ConservativeHome

Friday 18th July 2008

7pm Andrew Lilico on CentreRight: On the nature of international law

5.15pm ToryDiary: James Purnell steals Chris Grayling's ideas on welfare

2.30pm Peter Whittle on CentreRight: "The BBC reports today that two police officers have been attacked by a mob in south London when they asked a 15-year-old girl to pick up some litter she dropped. Metropolitan Police said one of the officers suffered injuries including a bite wound in the attack in North End in Croydon, on Wednesday afternoon.  In actual criminal, statistical terms, this incident will, on paper, probably appear as a series of 'smaller' offences. But try to imagine the effect of it on the people who must have witnessed it."

Noon ToryDiary: Why Fraser Nelson is Britain's best centre right commentator

Noon Matt Sinclair on CentreRight: Al Gore's hope that Americans will abandon fossil fuels in a decade is insanity

ToryDiary: Forget tax cuts, says Fox

Parliament: Grieve attacks doubling of violent crime in ten years

Local government: Tories gain two council seats in Jacqui Smith's backyard

Ewan Watt on Platform: Lessons from Barry Goldwater

George Osborne reacts to Labour's rethinking of its fiscal rules

“I am not really surprised, but it really is the end of the Gordon Brown era of economics. What he is doing is to give the prisoner their own key to their prison cell - this is the final collapse of the Brown era.  He claimed to have created a system that would constrain the government during the good-times and release the government during the bad times - it is no good if the government can get out of the straight jacket.” - speaking on Today, transcribed by PoliticsHome.

Nick Clegg on his tax cutting agenda

"It's impeccably liberal to say you should have a fairer tax system. We have always argued for a fairer tax system. People on low incomes still pay a much higher proportion of their income on tax than people on high incomes. It is that tradition we are taking forward now, setting out the direction of travel saying the tax system should be much fairer and tax cutting should come from the bottom up from people on low and middle incomes. That is very, very different to the traditional Conservative tax-cutting agenda, which is from the top benefiting people at the top hoping somehow it will trickle down. We have moved with the times. About 10 years ago, we were a party that rightly identified a lack of investment in public services as a major issue in British politics. Since then spending by the Government of our money has doubled from £300bn to £600bn today." - Quoted in The Independent

This won't be enough to stop the LibDem vote being squeezed hard - Michael Brown in The Independent

Cameron considering snap reshuffle

"Rising stars tipped for promotion include Justine Greening, a shadow Treasury minister who has led opposition to the Government's road tax plans; Greg Clark, a junior shadow Cabinet Office minister; Ed Vaizey, a junior shadow Culture minister; and Maria Miller, a junior shadow education minister.  It is thought that either Eric Pickles, the shadow Local Government minister, or shadow Work and Pensions minister Chris Grayling, could replace Mrs Spelman if necessary." - Telegraph

Tories hold economic summit - The Times notes some highlights | Also SmallBusiness.co.uk

Boris considering booze ban for under-21s

"Drinkers aged under 21 could face a booze ban under a scheme backed by London Mayor Boris Johnson.  Off-licence bosses would be encouraged to stop selling alcohol to teenagers in a bid to beat the binge-drinking culture.  Mr Johnson hopes a trial scheme starting in Croydon, South London, will clear the streets of boozed-up youngsters." - The Sun

The Tories are now the party of the poor - Oliver Letwin in the New Statesman

What next for David Davis?

""With DD now there's a distinct feeling that it's like having a small child," says one MP affectionately. "You need to keep him amused, otherwise he'll start prodding the other kids or wee in the sandpit."" - Tara Hamilton-Miller in the New Statesman

Cameron and Obama to meet next week - Toby Harnden, Telegraph

"The anchors of all three US television networks, ABC's Charlie Gibson, CBS's Katie Couric and NBC's Brian Williams, are to interview Obama during his trip through five countries in the Middle East and Europe." - Telegraph

Hague in Glasgow in by-election visit to Tesco - Herald

Trade unions prepare list of 130 demands

"The complete list, obtained by the Guardian, includes a right to take supportive strike action, scrapping NHS prescription charges, bringing all hospital cleaning back in-house, and a new agreement on public sector pay with the Treasury."

Government to fund board of Islamic theologians in attempt to sideline extremists - BBC

Smith Institute set for rebuke from Charity Commission - FT

And finally...

The FT claims Mr Cameron doesn't understand Tomb Raider.

Please use this thread to highlight other interesting news and commentary and visit PoliticsHome.com for breaking political news and views throughout the day.

Thursday 17th July 2008

11pm Douglas Carswell MP on CentreRight: What lessons to learn from Lisbon?

