Shadow business secretary says he wants to help build fairer societyOsborne says he has ‘clear mandate’ to reform UK-EU relationshipNorman Lamb says Lib Dems will never repeat tuition fees ‘debacle’Read our morning briefing to get you back up to speed 11.55am BST David Cameron invited a TV camera into Number 10 to film the start of cabinet. Downing Street released his words about being “the real party for working people” overnight and, when I posted them earlier, I expressed some doubt as to whether he would actually recite them as promised. (See 9.30am.) But it was a promise kept; he did. Here’s how he started.Before we start I want everyone around this table to be absolutely clear what we are here to do and who we are here to do it for. I think it is absoluely vital that in every decision that we take, in every policy we pursue, every programme we start, it is about giving everyone in our country the best chance of living a fulfilling and good life and making the most of their talents. That is what this government is going to be about. This will be a different government. It is not a coalition government, so we have proper accountability. There’s no trading away of things that are in here. The ability to deliver this, that is one of the most important things we can do to restore trust and faith in politics, when you vote for something you get it, and that is what we are going to do. 11.30am BST In his declaration video, Chuka Umunna says that Labour targeted 80 Conservative seats in the election and won just four of them. He says chose to come to Swindon to make this announcement because Swindon was the place where David Cameron won his majority. There are two Swindon seats: Swindon South, where the Tory majority was 3,544 in 2010, and where it went up to 5,785; and Swindon North, where the Tory majority was 7,060 in 2010 and where it went up to 11,786. Umunna includes a comment from Labour’s candidate in Swindon North, Mark Dempsey, who says the problem was that Labour lost working class votes to Ukip and middle class votes to the Conservatives.Since Thursday I wanted to speak to parliamentary candidates like Mark, in areas like this where unfortunately we did not win. I managed to speak to almost half of the 80 candidates standing in those Conservative seats we were targeting ...I have also spoken to many parliamentary colleagues and other stakeholders in the Labour party. I wanted to do that first before saying anything about my intentions with regard to the leadership of the Labour party. 11.11am BST Here is the Facebook video where Chuka Umunna announces he is standing.North, South, East, West - Labour can and must win in 2020 https://t.co/M5L5bMiT8f 11.06am BST Chuka Umunna, the shadow business secretary, has confirmed that he is standing for the Labour leadership.Chuka Umunna confirms he will run for Labour leadership- and then there were twoChuka's announcement here https://t.co/cla4e8Yuwt 10.49am BST Boris Johnson, the Conservative mayor of London and new MP for Uxbridge and Ruislip South, was on LBC earlier. Here are the key points he made.In an EU referendum I would vote to stay in if and only if we get the reforms we need. I think we’ve got to be absolutely prepared to go into the conversation saying, ‘Look, there’s a big wide world out there, we’ve got huge interests and growing interests in the former Commonwealth countries, with America, with the developing world’. And that’s where the growth markets are. There is no reason why Britain should be necessarily fettered, tied exclusively to its relationship with Europe. And, by the way, if we did leave, we would almost instantly rebuild the single market and our membership of the common market, as it was once called, overnight because they would be utterly mad to exclude a massive economy with which they have a favourable balance of trade ...In a negotiation where people like me and David want to see serious improvements, and we want to see less law coming from Brussels, you have got to be able to say to them, ‘Yes, there is another future’. If you don’t have that basic willingness to walk away, you cannot hope for a successful outcome in the negotiations.What I’m trying to just get over is there should be no unnecessary triumphalism now. Just because we got a Conservative majority I don’t think people want to see, and I’m sure this is true of Tory MPs, they don’t want to see any sort of, as I say, hubris, now.This is a moment for humility, for trying to deliver a programme that will really benefit the whole country. 10.38am BST Tracey Crouch has been made sports minister.Tracey Crouch is the new Minister for Sport. 