With Alistair Darling’s book about to be published, people are already getting excited by his revelations about the depth of tensions between the former chancellor and the Brown/Balls axis. He confirms the old story that Brown tried to sack him, only to be left frustrated.

Here is the Labour Uncut scoop. (Apparently the Sunday Times have paid for the serialisation, so they may be a tad unhappy).

But there is also a very interesting passage where he admits his low regard for Sir Mervyn King, governor of the Bank of England. Much of the tension between the two men revolved around King’s warnings that bank bailouts would encourage “moral hazard” and cause a repeat of the banking bubble in the future. Darling’s preoccupation was simply to get through the credit crunch with the financial system intact. Here is the relevant quote:

He is similarly scathing about the governor of the bank of England, Mervyn King, who is lambasted as “amazingly stubborn and exasperating”.

The former chancellor confirms how close the government came to not renewing King for a second term in 2008 – the first time a governor

Continue reading: “Alistair Darling found Sir Mervyn King “stubborn and exasperating””

Jerry Hayes, the former Tory MP, wrote about Lord Mandelson on the Dale & Co blog yesterday. He observed of Mandelson’s new enterprise: “his consulting company, whose clients also seem to be as invisible as his shadow.”

It would indeed be interesting to know the identity of the clients of Global Counsel, the new advisory firm which Mandelson helped to set up. Yet it appears that there is no obligation on it to do so – despite the former business secretary sitting in the House of Lords, a legislative body.

The register of interests in the Lords says that the former deputy prime minister has these interests:

MANDELSON, Lord

Category 1: Directorships

Director, Willbury Limited (trading entity for public speaking/writing)

Chairman, Global Counsel LLP (strategic advice consultancy)

The code of conduct can meanwhile be found here on the Lords website. Should Global Counsel have to declare its clients?

Apparently not. This is because full disclosure only applies to a] public affairs consultancies

I predicted yesterday that it would only be a matter of time before Vince Cable weighed in after the head of the CBI told the FT yesterday that it would be a mistake to carry out bank reforms while Britain is still in the economic doldrums.

In a Times interview, the business secretary has criticised the banks’ “special pleading“. He says that the markets chaos, if anything, proves the need to make banks even stronger – to prevent a future bailout.

The report by Sir John Vickers is now less than two weeks away and the Treasury denies strongly that there is already a row between Vince and George Osborne. (The FT reported recently that some banks don’t expect the internal ring-fences to be imposed until 2019 – which would be unacceptable to the Lib Dems.) That doesn’t mean that there isn’t one looming.

David Cameron’s plan to redraw Britain’s electoral map is under threat amid fears that many Lib Dem and Tory MPs could rebel against the proposals. Tensions are rising ahead of September 12, when the Boundary Commission will reveal its first draft of the English electoral landscape (Wales, NI and Scotland follow soon after). The mood is one of trepidation and resentment.

This issue is likely to turn nasty not only because many Lib Dems are not in the mood to keep their promise over boundaries – because they feel that Cameron helped to squash their cherished AV referendum, which was the other half of the deal. There are also many Tory MPs who would rather ignore the whips and vote against their own side in order to keep their own seats. (The issue will go to a vote in late 2013). Right now we just don’t know who they are, because no one has seen the revised boundaries.

We reported in mid-August that Vince Cable and George Osborne are at odds over bank reforms, in particular over the timing. Osborne is understood to have let banks believe that 2019 is a realistic timetable for the completion of the Vickers reforms – but Cable wants the internal ring-fences to be achieved as soon as possible.

And now John Cridland, director-general of the CBI, has weighed in, saying the government would be “barking mad” to press ahead with the reforms straight away. “Unilateral” changes of this nature could threaten the ability of banks to provide crucial finance for the economic recover, Cridland argued in an interview with the FT.

This is shaping up to be an impressive row; let’s see what Cable has to say in response.

UPDATE: The Treasury insist that there is no disagreement and that the timetable has not yet been discussed with the banks.

The official figures are out for last year’s net immigration and the data does not make happy reading for Theresa May, home secretary.

The Tories have promised to reduce the net inflows of people into Britain to “tens of thousands” by the end of the Parliament – just four years away. (Note my deliberate use of the phrase ‘Tories’ rather than ‘coalition’; the Lib Dems are not very keen on this one.)

For the year to December, however, the net immigration figure has in fact risen by 21 per cent to 239,000. While immigration didn’t rise much (it was up from 567,000 to 575,000) there was a big drop in emigration to 336,000, thus the rise in the net figure.

Damian Green, immigration minister, is taking solace from the idea that the numbers “stabilised” in the third quarter compared to the third quarter; but that is meaningless if they have stabilised at such a high level.

It was only a few months ago, April, that David Cameron swore that his government was getting to grips with immigration.

“This time last year, we said we would listen to people’s concerns and get immigration under control. Today I can confidently say that we are getting there.”

An investigation has been launched after it emerged that former Home Secretary Jacqui Smith used day-release prisoners to paint her home when they should have been doing community work.

Two inmates, from HMP Hewell in Redditch, spent two days decorating a room at the former Labour MP’s luxury property in the Worcestershire town, the Sun newspaper revealed this morning.

A Prison Service spokesman said the offenders were supposed to be doing work to “help the whole community” as part of a scheme run by a local charity, the Batchley Support Group.

He said: “The decision to provide prisoners for this work was taken without consultation with HMP Hewell or the Ministry of Justice and was a mistake.

“Offenders should work on projects which help the whole community. The scheme has been suspended while a full internal investigation is undertaken.”

The work took place last month, at which point Smith was neither an MP nor a minister – having been beaten by a Tory candidate last summer. As payment for the work Ms Smith donated an unspecified amount to a local charity which organised the project, the Batchley Support Group.

It’s quite risky for a Tory minister to attack the National Trust, given the overlapping membership of the two tribes.

But today Greg Clark denounces the Trust as “not serious” for making “risible” claims about the impact of the coalition’s new planning policy. He also condemns those who seek to “preserve in aspic” their communities as being guilty of “nihilistic selfishness“.

The planning minister told Beth Rigby and I that more homes are needed to address the “crisis” in terms of a housing shortage in the UK, with fewer new properties built last year than for the last half-century.

There is a “moral” imperative to get more homes built, he argues:

“It is one of the great social injustices that we are failing to provide enough housing, particularly at an affordable level of rent.”

Clark is a serious politician, with a likely cabinet future – he was in the shadow cabinet

As gambles go it was an enormous one, with no guarantee of success. There was little or no public appetite for military intervention in Libya, and even the generals told David Cameron that it could be a grave mistake. There was no visible enthusiasm from Barack Obama for the cause, at least initially.

And when the invasion was put to a vote in the House of Commons, the voting figures – overwhelmingly in favour – belied a deep sense of unease about where the mission would end up.

David Cameron is down in Cornwall for a few days, doing his bit for the national tourism industry. I’m told (er, by Downing Street’s press office) that this morning he purchased “scallops, mackerel and monkfish” for a barbecue from a fishmonger in Port Isaac.  (No, he didn’t order any ‘flounder’ or ‘carp’ or ‘chub’ or ‘European minnow’ or “smoothtongue*” – sorry, sketchwriters.)

Back in London, however, the political focus is on Tony Blair’s intervention into the riots debate. Blair’s key point: that a “highfalutin wail about a Britain that has lost its way morally” would be counterproductive and damage Britain’s reputation overseas.