Patrick O'Flynn, UKIP economic spokesmanpublished at 08:19 Greenwich Mean Time 24 March 2015
tweets:, external Now poor Mr Fallon is on to moving around imaginary divisions. Time to invest in defence. #today
Summary
David Cameron hit back at claims he made a strategic blunder by telling the BBC he would not serve a third term as prime minister if he is re-elected on 7 May
The Tory leader said he gave a "straight answer to a straight question"
Alex Salmond said the SNP would block a minority Conservative government by voting down its Queen's Speech if it holds the post-election balance of power
Ed Balls announced Labour will not raise VAT if in government after the election
UKIP selected Harriet Yeo, former chairwoman of Labour's national executive committee, as a replacement election candidate
There are 44 days until the general election
Patrick O'Flynn, UKIP economic spokesmanpublished at 08:19 Greenwich Mean Time 24 March 2015
Defending the Falklandspublished at 08:18 Greenwich Mean Time 24 March 2015
BBC Radio 4 Today
Asked about the Falkland Islands threat, Defence Secretary Michael Fallon says "any future and possible threats" to the islands have to be weighed up. He won't give away many details ahead of his Commons statement, but says: "The threat remains, it's a very live threat, we have to respond to it and I am responding to it this afternoon."
Shredded Wheat UKpublished at 08:17 Greenwich Mean Time 24 March 2015
tweets:, external So you're a #ShreddedWheat man @David_Cameron?! What's your preference - hot or cold milk?
Predicting 2020published at 08:16 Greenwich Mean Time 24 March 2015
BBC Radio 4 TodayMichael Fallon says 2020 is too far off to predict what's going to happen. "10 years as prime minister is probably enough for everybody," he says. His uncertainty about the future means he doesn't directly address questions about whether the PM would have to resign before the 2020 general election once his replacement is chosen.
Robert Hutton, political correspondent at Bloombergpublished at 08:15 Greenwich Mean Time 24 March 2015
tweets:, external "Let's stick with one election at a time." Michael Fallon gives the answer Cameron should have gone for.
Westminster bubble?published at 08:13 Greenwich Mean Time 24 March 2015
BBC Radio 4 Today
Image source, APWhat about the possibility of a leadership election at the end of the next parliament? Michael Fallon says only people in Westminster care about that sort of thing. "Let's deal with one election at a time," he says.
Shelf-life politicspublished at 08:12 Greenwich Mean Time 24 March 2015
BBC Radio 4 TodayDefence Secretary Michael Fallon is on the Today programme to give his take on David Cameron's announcement that he won't stand for a third term in 2020. "It was a fairly obvious answer. He's not going to go on and on," he says, saying that every politician has a "shelf-life".
Matthew Francis, political historianpublished at 08:09 Greenwich Mean Time 24 March 2015
tweets:, external Odds are that Cameron would not make two full terms either way. And that is even without an EU referendum in 2017...
Matthew Francis, political historianpublished at 08:09 Greenwich Mean Time 24 March 2015
tweets:, external Amid the fuss around Cameron it is worth noting that only two PMs in the last century (Thatcher and Blair) actually served two full terms.
Tim Shipman, political editor, the Sunday Timespublished at 08:05 Greenwich Mean Time 24 March 2015
tweets:, external Things must be bad, they're wheeling out Michael Fallon! The safest pair of hands they have for Today interrogation
Minimum wagepublished at 08:05 Greenwich Mean Time 24 March 2015
BBC Radio 4
Image source, Getty ImagesThe law about minimum wage and care workers is very clear, minister Norman Lamb says. Employers who aren't scheduling in travel time are underpaying their staff and that's illegal. And it's not just about fairness, Mr Lamb adds: exploited workers won't provide good care.
John Prescott, Labour peerpublished at 07:52 Greenwich Mean Time 24 March 2015
tweets:, external #ImRulingMyselfOut of competing for Team GB in the 100m. It was a bit more realistic than Cameron's third team
Paying for carepublished at 07:51 Greenwich Mean Time 24 March 2015
BBC Radio 4Care providers are thought to be among the biggest groups who face the problem of not being paid the minimum wage. And HMRC is taking action: it's investigating six of the country's biggest social care providers for elderly and disabled adults. The problem is that employers don't pay staff for the time spent travelling between visits to their clients' homes. The Today programme is reporting on the issue now - desktop readers can listen in above.
'Country boy' Cameronpublished at 07:48 Greenwich Mean Time 24 March 2015
The Guardian
David Cameron's brush with James Landale wasn't all about third terms. The Guardian's Esther Addley has been sizing up the pair's "spontaneous village promenade", external and picks out some revealing details that haven't been widely picked up. The Camerons aren't so keen on London, for example. "I'm a country boy at heart," the prime minister says. His children say No 10 is just their "pretend home".
James O'Brien, talkshow hostpublished at 07:43 Greenwich Mean Time 24 March 2015
tweets:, external 3rd term hubris really makes Cameron look like a man who asked what his country could do for him and not what he could do for his country...
Faisal Islam, Sky News political editorpublished at 07:40 Greenwich Mean Time 24 March 2015
tweets:, external Labour criticising PM for talking about third term before getting second... Although Miliband did outline a "two term" plan at Conference
Falklands reinforcementspublished at 07:38 Greenwich Mean Time 24 March 2015
The Sun
A bit more on today's Falklands announcement, which the papers have been previewing extensively this morning. Defence Secretary Michael Fallon is expected to tell Parliament that Britain will reinforce its military garrison on the archipelago. It's in response to the increased threat posed by Argentina, backed by Russian-supplied strike aircraft. A Whitehall source told the Sun: "The defence secretary's decision reflects operational judgements and the increased nature of the threat. We want the people of the Falklands to know they are uppermost in our thinking."
Dylan Sharpe, head of PR at the Sunpublished at 07:36 Greenwich Mean Time 24 March 2015
tweets:, external I'm upgrading 'interviews in kitchens' from 'pointless' to 'potentially lethal' in my list of party leader PR exercises
Dan Hodges, Telegraph commentatorpublished at 07:34 Greenwich Mean Time 24 March 2015
tweets:, external Cameron sparks bout of leadership speculation? I've been reading leadership speculation stories every week for the past 3 years.
Kevin Maguire, associate editor of the Daily Mirrorpublished at 07:30 Greenwich Mean Time 24 March 2015
tweets:, external Labour VAT promise a big policy-political statement. 2010 attacks that Cons would raise VAT blunted when Lab didn't rule it out