The Conservatives have set up an "education commission" to test how their own policies might work in practice.

BBC: Tories set up education test-bed

The competition watchdog said "there are competition problems in the audit market", and added that it could ask the Competition Commission to conduct a detailed investigation, because the "statutory test" for a reference to the Commission had been passed.

BBC: Can the stranglehold of Big Four auditors be broken?

He faces an early test, since the commission's new forecasts are expected to confirm that France will miss its deficit target for next year.

ECONOMIST: Charlemagne