Andrew Lansley snubbed by Romsey Conservative activists - BBC

On BBC1's South Today, political correspondent Peter Henley tonight revealed evidence (in the form of leaked emails which he verified by talking to the authors) that some Romsey Conservatives snubbed a visit by front bencher Andrew Lansley today, because of the expense allegations against him. One activist wrote that he hoped the visit would be "incognito" and another said that there should be no canvassing involved.

"Labour Chief Whip" says there'll be a summer election?

Well that's what someone with the Twitter account "nickbrownmp" tweeted to an alleged Twitter account for "AMitchell MP" earlier today, as Tory Bear/Iain Dale have got quite excited about. The latter reports that Nick Brown's Twitter page has now been completely deleted. Then again, anyone could open a Twitter account called "nickbrownmp" add a photo of the man in question, tweet a bit and then close it down again.

Another Kennedy runs for Senate

Chris Kennedy, one of the sons of the late Robert Kennedy, is about to announce that he will run for the US Senate seat vacated by Barack Obama and currently held by the ill-fated Roland Burris. I am not going to make the mistake I made with Caroline Kennedy and pre-emptively gush. Chris Kennedy is a Chicago businessman (he is the President of a huge shopping mall/business centre) and has not inherited all the good looks of his father but has a remarkably prolific record of being active in local Illinois good causes. - Though he has no governance or public office record, or a background in law. But he does seem to be a good businessman, attracting lots of new business, creating jobs and getting "green" certification for his operations. He has been a political campaigner and fundraiser. He is not liked too much by local labor unions as he has confronted them regularly in the past - this may hinder his bid as Democrats traditionally rely on the labor unions for much of their support.

So we'll see. At least he is taking the election route rather than expecting to be handed the thing on a silver salver. So full marks to him for that!

Commons barracking shows Clegg is making an impact

Nick Robinson says that the extraordinary barracking of Nick Clegg at Prime Minister's Questions today shows that he (Clegg) is having an impact (Gurkhas, call for Speaker to resign etc.) and that the other parties know it

It was noticeable (from the Tweets) that the Speaker took longer than usual to bother to stop the barracking of Clegg. A bit of childish revenge perhaps?

Perhaps the reason Nick Clegg is derided so much by the other parties is because he is at last getting to the heart of the matter: Democratic reform. In both his questions today, Nick emphasised the need for reform across the board "from party funding to Whitehall secrecy" and, in particular, voting reform so that a government cannot be given such vast power by just a quarter of the people in an election.

Hat-tip to the tweeting @CaronmLindsay

Claims about Phil Willis/flat/daughter

Here. Phil Willis has issued a typically robust and bluff rebuttal:

If offering temporary accommodation to one's children is wrongdoing, then there is something seriously wrong with our society.
Allowing my daughter to use the sofa-bed in my one-bedroom flat hardly appears to be abuse of the system.
As for refurbishment, painting the flat once in 10 years and carrying out electrical repairs, I believe no reasonable person would regard as excessive.

Federal Executive output - gagging for Friday

I am informed that the output from Monday's LibDem Federal Executive will be communicated via the LibDem News and an email to all members on Friday.

I can hardly wait!

Alan Beith for Speaker - Facebook group

Is here. Please join it. Alan would make a first class Speaker. He has just the right sort of reforming mind to help lead the Commons out of their current mess. He has a refreshing, no-nonsense approach, is highly experienced and is greatly respected around the House.