• The fallout from Nigel Farage's comments that much of the laws against race discrimination in the workplace should be scrapped have dominated the day

• Downing Street said the comments - made last autumn to documentary-makers - were "deeply concerning" while Labour branded them "shocking"

• Mr Farage himself spent much of the day defending the comments, saying he had been "wilfully misinterpreted" and he had been talking about nationality not race

• Ed Miliband appeared to rule out a Labour/SNP coalition after the election, with his chief election strategist, Lucy Powell, later saying there was "absolutely no prospect" of one

• Ibrahim Taguri, a former head of fundraising for the Lib Dems, stood down as a party candidate after claims he had accepted a "potentially illegal donation"

• MPs called for an overhaul of laws governing how UK intelligence agencies monitor private communications

• MPs approved a backbench motion calling for the UK to spend at least 2% of national income on defence

Thanks for joining us tonight, we'll be back from 06:00 GMT on Friday with more rolling coverage.

Michael Portillo tells Sarah Vine she should have been "less abusive" in her piece about the Milibands. Alan Johnson accuses her being "spiteful and nasty". Ms Vine says she was being "mischievous" and you needed a thick skin in public life.

Daily Mail columnist Sarah Vine - wife of Conservative chief whip Michael Gove - says there is a huge difference between her "lovely" husband, who brings her a cup of tea in the morning, the "Michael Gove" she reads about in the newspapers. But it is important to stand by spouses in the political spotlight, she argues. Ms Vine was critical of an article she wrote about Ed Miliband's wife Justine, says Michael Portillo. This is what happens, suggests the columnist, saying "newspapers are not meant to be nice, they are meant to be informative".

This can't be a coincidence can it? Alan Johnson and Michael Portillo make a splash with their pink shirts.

Andrew Neil picks up on Ian Hislop's point about David Cameron commenting on the Clarkson row. The PM said he was a "huge talent" and a friend and he hoped the row could be sorted out.

This Week is off and running. With - what else - a Top Gear theme. This should be fun....

The guests are getting ready to go live on This Week now. Alan Johnson will be on the sofa throughout, while Sarah Vine is on at the start to talk about being a political wife, while actor Tyger Drew-Honey will be talk about teenage life later on. Desktop viewers can watch Andrew Neil and guests via the Live Coverage tab above.

Lucy Powell watches Top Gear with her stepson but thinks he should be sacked. Anna Soubry is also a fan of the programme but says Jeremy Clarkson is an "idiot who has behaved very badly". Charles Kennedy has the final word though, quoting Gone With The Wind: "Frankly my dear, I don't give a damn".

Ian Hislop claims he was "assaulted" by Jeremy Clarkson, who he says threw a biro at him during a recording of Have I Got News For You. But the really outrageous thing, he says, is that the prime minister commented on the row.

Natalie Bennett has never watched Top Gear, she says (it's probably just as well!). She says it's time for Jeremy Clarkson to move on and stop collecting licence fee-payers' money.

The final question now and - guess what - it's about Jeremy Clarkson! Can the BBC afford to lose him?

An audience member takes Ian Hislop to task - after first admitting he is a "huge fan" of the Private Eye editor - over his claim that the Muslim community needed to do more to combat radicalisation. It's not as simple as Hislop suggests, he says. The Muslim community does not have a "single voice".

Anna Soubry rejects UKIP leader's Nigel Farage's claim that there is a "fifth column" enemy within in UK society as "outrageous".

An audience member says she knows people from Bradford who have joined IS. They don't feel they fit into society in the UK, she adds. Ian Hislop says the three girls were model students. It's about finding a new British Muslim identity to counter radicalisation, replies the woman.

Why assume that the girls are "vulnerable", asks an audience member. They have chosen to go out there. She accuses Natalie Bennett of being brainwashed. Anna Soubry says they should be protected if they are under 16.

Lucy Powell says it is too easy to look at these cases through the law enforcement prism - we need to focus on social services and protecting schoolchildren from radicalisation, she says.

Natalie Bennett gets treated to another excerpt from the Greens' website - she got into trouble recently for appearing to suggest people should be allowed to belong to IS, before stressing that was not her position. "We have to balance freedom versus protection", she says, in relation to the three girls.

tweets:, external The girls will not be prosecuted in the event they return http://bbc.in/18F5f0e #bbcqt

Charles Kennedy says you cannot expect the police to know what is going on "in some child's bedroom". It is not 1984.

It was a mess, says Ian Hislop. The police did not ensure letters went to the parents rather just being "hidden" by the girls. He says he has some sympathy for the police who had to balance surveillance with sensitivity towards the Muslim community.