Nicola Sturgeon tells @reallorraine it would be an "odd move" if Labour ruled out working with SNP to keep the Tories out

BBC Radio 4 Today

Chief Secretary to the Treasury Danny Alexander says his time in office has been one of "two politicians with very different perspectives, philosophies and ideas" - the other politician, of course, being George Osborne. But he told Radio 4's Today programme he thought "the Treasury has been an area where the coalition has worked well... strong job creation, and that's something I am very proud of". Nevertheless, he says the Tories have got their priorities wrong for the next parliament and are offering cuts which are too severe.

Norman Smith
BBC Assistant Political Editor

Grant Shapps has just told me, 'I screwed up on the dates.' He says he simply got the dates when he was still working as Michael Green wrong. His view is also that he didn't regard that position really as much of a second job - it was merely a hangover from his life before he was an MP. But Labour say this is serious. They are set to demand an investigation by the parliamentary commissioner for standards.

BBC Radio 4 Today

Oliver Miles, the former British Ambassador to Tripoli told Radio 4's Today programme Tony Blair should stand down as an envoy for the Quartet of Middle East peace negotiators. "I am told that he has achieved something trying to develop the Palestinian economy," he said. When pressed by presenter John Humphrys that Mr Blair might be given a "wider role", Mr Miles said: "He is a convenient excuse for doing nothing... Tony Blair has achieved very, very little." He is the "wrong man in the wrong job," he added.

tweets:, external Tory sources say @grantshapps did not regard post as "a second job" - as company was being wound up and more "a hobby on the side"

tweets:, external Tory chairman @grantshapps - "I screwed up" over dates of second job in @lbc interview

Tweets, external: Tory chairman @grantshapps says he "over firmly" denied having second job on @LBC

Tweets, external: Hilarious by top Tories like Hunt claiming Lab/BBC/Guard anti-business re Shapps. Nope Shapps caught red-handed re his Michael Green claims

tweets:, external Trevor Phillips wrong about Benedict Cumberbatch. He was not "buried". Widely accepted as innocent error without prejudice #r4today

Tweets, external: Poll: 53% in Scotland want another independence referendum within a decade. Another 22% want one eventually, external #indyref

BBC Radio 4 Today

"We are too shy to talk about some of the issues," Trevor Phillips tells BBC's Radio 4's Today programme on the subject of race. He makes reference to the furore that surrounded actor Benedict Cumberbatch when he described black people as "coloured". Mr Phillips says that actually Mr Cumberbatch was trying to make an important point about the prominence of black actors on the screen and instead his main sentiment was lost in the way the story was reported, which ended up being all about his use of an outdated word. Trevor Phillps is a former chairman of the Commission for Racial Equality and has made a Channel 4 documentary entitled "Things We Won't Say About Race That Are True".

Health Secretary and fellow Conservative Jeremy Hunt has leapt to Grant Shapps' defence. A short time ago he tweeted:, external "Unbelievable Lab/Guard/BBC attack on @grantshapps. His sin not 2 use pseudonym but 2 write books about how 2 create wealth - shock horror..."

tweets:, external Farage's pledge to quit as Ukip leader if he loses in South Thanet presents a tempting tactical voting target for other parties

The Mirror

In the run up to Wednesday's Budget, Mirror columnist Kevin Maguire says the chancellor could give the dodgiest of used car dealers some lessons on how to cheat and deceive the public. He writes: "He crashed the recovery in 2010, causing irreparable harm, slashed living standards, put up taxes and borrowed more in five years than Labour did in 13."

tweets:, external Ministers offer a review of biz rates to help struggling companies: but they've delayed a revaluation - the one thing that would've helped.

tweets, external: This is the moment Grant Shapps told @ShelaghFogarty he didn't use a second name while an MP, external

Image source, PA

The suggestion that Tony Blair's future as envoy for the Quartet of Middle East peace negotiators is to come to an end is the lead for today's Financial Times, external. The FT says the former prime minister is preparing to step back after eight years as he recognises that a "frontline role is no longer tenable". It says there is "deep unease" in the US and Washington over Mr Blair's poor relations with senior Palestinian Authority figures, as well as his sprawling business interests. If he does stand aside or take an informal position, it would end the controversial arrangement that has made him a fixture of Middle East diplomacy while conducting private business with some governments in the region, adds the FT.

The Sun

The Sun's Trevor Kavanagh thinks this will be the week that decides the outcome of the election., external He says the Budget could "break open the political deadlock" and make it much more likely that his prediction of a Conservative victory on 7 May will come true.

tweets:, external Biggest business rate review for 30 years to be announced in the Budget. Morrisons already vows to pass on savings Read more, external

Image source, PA

In other news, Nigel Farage's new book continues to be serialised in the Daily Telegraph. In today's extracts the UKIP leader says he'll resign if, external he does not win the seat he is fighting for in South Thanet. "I will have made UKIP an electable party; made British political history by beating both the Conservatives and Labour in a national election [the European elections in May 2014] for the first time since 1906; and steered the party to get its first seats in Westminster. But I could also be the only party leader to not have a seat there himself," he writes.