Under-pressure Conservative co-chairman Baroness Warsi today referred herself to the Lords Commissioner for Standards amid allegations over her expenses.

To be a successful Whitehall mandarin you need to learn never to lose your cool or rise to provocation, and to make your point without exaggerating. Sir Jeremy Heywood, who has reached the very pinnacle of the civil service, as Cabinet Secretary, exhibited these qualities to the full when questioned by MPs yesterday about Steve Hilton, the recently departed Downing Street adviser and friend of David Cameron, whose farewell gesture was to suggest that 90 per cent of civil servants should be sacked. "The way Steve operates is to challenge, he is a very challenging person," said Sir Jeremy, in classic mandarin speak.

The new man in charge of the UK's borders faces a grilling from MPs this week as further evidence emerged of bungled planning over staffing levels.

If things had worked out differently, Frank Parr could have been one of the great characters of post-war English cricket. An acrobatic wicketkeeper, he caught the eye almost as soon as he appeared in the Lancashire side. At The Oval in 1952, in only his second county match, he was tipped by The Times to be Godfrey Evans' successor in the England side. Herbert Strudwick, England keeper in the 1920s, thought he was very special. The following year Parr came close to being selected for the winter tour of the West Indies.

A £38 billion black hole in the UK's defence budget has been eliminated, Defence Secretary Philip Hammond confirmed today.

More than 700 victims of last year's riots are still waiting for their claims for compensation to be looked at nine months after the disturbances, official figures show, despite promises from David Cameron to get businesses "back up and running quickly".

This is the text of the Queen's Speech to both Houses of Parliament today:

Politicians are wooing the upwardly mobile children of the working class again

Liberal Democrat deputy leader Simon Hughes today hit out at Tory MPs - accusing them of acting as if they were "born to rule".

If you ask me...

Rupert Murdoch's grip on the global media empire he founded was under direct threat last night as the first moves began in America to oust him as chairman of News Corp.

Canada will allow former newspaper mogul Conrad Black to live in the country after he finishes his US prison sentence even though he is no longer a citizen.

Every time the Government caught a glimpse of blue sky... the rain came down again

Prime Minister David Cameron held the door open for a referendum on an elected House of Lords today, as a parliamentary committee said the public should be given a say.