Get all your news in one place.
100's of premium titles.
One app.
Start reading
The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
Politics
Andrew Sparrow

Sturgeon says Cameron allegations have 'entertained the whole country' - Politics live

Mobile phone footage from a reporter shows the moment George Osborne is first asked about Lord Ashcroft’s drugs and debauchery allegations against David Cameron

Afternoon summary

  • The Lib Dems have rejected a call for the party to commit itself to unilateral disarmament by 579 votes to 447. The vote is a victory for the new leader, Tim Farron, who wanted delegates to back existing policy, which proposes a scaled-down nuclear deterrent.

That’s all from me for today.

Thanks for the comments.

My colleague Gary Younge has written up his take on the Ashcroft allegations. He says it is much easier to be reckless when you’re young if you’re privileged, not poor.

If Nicola Sturgeon is saying the Cameron allegations have “entertained the whole country” (see 5.08pm), the prime minister will at least be able to point to one area in which he is bringing the nations of the United Kingdom together.

Nicola Sturgeon’s intervention is rather shrewd, for at least three reasons. First, she presents herself as someone with a sense of humour. Second, she is subtly implying that David Cameron has become a laughing stock. And, third, she has put pressure on Cameron to clarify his position on the claim that he did not tell the truth about when he first learnt about Lord Ashcroft’s non-dom status. This is the one issue that Labour is also pursuing. See 12.44pm.

Lib Dem conference rejects unilateralism by 579 votes to 447

The Lib Dems have rejected unilateralism. By 579 votes to 447, they backed existing policy, proposing a scaled-back nuclear deterrent.

Back at the Lib Dem conference they are voting on Trident now.

Sturgeon says Cameron has 'entertained the whole country'

Nicola Sturgeon, Scotland’s first minister, has been commenting on the Ashcroft allegations. She did not know whether they were true or not, she said, but they did give us all some entertainment.

She said:

[Cameron] has entertained the whole country on a dreary Monday morning, so there is got to be something in that.

But she also says that Cameron has a duty to respond to the claim that he knew about Ashcroft’s non-dom status earlier than he previously admitted.

Sir Simon Hughes, the former Lib Dem MP, is winding up for those backing amendment one (ie, those in favour of a scaled-back nuclear deterrent). The current party policy was formed on the basis of evidence in the last parliament, he says. And it commits the party to work towards the elimination of nuclear weapons. And it commits Lib Dem MPs to voting against like-for-like Trident replacement.

Trident is a “sheathed weapon”, he says. That is better than having no weapon, he says.

Being in opposition should not be an excuse for casual policy making, he says.

Shirley Williams, the former Lib Dem leader in the Lords, is now speaking in the Trident debate as it nears its end.

She says the world is on the edge of removing some nuclear threats; for example, Iran scaled back its nuclear programme in response to international pressure.

She says the leadership amendment (amendment one) will help Britain to lead internationally on this issue.

Lib Dems debate scrapping Trident

The Lib Dems have been debating a motion proposing scrapping Trident.

If it goes through - as it looks as though it may well do - it will be a blow to Tim Farron and the party leadership, which is backing an amendment defending existing party policy. Current policy is to oppose like-for-like replacement of Trident, but to support a cheaper nuclear alternative.

The motion would commit the party to full unilateralism.

We’ll get the vote very shortly.

Here is some comment on the debate.

From the Guardian’s Tom Clark

From the legal blogger Carl Gardner

Ashcroft hints he's planning a second book critical of Cameron

Bad news for David Cameron. Following the publication of this biography, Lord Ashcroft may publish another potentially damaging memoir, he has hinted.

On his Twitter feed, Ashcroft has just posted a link to the full preface from his book.

Much of it appears in his article in today’s Mail. But the Mail left out this revelation. (Bold type inserted by me.)

Despite the disappointments I have described [no getting a government job], I want to be clear about my motivation for writing this book, which – however sorry I remain about what happened – is not about settling scores. I do not feature in the narrative at all, because I wanted to tell Cameron’s life story, not mine. My role in the party while he was Leader of the Opposition will be kept for another day.

