to keep the media at bay when she stormed out of the cabinet last summer.

She apparently climbed over a wall and cut through a neighbour's garden to escape having to answer any tricky questions.

According to Total Politics magazine, Ms Flint, who had accused the Prime Minister of using her as "window dressing", asked her bemused neighbour: "Do you mind if I just nip through your house?"

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10.23am - The historic 'prime ministerial' debates will make next year's General Election one of the most compelling for a generation.

The way the polls have been fluctuating over the last month was already an indication that - despite a consistent Tory lead - voting intentions remain volatile.

Gordon Brown and Nick Clegg certainly have the most to gain but then for David Cameron the debates also represent a golden opportunity to 'seal the deal'.

What is completely unknown is whether the three broadcasts will add a sizeable "swing" factor to the election.

In last year's US elections the presidential debates were not crucial and were certainly not a defining moment for Obama.

But this is partly because US politicians are used to this format.

Their preparation is immaculate and they have learnt the lessons from politicians like Nixon, Dukakis and Carter who crashed and burned.

British political leaders are not used to televised debating. Neither they or their spin-doctors have had a chance to learn which kind of debating style will come across best with viewers.

The tribal Punch and Judy style of Prime Minister's Questions would certainly not work.

What will also be fascinating is whether this will transform the election in individual constituencies.

You can bet that charismatic candidates will soon start laying down the gauntlet to their opponents and challenging them to a string of head-to-head contests.

Candidates who refuse will look as if they are running scared.

However, the appetite for local debates from voters is likely to be small and those candidates who expect to win anyway are unlikely to want to risk it.

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Monday December 21

4.26pm - It's perhaps not surprising that reporters in the press gallery have received fewer Christmas cards from MPs this year, after a bruising 12 months of expenses-related scandals.

I'm still waiting for a few from Yorkshire MPs, which I'm sure are just delayed in the post somewhere.

At least the Lib Dem press office have provided some cheer to those of us wondering whether the gaps on our mantelpiece indicate a year of lost contacts.

Their festive card has been wittily 'redacted' to read Merry Chris*** and a **** New Year.

The bottom of the card has a "declaration" which states: "I confirm that I incurred these greetings wholly, exclusively and necessarily to enable me to maintain **** relations with ******** in the media."

Even one of the signatures inside the card has had the ominous black felt tip pen put through it.

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