5pm ToryDiary: The return of secondary picketing

3.45pm ToryDiary: Gove calls for SATS-marking firm to be dropped

3.30pm Parliament: Mark Pritchard MP on the forthcoming elections in Belarus

3.15pm Alex Deane on CentreRight: Obama 273, McCain 265

12.45pm ToryDiary: 'Vote Conservative or get stabbed by people who may well be black'

11.45am Charles Tannock MEP on CentreRight: Is it time for the Conservatives to support the International Criminal Court?

PlayPolitical: JibJab launch their fun video for US campaign 2008, depicting McCain as a militarist, Obama as Bambi-lite. YOU MUST WATCH IT!

ToryDiary: Has Dacre given up on Brown?

Mark Reckless on Platform: Criminal justice should be localised and democratised

Parliament: Ann Widdecombe defends proper pay and reimbursement for MPs

Today's must-read: "Cameroon insiders don't appear to have grasped that the economy will be centre-stage"

"The truth is that the world has changed since the credit crunch: there is a growing public understanding that Brown has spent too much (Labour governments always run out of money in the end) and a radical rethink of how spending and taxation are organised is the logical next step." - Iain Martin in The Telegraph

Conservative MPs disclose salaries

"Conservatives use £1.5m of taxpayers' money a year to pay relatives" - Daily Mail

"More than 60 Tory MPs are paying up to £40,000 to family members employed in their offices at the taxpayers' expense, it emerged yesterday.  Laurence Robertson, the MP for Tewkesbury and shadow Northern Ireland minister, declares that he pays his estranged wife Susan and his current partner, Anne Adams, up to £20,000 each. Both women act as secretaries." - Independent

Tory MPs' use of staff budgets to pay for PR advice 'against rules' - Times

> Over at CentreRight, Greg Hands MP questions whether MPs should be able to employ relatives at all

George Osborne's statement on Equitable Life

“We Conservatives forced the government to allow the Parliamentary Ombudsman to investigate the regulation of Equitable Life and we welcome her report.  The Ombudsman rightly highlights regulatory failings, including those between 1998 and 2001, when Gordon Brown and the Treasury had responsibility for this area. He cannot escape the blame for what happened on his watch.  We’re glad that the report accepts the principle that there should be payments to those who lost out. The job now is to assess how much those payments should be and to whom they should be paid.  We have to be straight with policyholders. As the Ombudsman makes clear, policyholders cannot expect to receive payments for the full losses suffered and any payment scheme must be consistent with sound public finances.  It is up to the government now to admit its responsibility, issue the apology that the Ombudsman demands and create the payment scheme. If it doesn’t, we will.”

BBC report

Labour could paint Cameron as a man of privilege who sneers at Britain

"So Cameron's talk of a broken society strikes a powerful chord. But he is vulnerable if he is seen to be talking up problems in a way that is opportunistic and damaging. This charge is already gaining traction. On Monday, the Times' leader criticised him for adding to the hysteria surrounding knife crime. Labour strategists will be trying to portray Cameron as a man of privilege running down the country." - Matthew Taylor in The Guardian

David Burrowes MP, 'Slum Survivor'

"I rush off to the grounds of Westminster Abbey where I am told that a cross-party group of MPs are creating a slum. I stand in front of the Abbey entrance — £12 a ticket, a sum that would keep a family in the real slum of Kibera in Nairobi for weeks — and look for poverty." - Anne Treneman MP in The Times (missed from yesterday).

Nick Clegg promises to cut overall burden of taxation

"We will get wasteful government spending under control and give the economy a boost by cutting taxes from the bottom for those who need the most help. If there is money to spare, we won't simply spend it. We are looking for ways to cut the overall tax burden." - the LibDem leader quoted in The Independent | BBC

> Our view: Nick Clegg can't be taken seriously on the economy if he doesn't take society seriously

Darling's u-turn on fuel duty is by-election bribe, say Tories - Sun

FT leader attacks Brown's cancellation of higher fuel duty: "Not only is taxing petrol sound fiscal policy – fuel duties bring in large amounts of revenue – but rising oil prices are sending a clear signal to reduce consumption. It is a mistake to interfere with that message. Past freezes on fuel duties have already cast doubt on Mr Brown’s green credentials and this move undermines them further."

Home Secretary Jacqui Smith has offered a job to the police officer who called for her resignation - BBC

The longer Labour MPs delay ousting Brown, the greater the chances of James Purnell - John Rentoul in The Independent

And finally... blogging Scouse son of youth workers joins Team Cameron

The Liverpool Daily Post prominently covers Sam Coates' move to David Cameron's office.

> Click here for information about applying to work for ConservativeHome.

Please use this thread to highlight other interesting news and commentary and visit PoliticsHome.com for breaking political news and views throughout the day.