He also reveals that he is already planning the second edition of Call Me Dave.

[Cameron] remained suspicious, and those around him were discouraged from speaking to us during our research.

Happily, a number of individuals close to him have helped, some only on condition of anonymity. Their input has been enormously valuable and it is a pity they cannot be thanked here. They know who they are. Perhaps when we come to update this book, as we intend, Cameron will have no fear. An overall majority is a wonderful achievement, however slim the margin. He has much of which to be proud.

That “have no fear” line is priceless, dripping with irony and menace.

Speaking at a fringe event at the Lib Dem conference also attended by Frances O’Grady, the TUC general secretary, Nick Clegg has warned against a “scorched earth” approach towards the European Union and complained about the attitude of the left towards the debate surrounding the upcoming referendum on Britain’s EU membership.

We’ve got to get away from this scorched earth politics where if you don’t like something you want to scrap the whole thing. If you don’t like Westminster – burn the whole thing to the ground. Since when in a mature democracy is it sensible to take a scorched earth approach, where every time you don’t like something you bash the nuclear button and blow everything up?

Just just because the Tory isolationists want to do that, the left, the centre left and and progressive forces in this country shouldn’t do so. I have seen it for five years now – parts of the left working themselves up into an absolute lather of indignation about some of the measures we had to do and in consequence – unwittingly perhaps – actually preparing the ground for what we have now got, which is a majority Conservative government.

I do not want to see these early rumblings of disquiet within the trade union movement cascade into something a whole lot worse. It could lead to an exit from the European Union and to profound damage to the life chances of many millions of working people in this country for many years to come. I just don’t think we should have any truck with it at all.


Clegg said that disaffected people may be tempted to deliver a “collective kick in the shins” to the Conservative government and that the unions should be clear about the benefits the EU brings to workers and not get wrapped up in debates about Cameron’s renegotiations. “I personally think that having an angry debate about renegotiation, in terms of tactics, is an odd place to start,” he said.

Number 10 is not responding to the Lord Ashcroft allegations, but sources have been briefing on his behalf. The most salacious allegation has been described as “total crap” (see 12.13pm), with a source saying Cameron was never a member of the Piers Gaveston society (see 2.09pm).

But “total crap” is not always a robust denial (in the New Labour era one spin doctor often dismissed stories as “bollocks”, implying they were untrue, when they weren’t, on the grounds that “bollocks” was so loose a word as to be ambiguous) and theoretically Cameron could have attended a Gaverston event without being a member.

So can anyone offer a firmer denial? A party source told me: “These claims from Lord Ashcroft - the suggestion that Cameron was a member [of the Gaveston society], the suggestion that there was some sort of initiation ceremony - are utter nonsense.” So does that mean they are not true? “They are not true,” the source said.

The source wasn’t prepared to offer a similar denial in relation to some of the other allegations, such as the claim that Cameron lied about Nick Clegg being responsible for Lord Ashcroft not being offered a government job (see 1.28pm) or that Cameron knew about Ashcroft’s non-dom status earlier than he admitted (see 12.01pm). He said he did not want to get into those issues. He also said that two elections had passed since the news of Ashcroft’s non-dom status came out. “This really is desperate stuff,” he said.

My colleague Suzanne Moore has written a “First thoughts” column for Comment is Free explaining why she thinks the pig story won’t go away for David Cameron. Here’s an excerpt.

It won’t because the hamminess of Cameron himself is ever present; it won’t because there are still a thousand brilliant jokes to be made (“bae of pigs” is just the start); it won’t because this image is now lodged firmly in our minds. “The creatures looked from pig to man and from man to pig and it was impossible to say which was which,” wrote Orwell, in Animal Farm. Our identification in this story is with the poor piggy, because the dirty little secret at the heart of our establishment may not be this one at all. We already know there is an entitled class that feels that normal rules don’t apply. It’s just part of the full English.

