Image source, EPA

In an article for the Evening Standard, external, Isabel Oakeshott takes a look at Boris Johnson's reported ambitions to take over the helm of the Conservative Party.

"After years of obfuscation, the Mayor — who is running for a seat in Uxbridge and Ruislip — has given up pretending he doesn’t want the top job. When he protests that he wants Cameron to win this election, however, he is speaking from the heart. The truth is that he is playing a longer game and wants Cameron in Downing Street for another two years before he strikes," she writes,

Andrew Neil
Daily and Sunday Politics

Satirist PJ O’Rourke gives an American view of the British general election where he has been travelling around the UK for a US TV programme. He spoke to Andrew Neil on the Daily Politics about how an outsider sees UK politics, and the image of the NHS. Watch the interview

Campaigning can sometimes be a dangerous business, which Lib Dem candidate Stephen Gilbert has found out to his peril. Mr Gilbert, who is fighting to be re-elected as St Austell and Newquay's MP, tweeted that he had fallen foul of a dog with "anger issues", when delivering election leaflets in the constituency. He was treated for minor injuries at the local hospital and has been bandaged up with a few painkillers, according to a party spokesman. He'll be back on the campaign trail this afternoon.

A list of the other candidates standing in St Austell and Newquay can be found here.

Some new polls have been published today which give us something to chew over. The Guardian/ICM poll gives the Conservatives a three-point lead over Labour. David Cameron's party is up one point since a similar poll a week ago, on 35%, while Labour is unchanged on 33%. UKIP is up two, on 13% and the Liberal Democrats are down one, on 9%.

Meanwhile, Lord Ashcroft's national poll gives the Conservatives a six-point lead - on 36% (up two) compared with Labour's 30% (unchanged). The Liberal Democrats were down one point on 9%, with UKIP on 11% - a fall of two points.

However, a YouGov survey for The Sun has Ed Miliband's party in the lead, on 34% compared with the Tories' 33%, UKIP's 14% and the Lib Dems' 8%.

BBC Radio 5 Live

Charlie and Craig Reid from The Proclaimers have been speaking to 5 live's Dan Walker and Sarah Brett about the changing face of politics in Scotland:

Time now for a quick recap of today's main political stories.

- Labour pledges to help first-time buyers in England by exempting them from stamp duty when buying homes worth under £300,000

- David Cameron promises to work harder than ever before to secure a Conservative victory on 7 May

- Nick Clegg disputes predictions in the polls that the Lib Dems wll be largely wiped out at the election, insisting that winning was in his party's DNA

- The Green Party pledges that council house tenants would not be allowed to buy their own home

- Northern Ireland health minister Jim Wells - at the centre of controversy over remarks about gay couples - has resigned

The Daily Telegraph

Image source, Associated Press

The Telegraph's Michael Deacon is in characteristically humorous form in his latest sketch, on David Cameron's speech this morning which has attracted much comment over the passion which the PM injected into it.

"The venue for this gale-force aural assault was, of all places, the Institute for Chartered Accountants. The poor creatures won’t have known what hit them. You could hear the staplers rattling on the fourth floor," he writes., external

Conservative Rory Stewart - former chairman of the Commons Defence Committee - has said he will resign if the Conservatives get a majority but fail to deliver a referendum on Europe in 2017. He was speaking in a debate hosted by BBC Radio Cumbria attended by candidates battling to win the constituency of Penrith and the Border. He was challenged by UKIP's John Stanyer who said "nobody believes" David Cameron's promises to hold a referendum. Mr Stewart replied:

Alex Campbell
Newsnight producer

Image source, AP

It isn’t the first time phoney football support has led to a politician’s attempts at playing the everyman being called into focus.

Tony Blair for years rebutted claims that he’d told a regional newspaper about fond memories of watching Jackie Milburn play from the terraces of Newcastle United (Blair was aged four and living in Australia when Milburn retired).

He also fluffed a question over his hopes for a Premiership title-deciding match between his beloved Newcastle and Manchester United in 1996 - no doubt with more than one eye on the swathes of Manchester United supporters in just about every seat New Labour was targeting.

David Cameron himself has had the strength of his affections for Aston Villa probed in the past. Political anoraks will already have recalled that in 2001 he told the Commons, external he was not a football fan at all.

And Margaret Thatcher, when leader of the opposition, reportedly nominated, external Ipswich Town’s Trevor Whymark as the star man of the 1978 FA Cup final - unfortunately he didn’t actually play.

Image source, Associated Press

Political parties are always keen to get high-profile or celebrity endorsements. So it's unsurprising that Labour has welcomed the news, external that Professor Stephen Hawking has given the party his backing at the general election. The physicist said he would be voting Labour on 7 May.

Daily Politics
Live on BBC Two

The Daily Politics debate ended with final pitches from all the participants. Here goes:

Labour's Yvette Cooper: The Conservatives and Lib Dems have been complacent about crime and policing, while UKIP wants to divide our communities. Labour's got a different plan: to protect neighbourhood policing and keep Britain's communities strong. We want to make sure the immigration system is fair.

Stpehen Woolfe: UKIP is the only party with common sense policies to improve the lives of all Britons. Ignore the press and TV commentators and make up your own mind about our manifesto. We believe in Britain because we believe in you.

Lib Dem Norman Baker. We have a good record in government, contributing to a reduction in crime and protecting women subjected to violence. We will keep a future government anchored in the centre ground and follow the evidence. We'll make sure the immigration system works and crime continues to fall.

Conservative Theresa May: There is a stark choice between a Conservative Home Office giving the country the competent governance it deserves and a Labour Party that doesn't know what the right level of immigration is and has no credible plans for police reform. Crime is down by a quarter, and a future Conservative government will reform free movement, bring down immigration, keep crime falling and defeat extremism.

Simon Thomas: Plaid Cymru believes government is better when it's taken closer to the people. That's why we want the devolution of crime, policing and justice to the Welsh Assembly. Our MPs in Westminster will stand up for tolerance, civil liberties and work with progressive forces in the House of Commons to fight against austerity and ensure policing gets the resources it needs.

Image source, PA

Mixing paint - surely a time when some protective equipment might have been appropriate to protect one's suit? 

Image source, PA

Who'd have thought it? The paint turned out to be blue.

Daily Politics
Live on BBC Two

Did the British invasion of Iraq radicalise a generation? Yvette Cooper says it's much more complicated than that. She laments the "lack of a proper community strategy" to challenge extremist ideas. Responding, Theresa May says she's excluded more hate preachers than anyone before her.

Daily Politics
Live on BBC Two

"What would you ditch from the Human Rights Act? Yvette Cooper asks her government counterpart, Theresa May. "We're not talking about ditching rights," Mrs May responds.