David Cameron has promised that while he is in office, Britain has “a Prime Minister whose belief in Israel is indestructible”.

Mr Cameron told guests at the annual Conservative Friends of Israel business lunch in London on Monday that “the ties between this party and Israel are unbreakable,” and praised Israel for its dynamic enterprise, community spirit, and for instilling national pride in its youth.

Speech by the David Cameron at the Conservative Friends of Israel business lunch, December 13

I woke up at about 10 in the morning on May 7th and thought ‘What the hell am I going to do now!”

But I would like to think that the decisions I made with others that morning to do the big and the bold and the brave thing and to reach out to form the first coalition government this country had seen in 65 years was right for our party and right for our country and we are seeing the dividends today.

Britain has sent two RAF helicopters to aid Israeli firefighters attempting to control a forest fire that has spread across parts of northern Israel.

The helicopters, which are already on the ground in Israel, are equipped with large buckets to take water from the sea and spread it over the affected area. They have already made two flights and are about to set off on a third.

David Cameron has wished the Jewish community “a happy and peaceful Chanucah.”

The Prime Minister said: "I want to pass on my very best wishes to the Jewish community here and around the world.

"I wish you and your families a Chanucah sameach.”

He called the story of Chanucah “an inspiring message of the power of hope to sustain people through the toughest of times” and said it was a reminder of “the strength that we can find when we come together and focus on building a brighter future.”

The former manager of Great Britain’s Maccabiah Team is expected to be named as a Labour peer later today.

Jonathan Kestenbaum, chief executive of the endowment fund for science and technology (NESTA), has been tipped to be included on a list of as many as 50 new working peers to be announced by Downing Street.

Jewish academic Dr Maurice Glasman and former Labour MP Oona King are also expected to be given peerages, as are Andrew Feldman, the joint chairman of the Conservative party, and the party’s treasurer Stanley Fink.

Two of the men closest to Prime Minister David Cameron have been tipped to be given peerages in a list of as many as 50 new working peers to be announced by Downing Street.

Andrew Feldman, Mr Cameron’s chief fund raiser and now joint chairman of the Tory Party, and Stanley Fink, a joint party treasurer, have been named among a large group who will augment the ranks of the House of Lords.

The full consequences of the Comprehensive Spending Review will take some time to digest. But one implication of the cuts is that the concept of the Big Society will immediately move from the realm of think-tank utopianism into the hard reality of delivery on the ground.

Whether the so-called "third sector" will have the capacity to cope with the fall-out from 500,000 job losses predicted by the government is yet to be seen.

The prime minister has wished British Jewry a Shana Tova and expressed his gratitude for the community’s role in making Britain “a healthy society”.

David Cameron said: “At the heart of the Jewish way of life is an approach to building community and a moral compulsion to play your part in changing the world for the better, from which we can all learn.”