On the World at One Isabel Oakeshott, the former Sunday Times political editor who co-wrote the Cameron biography with Lord Ashcroft, denied that it was a “revenge job”. She said publishing it before the general election “would have caused far more damage, [Ashcroft] could easily have done that. Or indeed we could have published the book over party conference.”

She also played down the significance of the pig’s head allegation.

Isabel Oakeshott
Isabel Oakeshott Photograph: Stefan Wermuth / Reuters/Reuters

The BBC’s Norman Smith has also had a briefing from a Cameron source about the Ashcroft book.

Nick Clegg's speech - Summary

Here are the key points from Nick Clegg’s speech to the Lib Dem conference. I’ve left out his claim that a vote to leave the EU could lead to Scotland leaving the UK because my colleague Frances Perraudin wrote that up when it was briefed in advance overnight.

  • Clegg said the Lib Dems should cooperate with moderates in other parties.

Now, as politics enters a period of unprecedented fluidity, I hope those in other parties who embrace the kind of liberalism we believe in will be willing to work with us across party boundaries in Parliament and outside it to assemble a progressive, modern challenge to the unimaginative Conservativism of this Government.

  • He said there was now “a great big liberal-sized hole” in the centre of British politics.

As Tim [Farron] has said, just at the moment when we have been knocked to the floor a great big liberal-sized hole has opened up in the middle of British politics.

  • He acknowledged that there were problems with the centrist message that the Lib Dems used during the general election.

Now, let me get something off my chest about the centre ground.

I realise there are some who feel that pinning our colours to the centre ground risks sounding a little insipid, a neither-on-the-one-hand-nor-on-the-other kind of party.

As it happens, I accept the observation that has been made that by talking about the centre ground in relation to the other two larger parties at the last election – you know, head and heart and all that stuff – we made the centre ground sound a bit too much like a tactic, rather than a place rich in values and conviction.

I’m not sure we had an obvious strategic alternative - but I accept that criticism and take full responsibility for it.

Jeremy Browne, the former MP, was one critic of the centrist message strategy. The blogger Mike Taylor also argues against it in this post on his blog.

  • But Clegg said the centre ground was not “an insipid place to be”.

What I don’t accept for one second is that the liberal, progressive, modern centre ground of British politics is an insipid place to be.

There’s nothing insipid about believing in compassion rather than intolerance.

  • He said voters could now see what the Tories were like in government without the Lib Dems.

George Osborne and David Cameron can’t believe their luck.

They’re back in Government on their own for the first time in almost twenty years with no effective opposition and no coalition partner to keep them honest.

So, now that they can finally do what they like – what do they actually do?

Bully the BBC.

Denigrate refugees.

Repeal human rights laws.

Attack the Unions.

Remove help for the working poor.

Revive the Snoopers’ Charter.

Undermine our place in Europe.

Threaten to scrap free school meals.

And reverse pretty well every green measure introduced in recent years.

You couldn’t make it up.

  • He said after the election people who did not vote Lib Dem said they were sorry the party lost so badly. That showed there was “lots of goodwill” out there towards the party, he said.
  • He said Farron was the best campaigner he had come across in his political career.
  • He said the Lib Dems could stage a comeback under Farron.

I firmly believe that under Tim’s leadership we can be the comeback kids of British politics – starting at next May’s elections.

It won’t be easy, it won’t be instant and it won’t come without setbacks along the way.

But we will bounce back.

Clegg accuses Cameron of using him as 'alibi' for not giving Ashcroft government job

Nick Clegg is on the World at One. He has just said he did not stop David Cameron giving Lord Ashcroft a job, as Ashcroft claims Cameron told him Clegg did. (See 11.22am.)

Asked if he blocked Ashcroft’s appointment to a significant role, Clegg said: “No, I don’t recollect that at all.”

He did object to Michael Howard being appointed as as European commission, he said. He felt Britain did not need “a touch of the night” in Brussels, he said, referring to Ann Widdecombe’s jibe about Howard.

