A good line, but a good point too…

On Wednesday David Davis warned of the consequences:

“I think if we came third it would be a crisis, I think that’s the case, and if it’s a close second with UKIP on our tail it will also be uncomfortable.”

You can get your official Tory crisis t-shirts here:

There are only a few left, so order yours while stocks last…

Labour vote up by 0.2%. Tories down by 14%. Good morning, Prime Minister…

The government’s proposal to introduce a minimum price of 50p per unit of alcohol is regressive taxation at its worst. It is an attack on both the poor and on the middle class, the seasoned drinker and the responsible drinker. For a “Conservative-led” coalition to implement a statist, anti-market, high tax raid is counter to the historic role of the Conservative Party. The joke that only the PM and Jeremy Heywood back the policy has more than a ring of truth to it.

This week Boris entered his champion of the people mode, bashing Dave for “hitting the poorest hardest” with minimum alcohol pricing. Osborne thinks it could actually cause a drop in takings from alcohol duty, and Theresa May, who is responsible for pushing it through, is said to be “cool”. Health minister Anna “Super” Soubry – as she is ironically known by her less than enamoured colleagues – admits responsible drinkers will be hit. Ken Clarke says it won’t work, James Brokenshire agrees it penalises everybody, even the LibDem minister Jeremy Browne isn’t on board. It is also worth noting that David Davis is a particularly strong opponent.

The Cabinet is against, but the PM is steam-rolling it through. You can tell Dave what you think in the poll below…

The BBC hit straight back against this morning’s claim from the Tories that they had behaved disingenuously, briefing that they invited Maria Hutchings to the 5Live hustings as far back as last Wednesday. CCHQ sources are citing security reasons as an excuse for the confusion. They aren’t taking it lightly, Damian Green has just told Sky that “the BBC can be a bit self-important”, and a “jolly cross” Dave has berated the Beeb’s man on the ground, saying his bosses had “behaved badly and stupidly”.

Rather awkwardly, it appears there would have been time for Hutchings to do the debate and still be able to meet the PM…

H/T @MichaelPDeacon

UPDATE: Here is what Dave had to say:

“I think the BBC has behaved badly and stupidly over this from everything I’ve heard about it. My understanding is that we were discussing with you for ages beforehand about the timing of the hustings and the fact that Maria wanted to be with me for this meeting. This is a totally got up thing by the BBC. You know you’re not the most important thing in this by-election – the candidates are.”

Not the voters then…

Less cringe-worthy than the Blair’s “am I bovvered”…

Sometimes it’s impossible for a politician to avoid the Hague Rule – never get photographed in a hat:

An old favourite of Ed, but there’s a touch of Berlusconi to Dave in Delhi  today.

As Guido reported in his Sun column yesterday – and the Sunday Mirror “exclusively” revealed on page 2 – Dave has been on a secret no photo-op visit to a food bank. The PM was regularly coming under heavy fire for claiming the six-fold rise in food banks across the country was a sign of the Big Society in action and eventually promised to pop down to one. Last week he wrote to Luciana Berger, telling her he had “visited a local food bank on 9 February 2013”. For some reason he forgot to invite the usual camera crew along…

As Guido revealed in yesterday’s Sun column, there is some truth to the much-levelled charge that Downing Street is overrun with “kids”. The PM’s team is smaller and younger than at any point in the last ten years. The Prime Minister’s Office currently employs 181 staffers, almost 50 fewer than at the peak of Tony Blair’s government. Their average age is 39, lower than any point in the last ten years other than 2004/5, when it was the same. And they’ve been getting younger since Dave took office…

With Nick Clegg away somewhere, sadly we won’t learn what he is getting up to tonight for Valentine’s evening, but news of the other two party leaders has trickled out. Dave told an audience on the Eastleigh stump today that he had not done “that well at Valentine Day this morning”, so he is apparently cooking for Sam at the No.10 flat. Meanwhile Ed will be having a Chinese takeaway at his mansion in Primrose Hill. He told the Guardian that he would be catching up on BBC drama The Hour, adding sinisterly “There may also be a surprise.” Lets hope it’s a better costed one than his tax plan today…