Summary

  • David Cameron tells Marr he's "hopeful" of an EU deal in February and referendum is likely after September

  • He says he'll stay on as PM - and "do everything necessary to make it work" - if UK votes to leave EU

  • Shadow justice secretary Lord Falconer urges Labour to "come together" after recent reshuffle

  • Labour MP Alison McGovern has quit a party policy group over differences with the leadership

  1. Benefit assessment tests 'doubled in cost'published at 08:08

    Disability benefit assessments have doubled in cost to £579m a year but targets are still being missed, the National Audit Office has said in a critical report.

    The spending watchdog found the quality of the tests was also not improving despite significant changes.

    Labour MP Meg Hillier, who chairs the Commons public accounts committee, said the cost was "staggering" and sick and disabled people needed "a better deal".

    The Department for Work and Pensions said it would look into the findings.

    Read more

  2. Watch: Alan Johnson on Labour's reshufflepublished at 08:01

    Media caption,

    Former home secretary criticises sackings

    Speaking on the BBC's This Week on Thursday, Labour MP and former home secretary Alan Johnson gave his verdict on Jeremy Corbyn's reshuffle of the opposition front bench.

  3. Friday's live coveragepublished at 07:58

    Welcome to Friday's live coverage of events at Westminster and beyond. It's been a rather busy week. The diary, as they say, is a little more fluid today but we will be bringing you all the developments as and when they happen. 

  4. Thursday summarypublished at 20:40

    Jeremy Corbyn has put the finishing touches to his reshuffle, with some appointments forced on him by shadow ministerial resignations. The whole four-day process is documented here by BBC political editor Laura Kuennsberg.

    Also today, George Osborne has warned the UK faces a "cocktail" of serious threats from a slowing global economy, and David Cameron visited Hungary as part of his EU negotiations.

    You can watch tonight's This Week on the live coverage tab above, and catch up on the rest of the day's key political video.

  5. The real story behind the Labour reshufflepublished at 20:00

    Laura Kuenssberg
    BBC political editor

    Labour advisers from rival camps hovered around each other, awkwardly, in the coffee queue.

    One of the frontbenchers who quit rushed along, head down. The only thing some Labour MPs, apparatchiks and shadow ministers going about their business in Parliament today have got in common is the grey bags under their eyes due to a lack of sleep.

    In the last four days there have sackings, resignations, threats of resignations, private frustrations and arguments, and discussions, endless discussions.

    Jeremy Corbyn now, finally, has his new team. And it's not even very different to the old one.

    It's not clear that the levels of drama really merit four departures, two different names in the shadow cabinet, and a handful of new faces in the shadow frontbench team. There were always going to be disagreements inside Jeremy Corbyn's Labour Party that were more intense than in most political parties, which are realistically, always awkward coalitions.

    But this week, bad blood has turned into poison. How did it all go so badly wrong?

    Read the rest of Laura's blog

  6. Tony Blair and Bill Clinton chat about Steven Spielbergpublished at 17:43

    More from the Tony Blair and Bill Clinton conversations, this on Steven Spielberg and Mr Blair's views on British films.

    Tony Blair and Bill Clinton transcript
    Tony Blair and Bill Clinton transcript
    Tony Blair and Bill Clinton transcript
  7. President Clinton told Tony Blair he had 'that choirboy look'published at 17:35

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  8. Kids Company psychologist admits taking MDMA while with clientspublished at 17:33

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  9. Johnson and Cameron look to BMW for inspirationpublished at 17:15

    Media caption,

    Boris Johnson: UK could have 'great future' outside EU

    David Cameron toured a BMW factory in Bavaria earlier today, to show why Britain was better off as part of a "reformed" EU.

    Meanwhile, in a BBC car park in London, Boris Johnson seized on the German car giant to make a rather different point.

    "Britain is the fifth biggest economy in the world and there is no way on earth that Germany, which has a massive trade surplus with us - look at all these BMWs all over the BBC car park - they are not going to want to lose that. 

    "They are going to want to maintain good trading relations with us. We've got a great future either way."

    BMW said in a statement issued after Mr Cameron's visit it would "regret" Britain's departure from the EU.

  10. Arranging a resignation live on airpublished at 17:08

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  11. Watch: Nigel Farage and Peter Bone on new cross-party EU 'out' campaignpublished at 17:03

    The Daily Politics

    Media caption,

    Nigel Farage and Peter Bone on the new Grassroots Out EU referendum campaign

    A cross-party group of politicians is coming together to launch a new campaign group in support of a vote to leave the European Union, in the upcoming referendum.

    UKIP leader Nigel Farage and Conservative Eurosceptic MP Peter Bone spoke to Jo Coburn about the initiative, which will see a series of public meetings held across the UK.