But it was not his job to block Conservative appointments in the coalition, Clegg went on.

I’m now used to Conservatives - they certainly did it for five years - using me as an alibi for awkward decisions that they have to face within their own party and I’ve no doubt that this just fell into that same category.

Clegg also claimed that he had not read the extracts from the Ashcroft biography in the Mail. Asked about the other revelations, he replied:

I haven’t even read the papers. I’m just simply not going to get into that kind of thing.

Nick Clegg being interviewed at the Lib Dem conference
Nick Clegg being interviewed at the Lib Dem conference Photograph: Matt Cardy/Getty Images

Updated

Roy Greenslade, the Guardian’s media commentator, has delivered his verdict on the Ashcroft allegations here. He is not taking them too seriously. “It is highly doubtful that the book will cause more than a ripple,” he says.

Timing, as everyone in politics knows, is crucial. If the book had been released prior to the general election it might possibly have had a significant impact.

Now I cannot imagine it doing much more than ruffling Cameron’s feathers. Most of the negative stuff is historical, unsurprising and of little real consequence.

People are much more likely to view the whole business as poor form by Ashcroft, a case of sour grapes.

Here’s the Toby Young blog I mentioned earlier. (See 12.13pm.)

And here’s an extract.

I’m dubious about the pig episode and I’m better informed than most, having been a contemporary of Cameron’s at Oxford. I wrote about the Piers Gaveston Society for Vanity Fair in 1995 and subsequently did a fair amount of muckraking myself about Cameron’s undergraduate antics for a drama-documentary I produced for Channel 4 called ‘When Boris Met Dave’. I turned this research into a piece about Oxford’s ‘decadent’ dining societies forHarper’s Bazaar in 2009 that you can read here.

I may not be the world’s foremost investigative journalist, but if anything like this had happened I think I would have heard about it. The Gaveston members I spoke to weren’t particularly discreet about what they and their friends had got up to, but none of them mentioned this or anything like it. Indeed, none of them said the Prime Minister had been a member – a surprising omission if true. Are we really being asked to believe that there’s photographic evidence of this initiation rite taking place, but the story has never surfaced before now? I think it’s a figment of someone’s imagination.

Jon Trickett, the shadow communities secretary, says David Cameron should not be allowed to carry on dodging questions about when he learnt about Lord Ashcroft’s non-dom status.

In a blog for Coffee House Ian Kirby, the former News of the World political editor, says Ashcroft’s most salacious claim would never have got into the paper in his day because the evidence to back it up is so slight.

At the Lib Dem conference Nick Clegg is now delivering his speech. I’ll post a summary when I’ve seen the full text.

The Ashcroft biography alleges that David Cameron used cannabis when he was a student at Oxford, and that later he allowed cocaine to circulate at his London home. These claims are not, in themselves, particularly surprising, although some of the detail is interesting. That is because Cameron has never denied having some record of drug use before becoming an MP. When he was standing for the Conservative leadership in 2005 this became an issue. Mostly the questions related to cannabis, but Kenneth Clarke, one of his rivals, encouraged journalists to ask Cameron about his use of Class A drugs by specifically denying that he (Clarke) had taken it. Generally Cameron refused to talk about his “private life before politics”, but he did specifically say he had not taken cocaine since being elected as an MP.

But, as the Sun’s Tom Newton Dunn suggests, what might be more significant is what the book says about how Cameron has changed his views on drugs policy.

The book points that in 2002 Cameron was a member of the Commons home affairs committee when it published a reporting saying current drugs policy was failing. At the time Cameron wanted drugs policy to be reformed, but subsequently he retreated on this issue, the book says.

Later [in 2002] returned to the theme in the Commons with a bold speech way out of line with Tory policy. In a virtuoso performance, he spoke passionately about the rising death toll from drug abuse, making the case for a catalogue of reforms. He called on ministers ‘not to return to retribution and war on drugs’. That, he said, had been tried — and it didn’t work.

