Marriage tax break revolt size could hinge on newly-knighted Sir Edward Leigh

The 42 ‘Alternative Queen’s Speech’ bills laid by Peter Bone and Philip Hollobone are very useful for the Lib Dems, as they can use them to argue that this is what a Tory majority government would look like. A source close to Clegg says they serve as an example ‘for any members of the public who want to see what having Liberal Democrats in government will get you’: i.e. stopping the Tory right from getting its way on legislation. The party’s press office has started a Twitter hashtag called #toryqueensspeech and is retweeting some of the best suggestions. It’s almost as if the Lib Dems never dabbled with potty and unrealistic ideas…

I hear that the Tory whips are fuming, both about this and Tim Loughton’s amendment to the Finance Bill, which Osborne had expressly asked the socially Conservative wing of the party not to push as he would introduce the married couples’ tax break in his own time.