The Daily Politics

Conservative MP Therese Coffey told the Daily Politics that ultimately it is the home secretary and prime minister who are accountable to the British public, not judges. She was making the point in relation to the draft Investigatory Powers Bill being unveiled in parliament today. She said she hasn't been paying much attention to what David Davis, who is critical of the Bill, has been saying on it.

Labour MP Jack Dromey said the public do not trust the government to safeguard their privacy. 

Jeremy Corbyn has issued a strongly-worded statement criticising David Cameron's invitation to the Egyptian President Abdel Fatah al-Sisi to the UK, saying it “shows contempt for human and democratic rights”. He also says it threatens Britain’s national security.

The Daily Politics

The Daily Politics

Labour MP Jack Dromey has said he agrees with Neil Kinnock, former Labour leader, that the party needs to take national security seriously.

He said "people will not vote for a government that doesn't protect national security". But he made clear he did want to see a "nuclear-free world" referring to a debate the party was having on whether to keep Trident.

The Daily Politics

However Labour MP Jack Dromey compares Jeremy Hunt with the "dodgy employers" he used to deal with, offering "now you see it, now you don't" options. He added Mr Hunt was telling junior doctors to take it or leave it and holding a gun to their heads. He said Mr Hunt needed to tone down his threatening language. 

Mr Dromey also said the BMA should get back around the negotiating table. 

The Daily Politics

Conservative MP Therese Coffey defends the Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt's handling of the junior doctor's contracts. She said doctors will hear the details directly. She said the changes were a "good thing" and that junior doctors would "not lose a penny."

Shadow Health Secretary Heidi Alexander has accused the Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt of playing a "game of brinkmanship".

She said he should withdraw the threat of "contract imposition" in order to pursue talks with British Medical Association who are planning strike action.

Family, political colleagues and friends attended a memorial service for Charles Kennedy yesterday. 

The former Liberal Democrat leader died in June and was party leader for more than six years. Mr Kennedy was remembered as a man of "exceptional character and talent".

Image source, Getty Images

Image source, Getty Images

Image source, Getty Images

Image source, Getty Images

Image source, Getty Images

Image source, Getty Images

The Daily Politics

Jo Coburn and Giles Dilnot will be joined by Conservative Therese Coffey and Labour's Jack Dromey for 90 minutes of political news and comment from 11:30.

Ahead of PMQs, they will look at doctors' pay, Neil Kinnock's warning on Trident and Scottish Labour voting against it, and political rebels, before the guess the year contest.

After reviewing PMQs with political editor Laura Kuenssberg, they will look at 'virtue signalling' with journalist James Bartholomew (see separate entry on this page) and the grumbles over the new design for UK passports.  

Andrew Neil will be back for Thursday's Daily Politics and This Week.  

The Daily Politics

Some like campaigning with a status update on Facebook, changing a profile picture on Twitter, wearing a wristband or sporting a badge with a catchy slogan.

Journalist James Bartholomew is not convinced this approach achieves much, as he looks at what he calls 'virtue signalling' in a personal film from Octavia Hill's Birthplace House in Wisbech.

On Wednesday's Daily Politics, he will debate this film with MPs Therese Coffey and Jack Dromey around 12:40 GMT.

Image source, PA

In April 2015 the government introduce a new fuel marker, Accutrace, to try to tackle fuel laundering. An HRMC evaluation of the new measure suggests it "is having a positive effect, but it is too early to say if the reductions are sustained, or to establish causality", according to Exchequer Secretary to the Treasury Damian Hinds. In a written ministerial statement, he said:, external

He'll be taking questions from Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn and backbench MPs from noon. Stay with us for rolling updates of the weekly Commons clash...

Conservative Home

Image source, Getty Images

George Osborne has seen his support among Conservative Party members slip according to a poll by grassroots website Conservative Home, external. While the chancellor still tops the monthly poll on who will become the party's next leader, his rating has dropped from 32% to 23% this month. London mayor Boris Johnson is a close second, on 21% after a 7-point lift in his ratings.

Conservative Home editor Paul Goodman thinks that the change is down to the tax credits row, noting that Mr Johnson has been at "the top of the queue of Conservative MPs questioning the tax credits plan".

Business Secretary Sajid Javid comes in third in the poll, on 17% closely followed by Home Secretary Theresa May on 16%.

The Crown Prosecution Service has been fined £200,000 by the data protection watchdog, the Information Commissioner's Office, over the theft of laptops containing videos of police interviews linked to 31 investigations, many involving sex and violence offences.

BBC News Channel

The BBC's assistant political editor on the latest twist in the dispute over changes to junior doctors contracts and the political implications for the government.  

LBC

Boris Johnson has apologised to London cab drivers for the time it is taking for drivers to renew their licenses. A frustrated cab driver has said he has been waiting since August, and only had a response to say it was being processed. Mr Johnson said he was "furious" and it was "unacceptable and I frankly cannot understand what they are playing at." He said a temporary license should be issued to speed up the process.

LBC

Speaking on London-specific issues Boris Johnson has said the the Orbit in the Olympic Park, which is losing money, will have a slide built. The slide, designed by Anish Kapoor and a Danish artist, would be opened "soonish", in "spring". He was also unable to give a clear date on when the underground will run throughout the night, which was expected to launch in September. He added the Victoria and Albert museum should have taken the collection of Margaret Thatcher's wardrobe. 

In a written ministerial statement, external, Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt says the new junior doctors' contract "will be fairer for doctors, safer for patients and juniors alike, better for training, and will better support a seven day NHS".

He says the BMA has "refused to return" to the negotiating table since it "withdrew" from talks last year, and adds: "In light of today’s announcement we hope that the BMA will now agree to return to negotiations."