Cameron’s colleagues were appalled. According to a senior colleague, the whips were ‘incandescent’. This same MP, who later served in Cameron’s Cabinet, recalls: ‘With complete self-assurance, he just cruised into this speech, which effectively denounced official Conservative policy on drugs, with all the Labour members looking on.’

Given how passionately Cameron felt about the issue as a young MP, it’s intriguing that he has rarely mentioned drug policy since.

Since becoming PM, he’s been in a position to implement all the sweeping reforms he wanted back in 2002 — yet he’s chosen not to do so.

For the record, here is the committee’s 2002 report. And here are some extracts from its conclusions.

There are no easy answers to the problems posed by drug abuse, but it seems to us that certain trends are unmistakable. If there is any single lesson from the experience of the last 30 years, it is that policies based wholly or mainly on enforcement are destined to fail. It remains an unhappy fact that the best efforts of police and Customs have had little, if any, impact on the availability of illegal drugs and this is reflected in the prices on the street which are as low as they have ever been. The best that can be said, and the evidence for this is shaky, is that we have succeeded in containing the problem ...

Finally, many sensible and thoughtful people have argued that we should go a step further and embrace legalisation and regulation of all or most presently illegal drugs. We acknowledge there are some attractive arguments. However, those who urge this course upon us are inviting us to take a step into the unknown. To tread where no other society has yet trod. They are asking us to gamble the undoubted potential gains against the inevitability of a significant increase in the number of users, especially amongst the very young. They are overlooking the fact that the overwhelming majority of young people do not use drugs and that many are deterred by the prospect of breaking the law. We, therefore, decline to support legalisation and regulation.

It may well be that in years to come a future generation will take a different view. Drugs policy should not be set in stone. It will evolve like any other. For the foreseeable future, however, we believe the path is clear.

Updated

Toby Young, the Spectator journalist, says he has spoken to the founder of the Piers Gaveston society who says that this particular story is “malicious gossip”.

And a Cameron source has told the Telegraph the story is “total crap”.

But Patrick Wintour says this was the best question asked at the lobby briefing.

“Normal university experience” was the line used by Cameron in 2005 when asked if he had taken drugs at university. It was his way of saying yes, he had.

(Similarly, George W Bush, when asked similar questions, replied: “When I was young and irresponsible, I was young and irresponsible”.)

Updated

And it looks as if journalists couldn’t resist at least one joke question at the lobby briefing.

No 10 refuses to discuss allegation Cameron knew about Ashcroft's non-dom status earlier than he said in 2010

No 10 is also refusing to discuss the allegation in Lord Ashcroft’s book Cameron knew about Ashcroft’s non-dom status earlier than claimed.

This is what the Mail says about this issue in its story.

Lord Ashcroft also reveals how he had a conversation with Mr Cameron in 2009 about ‘how we could delay revealing my tax arrangements until after the election’.

After Lord Ashcroft was given a peerage by then Tory leader William Hague in 2001, the party was dogged with questions over whether he had fulfilled a commitment to become resident in the UK for tax purposes.

In March 2010, it was eventually revealed that he was a ‘non dom’ – sparking claims that, while he was keeping his assets offshore and out of the British tax system, he was ‘trying to buy a British election’.

At the time, a spokesman for Mr Cameron said he had known of Lord Ashcroft’s tax status for only one month - a claim now flatly contradicted by the book, and likely to trigger a new row at Westminster.

Updated

No 10 implies Ashcroft motivated by revenge

No 10 is also suggesting that Lord Ashcroft was motivated by revenge.

That seems to be the Daily Mail’s take too, even though Lord Ashcroft says his book “is not about settling scores”. (See 11.22am.)

No 10 says it will not dignify Ashcroft's allegations by responding to them

My colleague Patrick Wintour has been at the Number 10 lobby briefing. Here is the top line.

Osborne dodges question about Cameron and Ashcroft allegations

Here is the Guardian video of George Osborne dodging a question about David Cameron and the Ashcroft allegations.

And here’s a more serious Twitter take on the Ashcroft allegations from the journalist Janice Turner.

