Victoria Derbyshire

Tim Farron won't rule out another union with the Conservatives. Asked why not, he replies: "Surely if you're involved in politics and you don't want power, you should be ashamed of yourself."

Victoria Derbyshire

Why on earth did you join the coalition? That's the first question from the audience.

"The political stability the coalition provided got the country through a very difficult period," Norman Lamb says. "I think we were novices against a ruthless Tory machine but I think we did the right thing."

"The Liberal Democrats did the only thing they could have done in the national interest," agrees Tim Farron. And he says the looming £12bn in benefit cuts shows the impact his party had. "What is coming now is the proof of the stuff we held back," he says.

Victoria Derbyshire

"I am a middle-aged white bloke from Lancashire... I had a proper job before I ended up doing this." Tim Farron, pictured above in the pink shirt, sums himself up.

"I'm a massive Norwich City fan. I spend a lot of time cycling and I cycled from London to Paris in 2009 - it nearly killed me." Norman Lamb gives us some detail about himself too.

Victoria Derbyshire

Over on the Victoria Derbyshire show, Norman Lamb and Tim Farron - the two men who want to lead the Liberal Democrats - are about to face questions from the audience. Here they are perched on their stools ready - centre of the picture, blue and pink shirts.

We'll be listening in.

Michael Gove suggests the court estate - in other words, court buildings - needs a close look. He says he will save money by looking at the "ageing and ailing" estate which is currently "under-used". Could that translate as the sell-off of some of those buildings?

Here are a few key extracts from Michael Gove's speech that were given to us in advance. 

Michael Gove's speech isn't coming into us live here, but we'll bring you lines from it - and analysis of it - as soon as we can.

Image source, AFP

The Labour leadership candidate, Jeremy Corbyn, has urged party members to report anyone they think has joined up to skew the outcome of the ballot.

A Twitter campaign running under the hashtag #ToriesForCorbyn is encouraging Conservatives to pay £3 to become a registered supporter of Labour, which will give them a vote in the leadership election.

On his Facebook page,, external Mr Corbyn said "our instincts tell us to be suspicious of a storm whipped up mainly by the Tory Press", but acknowledged that some members were concerned.

He said if Labour supporters were aware of members of other parties signing up, they should tell him or Labour headquarters and checks would be made.

Image source, Reuters

The director of the British Chambers of Commerce has sent an open letter to David Cameron, external offering the organisation's support if he "secures a deal in the interests of the UK economy" in his negotiations with the EU. 

John Longworth set out five key priorities for his group, including "a cast iron opt-out to make sure we do not sleepwalk into an 'ever closer union'" and safeguards "to protect our businesses from the regulatory burdens imposed by the EU".

David Cameron will meet other EU leaders - including French President Francois Hollande, pictured - later this week.

Image source, PA

That's the view of Josh May at TotalPolitics.co.uk. He says Gove will point out that the need for change  has been “made most powerfully and clearly by the judiciary themselves”. 

The Guardian's Polly Toynbee assesses the Labour leadership race, external so far, and thinks Yvette Cooper is the one to beat. "Cooper is on the up, her every outing leaving audiences thinking better of her. She even impressed the press gallery last week, the toughest gig of all," she writes.

Of the others, she says, so far Liz Kendall is "yet to show policy depth behind the words", and while a hustings format favours Jeremy Corbyn - "who wins on the clapometer" - "voting for him is ignoring the electorate" 

[Andy] Burnham was fast out of the traps to attack Osborne’s benefit cuts yesterday - but Cooper was there too, defending tax credits and calling for a living wage," she adds. 

Today Programme
BBC Radio 4

Image source, Getty

Rwanda's intelligence chief Karenzi Karake, who is wanted in Spain for alleged war crimes, has been arrested in London. The Met Police's extradition unit arrested Gen Karake at Heathrow Airport on Saturday, it is understood.

Former international development secretary Andrew Mitchell said the move was a "misuse" of the European Arrest Warrant system. 

"It's being used for political reasons and not for judicial ones. It's being used by supporters of the genocidal regime against those who stopped the genocide," he told Today.

Mr Mitchell said he agreed with the US that there was no substance to the allegations and it was "reprehensible that the European Arrest Warrant system should be abused in this way by a junior Spanish judge".

Image source, Getty

Wind power made headlines yesterday and today it's fracking. Lancashire county council will meet later to consider a bid by firm Cuadrilla to start the first fracking operation in the UK for four years. Fracking was suspended in the UK in 2011.

Up to 2,000 people are expected to protest outside the hearing in Preston.  

During yesterday's statement by Environment Secretary Amber Rudd on onshore wind farm subsidies, Labour's Ian Lucas questioned the government's priorities, cutting subsidies for renewables while increasing them for fracking. 

Image source, AP

The Daily Telegraph is serialising a 1,000-page manifesto - well, not of all it presumably - from Eurosceptic lobby group Business for Britain. In today's instalment, the group argues, external that British households would be nearly £1,000 a year better off outside an unreformed European Union. It says quitting the EU would be "quite manageable" because the net savings would "vastly outweigh" the cost of supporting the industries that would be hit by the move.

It also claims the UK is overpaying for trading benefits with tariff exemptions amounting to just 66p for every £1 paid in.