Wednesday 16th July 2008

Midnight ToryDiary: Has Dacre given up on Brown?

6.15pm Greg Hands MP on CentreRight: Conservatives setting the agenda on MP and MEP ethics - but we need to go further still: "It is certainly helpful to have the transparency we now have on family members who are employed and how much they are paid, but it does beg the question - why are family members allowed to be employed at all?"

4.45pm ToryDiary: Tory MPs' expenses published

1.30pm ToryDiary: Would you like to work for ConservativeHome?

1pm Local government: UNISON celebrates closure of nursery schools and services for disabled

ToryDiary: Live PMQs blog from noon

Noon Charles Tannock MEP on CentreRight: The dilemmas of an ethical Tory foreign policy

Lord Norton of Louth on Platform: Call that a White Paper?

ToryDiary: The big idea is social reform

Parliament: Andrew Mackay MP suggests that no prisoners should be released early unless they are free from drugs

Today's must-read: 'Level 2 Cameron'

""There is an element to politics that is a bit like Tomb Raider," [David Cameron] told the Guardian yesterday in his Westminster office overlooking the Thames, as he explained his central aim since his election as leader in 2005 - to decontaminate the polluted Tory brand.  "Until you have cleared level one, which I have incidentally never done, you cannot get on to level two. Level one is: are you a reasonable, decent, non-discriminating, sensible, practical person who understands the world as it is lived today, who wants to live in a modern world and who accepts what that means? If so, then you can move on to level two, where you can talk about some of the difficult issues about families and about responsibilities which can lead to trouble.""

The Guardian: British society isn't broken, Mr Cameron

In a leader that marks David Cameron's impressive rise over the last year, The Guardian also contends: "The Tory leader's claims in Glasgow last week that Britain is a broken society chimed conveniently with recent headlines about teenage stabbings, but they hardly stood up to more careful scrutiny. Certainly a minority of households and communities need serious repair and support, but most households and most communities in this country are not broken - and most voters know it."

David Cameron: Taxes may have to rise

"David Cameron has warned that an incoming Tory government might be forced to raise taxes because the economy will be in a dire state after the next election.  The Conservative leader also hinted that he might scale back Gordon Brown's flagship tax credits scheme. He warned that Labour's efforts to combat poverty by redistributing money from rich to poor had reached "the end of the road"." - Independent

Andrew Lilico on CentreRight doesn't want George Osborne to rule out recession-busting tax relief.

Yesterday's Mail leader opened fire on the Home Secretary; it's the Chancellor's turn today.

The dangers of 'Chapter 11 bankruptcy' procedures

"Simon Neilson-Clark of law firm DLA Piper said Chapter 11 was no magic bullet, and by protecting failed companies from creditors delayed restructuring that was often necessary – as in the US airline industry.  “Chapter 11 is responsible for some of the most inefficient business practices ever,” he said.  “Insolvency is sometimes needed to allow proper businesses to prosper and to weed out the rubbish.”" - FT

Telegraph leader: "This has worrying echoes of the 1970s when propping up lame duck businesses was seen as the role of government. It is not. Badly run companies should be allowed to fail - it is a crucial market discipline."

"Talking to the CBI, Mr Cameron made his most economically ignorant observation yet, about making it easier for bad businesses to avoid liquidation. He really doesn't get it.  The late Prof Hayek wasn't being a tease when he said that bankruptcies were good because they drove inefficiencies out of the economy. He meant it, and he was right.  Mr Cameron takes us back to Heatho-Wilsonian socialism, propping up lame ducks and wasting valuable resources that ought to be put to more productive use." - Simon Heffer in The Telegraph

Tory anger at payoff 'for HMRC man who lost the discs'

"The row over the lost child benefit database reignited on Tuesday when the Conservatives attacked a £137,591 ($275,605) pay-off for the former chairman of Revenue & Customs as an example of the “something for nothing culture”... Philip Hammond, shadow chief secretary to the Treasury, said: “When someone leaves a post because they have presided over a catastrophic failure it beggars belief that they should pocket a golden goodbye of this magnitude.” - FT

Matt Sinclair on CentreRight: How badly would HMRC have to screw up for its Chairman not to get a bonus?

David Davis is given a new Commons office, next to Patrick Mercer - Independent

Nick Clegg revamps LibDems' internal workings to "take control" - Times

Rapid immigration is damaging some communities, says Committee of MPs - BBC

Expand academy model into primary sector, says thinktank - Guardian

Go and look in your bookshop: new thinking is seeping into politics - Daniel Finkelstein in The Times

> ToryDiary: The influence of the nudge agenda

One in five MPs suffers from stress-related mental illness

"A confidential survey of MPs and peers suggests that one in five parliamentarians suffers from mental illness caused by the stress of their public lives. Those questioned said they feared disclosing their struggles because of stigma and discrimination." - Independent

Please use this thread to highlight other interesting news and commentary and visit PoliticsHome.com for breaking political news and views throughout the day.