In an extract from the book published in the Daily Mail, Lord Ashcroft says he had one conversation with David Cameron before the 2010 election during which they discussed the type of job Ashcroft could do if Cameron became prime minister. It was “certainly not an insignificant one”, Ashcroft writes.

But in the event no such job was offered, Ashcroft goes on.

Shortly afterwards, Cameron phoned to thank me profusely for all the work I’d done. I thanked him in turn and asked what my next role would be. There was silence at the end of the phone. ‘Ah, it’s difficult,’ he replied awkwardly. ‘We probably need to have another conversation.’

I was left hanging until the second Sunday after he became Prime Minister, when he invited me to a family lunch at Chequers. He took me for a walk in the garden, and told me that Liberal Democrat leader Nick Clegg had vetoed the idea of giving me any job in government.

Recently, after Clegg stepped down as leader of his party, my office checked this version of events with his office. Clegg said he had no recollection of barring any Conservative appointments.

Perhaps Cameron’s conscience pricked him a little, because a short while later, I did get an offer — to be a junior whip in the Foreign Office.

After putting my neck on the line for nearly ten years — both as party treasurer under William Hague (1998-2001) and as deputy chairman (2005-10) — and after ploughing some £8 million into the party, I regarded this as a declinable offer.

Ashcroft claims his book is not about “settling scores”.

Despite my disappointment, my new book about Cameron is not about settling scores.

Indeed, I was so anxious that it should be objective, that I asked Isabel Oakeshott, then political editor of the Sunday Times, to be my co-author.

But the Daily Mail was clearly not entirely convinced by this particular assertion, as you can see from their headline.

As my colleague Frances Perraudin reports, Tim Farron, the Lib Dem leader, responded to Tom Watson’s comments this morning (see 10.14am) by saying there was nothing wrong with Bananarama.

Most of the best Twitter jokes about the most salacious Ashcroft allegation appeared last night. In a brief departure from journalism into light entertainment, here are a few of the better ones I’ve seen. Think of it as a medicinal serotonin jab.

Here is some video of George Osborne responding to the question about the Ashcroft allegations.

Four years ago the satirist Charlie Brooker included a plot line about the prime minister and a pig in his Black Mirror programme. Following the Ashcroft allegations, he’s been responding on Twitter.

One of the Ashcroft allegations is very reminiscent of a famous American political anecdote.

Tom Watson tells Labour MPs to 'show a little bit of respect' towards Corbyn

Turning away from the Ashcroft allegations for a moment, Tom Watson, Labour’s new deputy leader, was on the Today programme playing the role of mediator between Jeremy Corbyn, the leader, and the parliamentary Labour party (most of whom don’t support Corbyn). Here are the key points.

  • Watson said he was “worried” about the amount of sniping directed at Corbyn and he urged Labour MPs to “show a little bit of respect”.

I am worried about it, because I am not sure if some of our colleagues in the parliamentary party are prepared to accept the mandate he has been given. I just ask them to show a little bit of respect and tolerance for him as a new leader assembling his team, he needs a bit of space and time to do that. Our MPs have to understand they are part of a democratic party now that is going to change and we have to respect the mandate he has been given ...

I would just say to those MPs that are saying things on the record and off the record, please respect the mandate he has been given. Give him a bit of space and time to lay out his stall. We have got a party conference next week, we have got a shadow cabinet and an NEC meeting this Thursday. It will take time but you will see a change of direction and you will be able to see what Jeremy Corbyn really stands for.

  • Watson mocked suggestions that some Labour MPs might defect to the Lib Dems.

That would be like leaving the Beatles to join a Bananarama tribute band. I don’t see any Labour MPs - serious Labour MPs - who are going to defect to go to Tim Farron’s party.

Updated

In Bournemouth Paddy Ashdown is poking fun at Cameron.

Twitter is awash with pig puns at the moment. I will post some more of them soon.

George Osborne, the chancellor, is in China at the moment. He was asked about the Ashcroft claims, but his answer was not very illuminating. He replied:

I haven’t seen that book.

