Gold star for David Laws, Lib Dem shadow secretary of state for children and schools, for first spotting and highlighting Labour’s plans to confiscate 5% of school cash balances.

Here’s what The Guardian says this morning in its article, Lib Dems attack plans to reclaim schools’ cash:

… the Lib Dem schools spokesman, David Laws, who has led the campaign for the proposal to be scrapped, said: “The prime minister doesn’t seem to realise that almost two-thirds of existing school balances are already committed to buildings and other projects.

“This plan to tax prudent schools is daft and characteristic

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Leading political blogger Paul Linford has published an interesting list of what he considers to be the top 10 political misjudgements made by British politicians, defining ‘misjudgements’ as events which “arguably changed the course of history, and certainly adversely affected the careers of those who made them.”

Top of Paul’s list was:

1. Jim Callaghan not calling an autumn election, 1978

What happened: Prime Minister Callaghan ducks out of an autumn 1978 election after private polls show it might result in a hung Parliament. The ensuing Winter of Discontent puts paid to Labour’s credibility as a governing party and leads to 18

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The House of Commons public administration select committee will today grill Assistant Commissioner John Yates, the top cop whose 16-month “cash-for-honours” resulted in no charges – it was announced in July that no figures from Labour would face prosecution, and earlier this month that the Tories would escape the same fate. (The BBC report is here.)

Paul Rowen, Lib Dem MP for Rochdale, who sits on the committee alongside party colleague Jenny Willott (Cardiff Central), has spoken out about what he hopes to gain from the encounter:

There are plenty of questions that need to be answered. I want

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