10.32am BST Frances O’Grady, the TUC general secretary, has responded to Sajid Javid saying that tightening strike laws will be “a priority”. (See 8.55am.) The Tory plans will make strikes “close to impossible”, she says.The government’s proposals on union ballots will make legal strikes close to impossible. Union negotiators will be left with no more power than Oliver Twist when he asked for more. After five years of falling living standards the prospects for decent pay rises have just got a whole lot worse. 10.30am BST Damian Hinds has been made a Treasury minister.Damian Hinds is to be Exchequer Secretary to the Treasury 10.20am BST “I’m delighted you asked,” he replied while taking questions after speaking at an event in London on Monday. “I heard about the ‘unresignation’ on Twitter. You’ll need to ask me about it later. I’m not going to talk about it now.”Carswell had given some hints of his views during from the platform. He opened by saying that when it came to making the argument for leaving the European Union, “sometimes the most passionate advocates of change aren’t the best people for persuading the undecided.” 10.16am BST The Herald (subscription) has an interesting story. The next Scottish parliament will not be able to serve a four-year term, and so a decision will have to be taken as to whether it sits for three years or five years.Here’s an extract.A row has broken out over whether the next Scottish government, which is due to be elected a year from now, should serve a three or five year term of office. The standard Holyrood term, laid down in the Scotland Act, is four years but a Scottish Parliament election cannot be held in 2020 because it would clash with the next Westminster poll. 10.11am BST On Twitter James Nation says Rory Stewart’s appointment is not that inappropriate.@AndrewSparrow not a complete curveball - he's been active in Cumbria on community led rural broadband schemes (with some DEFRA funding) 9.59am BST David Cameron has announced more ministerial appointments.Andrew Jones is the Parliamentary Under Secretary of State at the Department for Transport.Ben Wallace is the Parliamentary Under Secretary of State at the Northern Ireland Office.Caroline Dinenage is the Parliamentary Under Secretary of State at the Ministry of Justice. She is also Minister for Equalities at DfE.Mark Lancaster is Parliamentary Under Secretary of State for Defence Personnel, Welfare and Veterans.John Penrose is to be Parliamentary Secretary at the Cabinet Office 9.56am BST David Cameron’s decision to give Rory Stewart a job in the department for environment, food and rural affairs is getting panned by the commentariat.From the Telegraph’s Asa BennettRory Stewart, ex-chair of the Defence Committee, diplomat & dep governor in Iraq, not off to MoD/FCO as a minister but DEFRA. #reshuffleRory Stewart can put those years of experience in Iraq and as Defence Select Committee Chair into his time at DEFRA...One of Britain's most eloquent voices on defence and foreign affairs has just been silenced. Rory Stewart has become a Defra minister.Rory Stewart, one of Tories strongest critics over 2% cuts to defence, is given a job in government as dclg minister #reshuffle 9.38am BST Downing Street has announced a series of new appointments.The most interesting, perhaps, is James Wharton, because David Cameron has made him minister for the Northern Powerhouse.Ben Gummer is to be Parliamentary Under Secretary of State at the Department of Health.Justin Tomlinson is to be Minister for Disabled People at the Department for Work and Pensions.Rory Stewart is to be Parliamentary Under Secretary of State at DEFRA.Marcus Jones is to be Parliamentary Under Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government.James Wharton is the new Parliamentary Under Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government (Northern Powerhouse). 9.30am BST Here is the message from David Cameron Downing Street released overnight that Cameron is supposedly going to give out at cabinet this morning.Every decision we take, every policy we pursue, every programme we initiate, never forget: we’re here to give everyone in our country the chance to make the most of their life. The pundits might call it ‘blue-collar Conservatism’, others being on the side of hardworking taxpayers. I call it being the real party for working people. 