“Why isn’t this government carrying on the precedents started by the previous government” squawked Burnham in the House a moment ago. Apparently this Risk Register is not the same as Labour’s Risk Register in 2009. If that is the case,  it is odd then that the reasons officials gave for not releasing the two Registers are remarkably similar. Almost as if they were written by the same civil servant.

Here is Lansley’s answer:

“Whilst conscious that there will be public interest in the contents of the Department’s Risk Register and assessments being made freely available, the public interest in preserving the ability of officials to engage in discussions of policy options and risks without apprehension that suggested courses of action may be held up to public or media scrutiny before they have been fully developed or evaluated has also been taken into account.”

And here is Burnham’s from 2009:

“Whilst we are conscious that there will be public interest in the contents of the Strategic Risk Register being made freely available, we have also taken into account the public interest in preserving the ability of officials to engage in discussions of policy options and risks without apprehension that suggested courses of action may be held up to public or media scrutiny before they have been fully developed or evaluated. “

Has Burnham forgotten his former position? Well yes it would appear he has. Health sources were most amused yesterday when a worried Burnham called the department’s civil servants to check whether he did indeed approve a decision not to publish his Risk Register. Whoops…

What becomes of disgraced coalition cabinet members after they are forced to resign? Well if this morning is anything to go by it seems they perform a pincer movement on George Osborne, calling for tax cuts.

If Huhne weighed in it would be a full house…

While there is an irony about Fox complaining it is too hard to sack people, he makes some good points in the FT:

The budget must confidently assert that capitalism works. But it doesn’t work if failure is rewarded as if it was success. …individual risk and effort is not rewarded when the UK government share of GDP has risen from 38 per cent in 1999 to 51 per cent in 2011, the effective top rate of tax is over 50 per cent, and CPI inflation for the last five years has averaged 3.5 per cent.To restore Britain’s competitiveness we must begin by deregulating the labour market. Political objections must be overridden.

In the Guardian, David Laws follows up Monday’s Newsnight outing with a welcome call to speed up taking the poorest out of tax. He wants to put up taxes though to fund it. Hmm…

A cynical person might think this must be coordinated, but Guido isn’t so sure. There’s no doubt that Laws’ interventions are sanctioned by his leader, though Guido doubts the same can be said be said for Fox. Steve Hilton will like it, but No.11 sources seem rather relaxed about the whole affair this morning…

After Lansley’s dire day, it was never going to be long before the internet mashups began:

For those left scratching their heads, Lansley’s resemblance to Hugh Abbott from the Thick of It is uncanny:

This one could stick…

He could have gone through the Rupert Entrance, but instead Andrew Lansley decided to brave the crowds outside Downing Street. Don’t think for a second that June Hautot was some innocent old dear, she is in fact a former union rep and organiser for “Keep NHS public”. The headlines won’t care for such minor details though…

Find out where he thinks Obama was born thirteen minutes in to this rabble rousing speech to CPAC.

Caroline Spelman was apparently advised against seeking a super-injunction to stop the Daily Star Sunday writing about her England rugby star son, and his alleged ███ ██ █████████. She failed to get the coveted privacy gag and now a judge has said he needs more time to decide whether Jonny should get special treatment because his mother is a) a millionaire and b) in the public eye.

Any other member of the England Under 18 squad accused of similar behaviour would not receive such a special dispensation.

Caroline Spelman was refused a super-injunction concerning a Daily Star Sunday story about her son Jonny on Saturday. She did manage to get a standard injunction to stop the paper running it, though that is being fought in the High Court tomorrow.

Guido has to wonder whether any other rising England Rugby star would have managed to stop the story appearing in print given that the judge specifically cited the seventeen year old’s mother’s job in the order. Mr Justice Lindblom said “there is a political dimension which cannot be ignored”.

And ignored it will not be – there are currently 185 mentions of the injunction on Google News…

The days of the Young Conservatives being a marriage bureau are long gone, but all is not lost for lonely Tory hearts. The YC’s reincarnation Conservative Future are hosting a Valentine’s Ball. Organisers must be a little worried about the pulling potential for the young right wingers though…

It’s masked…

Guido likes Tim Montgomerie and winced at this vicious briefing. He’s certainly upset some people today. Friends of Andrew Lansley especially:

“Tim’s sole achievement in politics was to be chief of staff to the most unpopular leader in Conservative history, so forgive us if we don’t take any lessons from him. He clearly wants to take the party back to the bad old days of constant infighting and no policy. He should stick to talking about gay marriage and leave serious issues like the NHS to the grown ups.”

It’s war!