Guido’s old adversary Tim Yeo has been flying the green flag once again this morning, laying into George Osborne for failing to back renewable energy. Yeo sided with Energy Secretary Ed Davey in his dispute with the Treasury: “They are working particularly to target some Conservative backbenchers, pursuing a policy designed to prove that they are not going to get into so-called costly green initiatives. It is extraordinary.”

Rather more extraordinary is the vast amount of money Tim rakes in from his personal investments in green companies. In the past twelve months Yeo has made over £60k as chairman of TMO Renewables, a company which develops and supplies technology for second generation biofuels. He is also chair of AFC Energy, an alkaline fuel cell technology that pays him over £50k per year. Guido has visited this before:

Given that Yeo makes over £100,000 each year from private green investments, using his role  to lobby on behalf of the industry for subsidies represents a serious conflict of interest. This is the Chairman of the Energy Select Committee.  Replace the words “green” with “oil”…

Tim Montgomerie tweets:

“Mr John Prescott lecturing Charlie Elphicke about waste is like an arsonist lecturing a firefighter“

Hear the one about terrible party management? ConservativeHome is reporting that Stuart Andrew will replace Lords reform rebel Angie Bray as Francis Maude’s PPS. Eric Joyce’s drunken headbutt victim, who has himself rebelled over the EU, leap-frogs the dwindling number of Tory MPs who have stayed loyal to Dave since the Coalition took office. This looks like a peace-offering but a dangerous one for the Party leadership – there is no disguising that disloyalty is being rewarded. 

UPDATE:

Cabinet Office source confirms Stuart Andrew appointment: "Pleased to welcome him to the team." (cc @IsabelHardman @TimMontgomerie)

— Harry Cole (@MrHarryCole) July 23, 2012

If you had picked up your Daily Star Sunday yesterday you would already know about ‘NSIT’ MPs, more reshuffle ammo, Harman V Maggie and Dave when he wanted a referendum.

Guido’s Sunday column is on holiday for August but back in time for the reshuffle…

Yesterday’s column is now online here.

The BBC has issued a bizarre statement responding to complaints concerning their coverage of the Israeli Olympics team. The Beeb caused a stir last week by apparently mistakenly suggesting that Israel had no capital city, a story picked up by several newspapers and online publications.

An innocent error perhaps, but a letter to a viewer from the BBC‘s complaints department had one particularly suspicious line: “we feel it is worth explaining that a considerable number of complaints have been generated by online lobby activity“. Which “lobby” could they possibly be referring to?

Exchequer Secretary to the Treasury David Gauke writing in The Times this morning says that they are going to name and shame tax dodgers. He also gives examples of what is fair and what is not:

Legitimate use of reliefs, for example taking out a tax-free ISA, is not tax avoidance. Buying a house for personal use through a company to avoid stamp duty, on the other hand, clearly is. Morally repugnant practices such as this are where the Government is cracking down.

 David Gauke MP claimed £10,248.32 expenses back from taxpayers to avoid paying the stamp duty and fees involved in the purchase of his home in London. Not only is that in his own words “morally repugnant”, it is beyond hypocritical to lecture others against doing what he himself did. It is shameless.