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Asked if he thought Sir Malcolm had been nudged, James Forsyth, political editor at The Spectator, says: "I don't think you have to be a genius to work out which way the wind was blowing but he says it was his own decision. I think Jack Straw struck a more contrite tone yesterday."

tweets: , externalIn response to my question Natalie Bennett agrees @lbc interview was "excruciating" and confesses to "mind blank"

tweets: , externalRifkind has done the sensible thing in resigning as chair of ISC and standing down in May, he didn't try to cling on.

Tweets, external: Number Ten say "understand" Sir Malcolm Rifkind's decision to stand down and pay tribute to his work as a Foreign and Defence Secretary

On the topic of the cash for access story, he said: "As regards the allegations of Channel 4 and the Daily Telegraph I find them contemptible and will not comment further at this time. Although I will retire from Parliament I shall continue my public and political life and am much looking forward to doing so over the years to come."

On stepping down as an MP, Sir Malcolm Rifkind has said: "I had intended to seek one further term as MP for Kensington, before retiring from the House of Commons. I have concluded that to end the uncertainty it would be preferable, instead, to step down at the end of this Parliament. This is entirely my personal decision. I have had no such requests from my constituency association but I believe that it is the right and proper action to take."

tweets: , externalJenny Jones, Green press conference: "You can ask as many questions as you like about our manifesto but we won't be answering them today"

Tweets, external: Inevitable Malcolm Rifkind has gone but the rules governing membership of the intelligence committee need immediate reform.

Norman Smith
BBC Assistant Political Editor

Sir Malcolm will have picked up on the murmurings about his ability to carry on as chairman, and he will have been acutely aware of the lack of support from Downing Street. He does not seem to be acknowledging any fault on his behalf looking at his statement. It appears to be a shattering end to his political career. The question now is, who will be the new chairman of the committee?

tweets: , externalSmall but extremely crowded room for Green Party Elex launch

Image source, other

Sir Malcolm Rifkind will also step down as MP for Kensington and Chelsea at the general election.

In his resignation statement, Sir Malcolm Rifkind says: "None of the current controversy with which I am associated is relevant to my work as chairman of the intelligence and security committee of Parliament.

"However, I have today informed my colleagues that while I will remain a member of the committee, I will step down from the chairmanship. The committee is due to be dissolved in little over a month with the prorogation of Parliament for the forthcoming general election. The main substantive work which needs to be completed will be the publication of our Privacy and Security Report during March.

"I do not want the work of the committee and the publication of the report to be, in any way, distracted or affected by controversy as to my personal position. I have concluded, therefore, that it is better that this important work should be presided over by a new chairman."

Sir Malcolm Rifkind steps down as chairman of the intelligence and security committee.

Tweets: , externalGreen campaign launch: Natalie Bennett announces that the Greens will run in nearly 90% of seats - "our biggest boldest campaign ever"

Here's our news story on the Green Party campaign launch, which gets going shortly.

tweets: , externalHow has no-one sat her down after the last mauling and said: Right. We're fixing this. Learn these numbers.

Image source, SNP

Angus Robertson, the SNP's general election campaign director, says said that the general election is a "wonderful opportunity for Scotland to have power by electing a strong team of SNP MPs to a hung parliament at Westminster". He said: "By voting SNP, people can support a party that has the key goal of best representing the people of Scotland - and can also help deliver progressive politics across the UK, including an alternative to austerity. SNP success means that Scotland's priorities will be priorities at Westminster - including achieving the real powers of Home Rule, and an economic policy focused on jobs, growth and fairness."

tweets: , externalNo Green can accuse @NickFerrariLBC of giving @natalieben an even remotely unfair time in that interview, he could have gone in far harder

The Greens' Natalie Bennett has had a pretty tough time this morning in her pre-launch interviews. On LBC radio,, external she struggled to answer host Nick Ferrari's questions about how much a plan to build 500,000 social rental homes would cost. "We want to fund that particularly from removing tax relief from mortgage interest for private landlords," she said. Asked how much that would bring in, she appeared to struggle, eventually coming up, hesitantly, with a rather-too-large sounding £6bn a year. Asked how much each of those homes would cost to build, she said £60,000 but couldn't explain how the land would be paid for. "We have a fully-costed programme which we will be releasing," she said.

Image source, PA

"Too involved in trying to get by in their daily lives to be politically active," is how 28-year-old Georgia Gould, daughter of the late Philip Gould - pictured here with Alistair Campbell - views the younger generation. In an interview with the Times, external the girl who can remember standing outside No 10 dressed in a Labour Party baseball cap and waving a flag on the day Tony Blair was elected in 1997, talks about her experiences of politics and tries to find an answer to the disillusionment of the young. They are "pragmatic individualists" whose political beliefs, says Gould, are expressed in unconventional ways: "Some do it in spoken-word poetry, others in terms of how they consume, the kind of work they want to be doing. So they're political in their lifestyle choices. But they look at formal politics and say: 'This is not for me'.