Deputy leader Harriet Harman is leading the "woman-to-woman" initiative, which will see a 16-seater minibus tour the UK up to May's election targeting women who did not vote in 2010. She said it would demonstrate politics was not just a "men-only" activity. She has defended the van's shade, joking "is it not magenta or something?" Read the full story here.

Nick Robinson
Political editor

Nick Robinson - at today's British Chambers of Commerce conference - says the speeches by various party representatives there have perhaps not entirely cleared up matters for those in the audience: "The truth is the businessmen and women here are having to learn to live with an enormous amount of political uncertainty."

Tory MP Caroline Dinenage on Labour's pink minibus: "The wheels have come off the Labour bus. Getting Harriet Harman to drive around the country in a pink van to try and attract the female vote is as patronising as it gets. This is clearly just another divisive gimmick that the electorate will see through."

tweets, external: I hear Harman was warned by allies pink bus for #womantowoman campaign would be deemed patronising but was 'defiant'

Image source, Labour

Johanna Howitt
BBC senior politics producer

At a media briefing this afternoon on Labour's Woman to Woman campaign, Harriet Harman seemed keen to make sure we all knew the precise colour of the team bus. She described the detailed discussions in choosing the colour:

"We wanted it to be red…", she said, pointing to a Labour backdrop, "…but then it looked the same as everything else. We then looked at a darker red, but that looked too much like a Pret delivery van. We wanted to be visible and conspicuous, to mark it out, to be different". Earlier, she also referred to the hue as "a One Nation colour". So it would seem you can call it anything - just not pink.

Oh, and to be clear - it's a "16 seater". By my measure that's a mini bus… but I'm no expert.

tweets, external: Le Monde reported yday, external that HSBC whistleblower emailed the Foreign Office in 2008 offering them all his data

(note: Le Monde article is in French)

The Guido Fawkes blog has a picture of a Labour Party campaign bus, external - although it looks to be more of a minivan - set to be unveiled tomorrow urging women to vote Labour. The bus appears to be painted pink - a choice which has raised a number of eyebrows on Twitter. Guido Fawkes describes it as a "Sexist Pink Budget Battle 'Bus'", but Labour deputy leader Harriet Harman hit back by saying "labour women don't need any lectures on patronising women from guido fawkes!".

Image source, Labour Party

tweets, external: Hmm Lord Deben, AKA John Gummer, to seek to block "3 parent baby" order on #mitochondrial donation in @UKHouseofLords Feb 24 (correct date)

tweets, external: Miliband has been in 'internal meetings' in Westminster today, a couple of hundred yards from BCC conference. Sources say no snub intended

Image source, AFP

Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond has rejected Mr Assad's assertion that his forces were not using "barrel bombs".

In an interview with the BBC's Middle East editor Jeremy Bowen in Damascus, Syrian President Bashar al-Assad denied the use of such bombs and dismissed the allegation as a "childish story".

But Mr Hammond said: "Assad is deluded or lying when he says his military are not murdering hundreds of innocent civilians with the use of barrel bombs. His regime has waged a brutal campaign against the Syrian people, using crude and indiscriminate weapons and prevented access to life-saving humanitarian assistance.

"Assad's forces have systematically murdered, tortured, raped and imprisoned Syrians. There can be no doubt that he is the problem, not part of the solution. The UK's position has not changed, we have no dialogue with Assad; there must be a political transition to a future in which Assad has no part."

tweets, external: Ed Miliband no show at BCC but when was last time Tory cabinet minister addressed the TUC?

Buzzfeed

Image source, Phillip Lee

At Buzzfeed, Emily Ashton reports, external that Phillip Lee, the Conservative MP for Bracknell, "has been told off by party whips for hitting out at George Osborne's pensioner bonds". She says Dr Lee was "hauled into the whips' office on Monday for a dressing-down".

Image source, European Photopress Agency

Defence Secretary Michael Fallon has said British military personnel are in line to be sent to Iraq to train the country's security forces to find home-made bombs, known as improvised explosive devices (IEDs). Mr Fallon said the UK also intends to gift 1,000 counter-IED metal detectors as part of efforts to defeat the extremist group Islamic State (IS).

In a written statement, Mr Fallon said: "Iraq is currently facing a severe threat from IED attacks - the number, scale and lethality of which has increased in recent months. The training team will add to the 560 UK military personnel in the region supporting coalition efforts and building on earlier packages through which the UK has gifted weapons and trained 1,000 Iraqi security forces in how to use them."

Tweets, external: Deeply distressing to hear of death of aid worker Kayla Mueller. My thoughts with her family and friends. #ISIL violence will not succeed.

tweets, external: The number of migrants stopped in France trying to illegally enter the UK is set to double this year according to Sir Charles Montgomery

and

tweets, external: Sir Charles Montgomery, the head of the Border Force said 30,000 have been stopped in last ten months. Previously 18,000 stopped in 12 mths

Ross Hawkins
Political correspondent, BBC News

The prime minister's spokeswoman said the government had no record that HMRC officials made any minister aware of allegations of wrongdoing by HSBC staff.

Her statement was much more limited than her earlier assertion that no minister had any knowledge that HSBC may have been involved in wrongdoing in the bank's Swiss arm until the recent reports.

She did not concede that the government had changed its position, only saying that her most recent statement was consistent with her earlier comments. Privately, officials accept that they could not know whether any minister had at some point seen a press report about allegations against HSBC.

Sources have stressed that ministers are not involved in decisions to prosecute companies or individuals for tax evasion.

tweets, external: The BBC understands that Prince Charles did raise the issue of Raif Badawi during his meeting with Saudi Arabia's King Salman.

tweets, external: PM spox now says govt has no record HMRC officials made any minister aware of allegations of wrongdoing by HSBC staff

Conservative business minister Matt Hancock tells BBC News he "wasn't even born when there was last a referendum on membership in Europe, and it's about time we had one".

tweets:, external Ed Balls, Yvette Cooper, Andy Burnham & George Osborne are all 33/1 to be prime minister after the election, external