An interesting scoop over at the New Statesman where the fast-rising Labour blogger Dan Hodges reveals that Arnie Graf, the US community organiser, is to carry out some work for Ed Miliband. Graf will come over in February to carry out a review of the Labour Party’s internal structures.

But is it an exaggeration to call him Obama’s “mentor”? The US president has certainly said that his time learning how to do community organising back in the 1980s was “the best education I ever had.” Then again, Graf admitted in a newspaper interview that he hasn’t spoken to Obama – one of 150 people at the training session – since the event ended a quarter of a century ago. Read more

David Cameron faced a difficult task today, campaigning in a by-election seat where he would – we all presume – prefer to keep a low profile to help his Lib Dem allies. I’m told he kept it very low key and only met a handful of voters.

With a compromise on control orders looming it may be worth recalling the words attributed to the prime minister last autumn, when he said that the coalition was heading for a “xxxx-ing car crash” over the issue. Read more