9.26am BST 9.16am BST Rory Stewart, the Conservative chair of the Commons defence committee, and a former Foreign Office official and administrator in Iraq, is also getting a job, it seems.Tory chair of defence select committee Rory Stewart in to No 10 #reshuffle 9.10am BST The cabinet is meeting at 11am. David Cameron is making more appointments before then.It looks like James Wharton, the Conservative backbencher who introduced the private member’s bill for a referendum, is getting a job.Possible promotion for tory behind EU referendum bill as @jameswhartonuk enters No 10 this morning #reshuffle 9.04am BST Sajid Javid’s comments have not stopped Nick Robinson plugging his book.Govt goes to war with BBC? Eden, Wilson, Thatcher, Blair did. Should be a book about it. Oh...(Used copies just 1p!) pic.twitter.com/rzFEgDAiCg 8.55am BST Sajid Javid, the new business secretary, has doing the interview circuit this morning. He was on the Today programme, but has given other interviews too. Perhaps the most interesting line came out when he was asked about something relating to his former post, culture secretary. He has been replaced as culture secretary by John Whittingdale, a critic of the licence fee, and that has prompted a rash of headlines about the Tories being at “war” with the BBC.Tuesday's Telegraph front page: Tories go to war on the BBC #tomorrowspaperstoday #bbcpapers pic.twitter.com/HUtLdgE2kTTuesday's Times front page: Cameron’s shot across the bows to the BBC #tomorrowspaperstoday #bbcpapers pic.twitter.com/r8lZvpSdCiTuesday's Independent front page: BBC on edge as licence fee critic made Culture Secretary #tomorrowspaperstoday pic.twitter.com/ExEN5J1OUBTory sources play down claims of "war on the BBC" after appointment of John WhittingdaleJohn Whittingdale is not wildly anti BBC - Tory sourceNot at all. There is a bit of over-excitement in those headlines. First of all, John Whittingdale is an excellent choice for culture secretary. He is someone who is hugely experienced.When @George_Osborne and @David_Cameron talk about EU, they normally say preference is to stay in. Didn't quite get that from @sajidjavid 8.48am BST If you want closer coverage of George Osborne’s adventures in Brussels, my colleague Graeme Wearden is covering the EU finance ministers’ summit with his typically forensic eye over on the Business live blog. Here’s the latest from Graeme.We come here with a very clear mandate to improve Britain’s relationship with the rest of the EU, and to reform the EU so that it creates jobs and increases living standards for all its citizens.I don’t think anyone’s now in any doubt that we will hold that referendum on Britain’s membership of the European Union having conducted these negotiations.#ECOFIN Council - Arrival and doorstep #UK #Osborne @George_Osborne http://t.co/6u3roNuDLZ pic.twitter.com/eWz7E6HnbP Related: Greek liquidity fears grow as EU finance ministers meet - live updates 8.19am BST Good morning. I’m taking over from Mark.David Cameron has been tweeting about today’s cabinet.I'll tell the first meeting of the Conservative Cabinet, "We are the real party of working people, putting hardworking taxpayers first." 7.56am BST Avid readers will have noticed we’ve dispensed with the ‘diary’ element of the morning briefing; as we return to politics as normal there simply aren’t enough scheduled events happening.But we’ll still flag up the key interviews and political set pieces. For example, Sajid Javid, the news business secretary, is the Today programme’s big interview at 8.10am, which we’ll be covering. And he’s already been popping up on the TV breakfast shows, so we’ll let you know if he’s said anything illuminating. 7.42am BST One of the few remaining Lib Dems in Westminster, Norman Lamb, was on the Today programme this morning to discuss his bid to replace Nick Clegg as the leader of the party.I’ve never actually sought this top job for its own sake but the there are things that I believe in … I am at heart a conviction politician.In very many, many respects this is a liberal age, and yet people who have liberal values, liberal views, don’t always associate themselves with our party. We have to make our party the voice of those people.'That debacle massively undermined trust in the party...we will never make that mistake again'. Norman Lamb on Lib Dems fees U-turn #r4today 7.31am BST Good morning and welcome to this Tuesday edition of our general election 2015 live blog, which has now morphed into a Conservative cabinet live blog, and will shortly morph into a future-of-the-union/Europe live blog, given the direction David Cameron has pointed his government.I’m Mark Smith and I’ll be with you until I hand over to Andrew Sparrow later this morning. You can tweet us @marksmith174 or@AndrewSparrow, and we’ll be reading below the line too so please comment away. Continue reading...
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