Morning Report – March 11th

Today was already set to be a typically quiet day in Westminster, but the horrifying aftermath of the Japanese earthquake and Tsunami will no doubt dominate the news agenda today. Japan though is somewhat prepared for natural disasters – spare a thought for some of the pacific islands, which could be completely engulfed by Tsunami waves.

The major British political story of the day is likely to be Nick Clegg’s appearance at the Lib Dem Spring conference in his home city of Sheffield. The conference centre will be surrounded by the “ring of steel” familiar to party conference goers, after rumours that students had planned to “kidnap” Clegg as he spoke. It is estimated that there will be 10,000 protesters in Sheffield today – outnumbering Lib Dem delegates by around 9 to 1. They’re still in denial though. Simon Hughes told Today this morning that his party are “not in a bad situation”, and in a profile in the Independent, Clegg says there’s no turning back and no remorse.

Andy Burnham has sought to seize the initiative on education, by attacking Gove for “bringing in grammar schools by the back door” with the English bacc, and Peter Mandelson has continued his recent string of interventions – he’ll today warn of the UK’s trade gap in a speech today before appearing on Sky News this afternoon.