Tim Farron, the Lib Dem leader, said this morning that the Ashcroft allegations were “extraordinary claims” but that they were “a bit of a sideshow”. He added:

The reality is we respect people’s right to a private life and a past. The critical thing in all of this is that those of us who are in politics mustn’t be hypocrites.

The autumn party conference season has started, as is traditional it’s rainy, I’ve just arrived in Bournemouth where I’m sitting in a press room with a view of grey clouds and grey sea and, in a cunning wheeze to knock Nick Clegg’s lunchtime speech off the top of the news agenda, the Tories have come up with rather an interesting story.

It’s all about ... well, I don’t really need to go into it, because I expect you’ve read it already. It’s in the Daily Mail, which is serialising a new biography of David Cameron written by Lord Ashcroft, the former Conservative deputy chairman, and Isabel Oakeshott, the former Sunday Times Political editor. Here is the Mail’s own summary of the key allegations.

“On Day One, the book claims that:

    • Mr Cameron was a member of a ‘dope smoking group’ called the Flam Club at Oxford University;
    • Cocaine was later allowed to circulate at his and his wife’s London home;
    • Mr Cameron was also in a debauched Oxford society that specialises in ‘bizarre rituals and sexual excess’;
    • The book reports a source who claims that during Mr Cameron’s initiation ceremony he ‘put a private part of his anatomy’ into a dead pig’s mouth. Furthermore, the source claims to have seen photographic evidence;
    • Lynton Crosby, the pollster who guided the PM to electoral victory, privately thinks he is a ‘tosser’ and ‘posh ****’.

Published next month, the book sheds new light on Mr Cameron’s journey from privileged student at Eton and Oxford to Number 10, via a career in PR where he made significant enemies.”

I will be looking at them in more detail, as well as covering the reaction.

Oh, and that Nick Clegg speech. We’ll find room for that too. The Lib Dem conference proceedings have got underway this morning with a debate on a transgender and intersex health charter. I won’t be covering all the debates in detail, but I will be looking at the debate this afternoon on scrapping Trident.

If you want to follow me or contact me on Twitter, I’m on@AndrewSparrow

Sign up to read this article
Read news from 100's of titles, curated specifically for you.
Already a member? Sign in here
Related Stories
Top stories on inkl right now
One subscription that gives you access to news from hundreds of sites
Already a member? Sign in here
Our Picks
This Tiny Cat Living With A Rare Genetic Condition Was Rescued And Found His Loving Family
Grub’s life doesn’t look like most cats’, but he’s loved in ways that make all the difference.
Bored Panda
Bored Panda
Did Miley Cyrus And Emily Osment Not Get Along In Hannah Montana? Absence During The Show's Anniversary Raises Questions
Emily Osment's absence from the Hannah Montana anniversary special raises questions about her relationship with Miley Cyrus. Here's what we know.
International Business Times UK
International Business Times UK
'Vaping Squirrels' in London and Philadelphia Go Viral: Here's Why They Are Drawn to E-Cigs
Discover the viral phenomenon of 'vaping squirrels' and the environmental dangers posed by discarded e-cigarettes.
International Business Times UK
International Business Times UK
Stephen Colbert to write new Lord of the Rings film after end of the Late Show
Comedian and avid Tolkien fan to write the Lord of the Rings: Shadow of the Past, a new Peter Jackson-produced film based on unadapted chapters of The Fellowship of the Ring
The Guardian - AU
The Guardian - AU
A Woman Driving Next To Matt LeBlanc Recognized Him, Then Immediately Got Into A Car Accident
I wonder how many "fame accidents" there have been, overall?
Cinemablend
Cinemablend
I’m Shook Over The Historic Milestone Spider-Man: Brand New Day’s Trailer Just Hit
This is astounding!
Cinemablend
Cinemablend
Fourteen days free
Download the app
One app. One membership.
100+ trusted global sources.
Download on the AppStore Get it on Google Play