Tuesday 15th July 2008

8pm ToryDiary: Samuel Coates to join David Cameron's office

6pm Andrew Lilico on CentreRight: "We could cut taxes, temporarily, in the face of an economic downturn, in the standard way that standard economic theory recommends."

5.45pm Two PlayPolitical videos:

• Two minute highlights from David Cameron's economy speech
• Boris: Nothing glamorous about carrying knives

5.15pm ToryDiary: Osborne on the importance of fixing society to fixing the economy

5.15pm Conor Burns on CentreRight: The Lady is not for dying

12.30pm Matt Sinclair on CentreRight: How badly would HMRC have to screw up for its Chairman not to get a bonus?

11.30am ToryDiary: 'The Treasury will struggle to afford tax cuts but one thing is far more certain: the economy can’t afford tax rises'

ToryDiary: Cameron to unveil economic recovery plan

Local government: Swindon Tories prepare to be the first council to pull the plug on speed cameras

Patrick Cusworth on Platform calls for William Hague to press the US to stop the "torture" of waterboarding

Parliament: Lord Strathclyde tells peers that they must "engage" with the Commons in its wish to have a largely elected Upper House

Two PlayPolitical videos:

• CNN discusses New Yorker cover and its portrayal of Obama as terrorist
• And for some light relief, Bill Clinton phones Barack Obama

Unions get new favours from Labour

"Companies wanting to win government contracts will be told that they must promote trade union membership, The Times has learnt.  In the latest sign that ministers are bowing to the unions’ agenda, businesses seeking a share of the £115 billion on offer to deliver public services will be told today that they must demonstrate how they will “build good relations” with unions as part of their contract bids. Employees working on government projects in the private sector must also be given training if they do not have basic literacy and numeracy qualifications." - Times

"Businesses will today be told that they must demonstrate how they will "build good relations" with unions if they are to win a share of the £115 billion worth of public service contracts on offer... The announcement comes after Unite, Britain's biggest union, gave guarantees underwriting Labour's accounts." - Telegraph

"How sad in these deeply worrying times that we are saddled instead with the vapidity of Home Secretary Smith" - Daily Mail leader

Quentin Letts records David Davis' low key return to the Commons

"Having given the Speakerly paw a spongy squeeze, Mr Davis walked round to the Tory front bench. For one exciting second it looked as though he might be about to sit down there, reclaiming his Shadow Cabinet position. But no, he was merely seeking out Mr Cameron.  The two men gave each other a mafia funeral greeting, hands up on elbows. Then Mr Osborne patted Mr Davis on the back. It was all wildly macho. They left the chamber in one swaggery little group, accompanied by flunkeys." - Daily Mail

Watch Jonathan Isaby and Giles Edwards discuss their new book on Boris Johnson - BBC iPlayer

John Hutton: Heathrow set to get third runway - Telegraph

Tax credit fraud and errors cost £1.5bn in 2006/07 - BBC

MPs demand inquiry into torture of Briton overseas - Independent

Where the Tories are making most progress

"Since September last year the Conservatives have made a 23% net advance in vote share, relative to Labour (i.e. they have gone from a 10% deficit to a 13% lead). The chart below shows how the party’s net improvement on various policy issues compares with this increase in topline support." - Populus

Brown was overestimated a year ago, he's underestimated now

"Now Labour is in a terrible state, the economy is weak and the Tory leadership is much more agile and voter-friendly as it subtly reheats Thatcherism for the 21st century. He faces the challenge of convincing his own party that it should not change leader, then the media and the country that he at least deserves to be heard without being instantly rubbished. It is a massive task in a country that has turned against its previous two prime ministers with a similar contempt bordering on hatred.  I do not know whether he is up to the challenge, but I am certain Brown is in no mood to pull out of his own volition. I am also certain that while he was being ridiculously overestimated a year ago, he is being underestimated now." - Steve Richards in The Independent

The Sun salutes Mervyn King

"Bank of England chief Mervyn King has rejected a tempting £100,000 pay rise and settled for a below-inflation award worth a fraction of that.  The governor is a man of honour — a rare beast in the City where contemptuous fat cat bosses raise two fingers to customers and grab monster pay deals and bonuses even when they fail.  Astonishingly, Mervyn is still “Mr”. Shouldn’t he be Sir Merv?" - The Sun Says

Please use this thread to highlight other interesting news and commentary and visit PoliticsHome.com for breaking political news and views throughout the day.