  12. Catch-up: Blair and Clinton chatspublished at 17:00

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  13. Jeremy Corbyn supports Freedom of Information Actpublished at 16:58

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  14. Kinship care 'daunting' - SNPpublished at 16:45

    House of Commons
    Parliament

    The SNP's Patricia Gibson is summing up the debate up for her party. She says there are "no easy answers" to the question.

    She says the SNP government in Scotland has allowed children in foster, kinship or residential care to stay in care until the age of 21 to help them move more easily to independent living. They are also entitled to support until the age of 26 once they've left care.

    She says support is needed for kinship carers due to the "daunting" nature of what it involves, as well as the upheaval caused in the lives of those carers. She says the SNP government has raised kinship care allowances to the same level as those given to foster carers.

    Patricia Gibson
  15. Tony Blair and Muammar Gaddafi conversations during Arab Springpublished at 16:42

    Tony Blair and Muammar GaddafiImage source, Getty Images

    Transcripts of conversations between Tony Blair and former Libyan leader Colonel Muammar Gaddafi have been published by a parliamentary committee.

    The conversations took place in February 2011, seven months before the dictator's death. 

    In them Tony Blair urges Gaddafi to "engage in a process that brings about peaceful change" and advises "if you have a safe place to go you should go there". 

    While Gaddafi denies the reports of violence and invites Mr Blair to visit the country to see for himself. He said there are al-Qaeda linked jihadists. He also said if the West tried to "re-colonise" Libya than he would arm the Libyan people.

    Crispin Blunt, chairman of the foreign affairs and select committee, said the transcripts give "a new insight into the private views of Colonel Gaddafi as his dictatorship began to crumble around him". 

    Read the full transcripts here, external and here, external.

  16. Watch: Should Britain's nuclear weapons system be renewed?published at 16:32

    The Daily Politics

    Media caption,

    Nuclear weapons debate: Ken Livingstone, Lord Hennessy and Julian Lewis

    Andrew Neil spoke to Ken Livingstone, co-chairman of Labour's defence review, Conservative MP Julian Lewis, chairman of Parliament's Defence Committee and independent crossbench peer Lord Hennessy.

  17. Shadow chancellor John McDonnell says Labour would 'borrow to invest'published at 16:30

    The World at One
    BBC Radio 4

    Media caption,

    Shadow chancellor John McDonnell discusses Labour's economic policy.

    Labour would "borrow to invest" in infrastructure, shadow chancellor John McDonnell has said.

    "When borrowing costs are low, you need to borrow to invest," he told World at One presenter Martha Kearney. 

    Asked if this would increase the deficit, he replied "in the short term". But he added that it would lead to a "stable, growing and prosperous" economy in the longer term. 

    Mr McDonnell said George Osborne was "lacking credibility" on the economy for saying that "everything was rosy" and then "within weeks telling us we're on the edge of another crisis".

  18. Hungarian PM says his citizens in UK aren't 'parasites'published at 16:11

    David Cameron and Viktor Orban

    The Prime Minister of Hungary has said Hungarians who work in the UK are not "parasites" and should get respect.

    Speaking at a joint press conference with David Cameron in Budapest, Viktor Orban said most Hungarians in the UK contribute more in taxes than they claim in benefits.

    Mr Cameron was in Hungary for further talks on his proposals for EU reform, including the controversial proposal to ban in-work benefits for EU citizens in the UK for four years.

    Mr Orban said he was open to "every reasonable suggestion" which would eliminate welfare abuse across the EU but Hungarians should not suffer discrimination.

    The Prime Minister said the four year proposal "won't come off the table" unless something was put in its place. 

    Read more

  19. Watch: Why the lasting appeal of 'Yes, Prime Minister'?published at 15:55

    The Daily Politics

    Media caption,

    BBC Radio 4's Shaun Ley marks the BBC comedy's 30th birthday

    BBC Radio 4's Shaun Ley looked at the lasting appeal of BBC comedy 'Yes, Prime Minister', to mark its 30th birthday.

    In the studio, Jo Coburn and Andrew Neil discussed why it is still loved by politicians and the watching commentariat, with guest of the day Lord Hennessy and former Home Office minister Nick Herbert.  

  20. Jeremy Corbyn: Listening to everyone caused reshuffle delaypublished at 15:52

    Jeremy Corbyn's reshuffle has been dubbed by some as the longest one in history and the reason Mr Corbyn gives for that is for always listening to people. 

    He told the Yorkshire Post, external his "great failing in life is to listen to everybody at whatever great length they wish to speak to me".

    He likened the process of the reshuffle to a game of "multi-dimensional chess".

    Quote Message

    Because if you move someone from department A to department B, that creates a vacancy in A, which you might need to fill with somebody from C, than then creates a vacancy in E, and by the way somebody in group G is very upset with the job they've got and wants to move somewhere else."