ePolitix.com - Week on the web

It was a week dominated by mischievous pranks from the media and rumbling discontent from the government frontbenches.

Health minister Ivan Lewis kicked off proceedings on Sunday by claiming that the government was "too often" ignoring the concerns of hard-working families, then on Wednesday 26 Labour MPs sign an early day motion calling on the government to review its decision to scrap the 10 pence rate of income tax.

Benedict Brogan seizes the opportunity to declare that Labour is revolting, while Guido draws a parallel between Gordon Brown and John Major, claiming that the government's authority is waning.

If that wasn't enough, licensing minister Gerry Sutcliffe thought it appropriate to tell a trade magazine that pub landlords were right to be upset about recent alcohol tax hikes, and to call on ministers to reverse the move.

Ian Martin says there is "trouble brewing down in Labour's engine room", while Jon Craig talks of an "end-of-term outbreak of dissent" ahead of Parliament's Easter recess.

Craig also claims in this post on news that Ken Livingstone fathered five children by three women that the mayoral race just got personal.

Politicalbetting wonders if the revelation will have any impact on the contest, and Fraser Nelson definitively concludes that it will not.

Liberal England says that anyone with a dry sense of humour who is inexplicably fascinated by newts could be Livingstone's love child and should seek professional help immediately.

The other politician under the spotlight for his personal life this week was Liberal Democrat leader "Nick Cleggover", who was well and truly duped by Piers Morgan's cunningly worded 'how many women have you slept with' question.

Three Line Whip points out that Left List mayoral candidate Lindsey German has slept with "probably about the same number as Nick Clegg", and the Mail's Amanda Platell considers what would happen if a female politician boasted about having 30 lovers before the age of 24.

Recess Monkey readers are invited to share their intimate experiences with Clegg "in the spirit of scientific enquiry", while Jonathan Calder marvels at the brilliance of the Lib Dem press operation. The news was deliberately released on April Fools' Day, says Calder, in order to make many people think it was a hoax and thus lessen its impact.

Clegg's news may have been disconcertingly factually accurate, but April 1 did bring with it plenty of pranks, jokes and reflections on the ridiculous. Guido is among those fooled by Iain Dale's claim that he is a possible contender for Celebrity Big Brother, but several bloggers point out that Dale himself is the fool, for posting his blog after midday.

Fraser Nelson informs readers how to spot an April Fools in "this ridiculous government" and Paul Linford has this list of 10 stories from the past year that should have been April Fools' but weren't - including Brown inviting Thatcher to tea and Harriet Harman being elected Labour's deputy leader.

Poor Harman did not have a particularly easy ride this week, with the blogs rounding in on her after she was photographed donning a stab proof vest to visit her Peckham constituency.

Dizzy says the news is a poor reflection on Labour's claims to have cut crime but this post points to Harman's reply - that her attire was "just about wearing the kit".

There was some respite for the Commons leader following her performance at prime minister's questions, with overall consensus on the blogs that she put up a good show against Hague.

Perhaps Harman performed so well at the last PMQs of the parliamentary session because she had been taking hints from John Prescott, or maybe it was because she wore her lucky jacket - the same one she wore when she won the Labour deputy leadership.

Over at the Spectator's Coffee House, Peter Hoskin recalls the "cringeworthy" moment when Harman asks why her Commons shadow Theresa May did not take to the despatch box. However, Andrew Gibson diplomatically suggests that Hague was sent to the fore because he is a better debater than May, dismissing Harman's suggestion that Conservative women are to be "seen but not heard".

Even Conservativehome admits that Hague could have done better, and the Telegraph's Three Line Whip is something of a lone voice in its claims that Hague was "at his witty best".

Elsewhere, Ed Balls is ridiculed for gallivanting in a children's playground with Andy Burnham and Number 10 is accused of "promoting national socialism" following claims that the logo for the government's Progressive Summit bears an uncanny resemblance to a swastika.

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