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Sunday 11th May 2008

8.30pm: Over at WebCameron David Cameron reviews his conversations with members of London's Burma community, from a little earlier today.

7.45pm ToryDiary: What will a Cameron premiership be like?

6pm PlayPolitical video: Sky News notes how autobiographies from Cherie Blair, Lord Levy and John Prescott are only compounding the Prime Minister's difficulties

Noon ToryDiary: England and Scotland should vote on the future of the Union in May 2009, says Lord Forsyth

Seats and candidates: News of the World attacks "greedy" Tory MEPs

Oberon Houston on Platform: A vision for Britain

Simon Chapman on CentreRight: Labour plays the race card in Crewe

Tories are 4% ahead in Crewe by-election

"The Tories are poised to achieve their first parliamentary by-election gain since the heyday of Margaret Thatcher, dealing a hammer blow to Gordon Brown's hopes of survival... The ICM survey for The Mail on Sunday puts the Tories on 43 per cent with Labour trailing on 39 – a dramatic ten per cent swing in the Cheshire constituency since the last General Election." - Mail on Sunday

> How you can help deliver Tory victory

Brown's ratings collapse in PoliticsHome.com survey of 5,000 voters

"Respect for Gordon Brown has dropped so calamitously that only one in five voters now reckons the Prime Minister is doing a good job while three-quarters of them think he is doing a bad one... It is not just the depth of this collapse that is stunning. It is the sheer width of it, the comprehensive shattering of his reputation in all the areas that matter to the public. On every leadership quality that is important, the Prime Minister is now regarded less favourably than David Cameron... The brutal but inescapable truth revealed by this survey is that the voters do not want to change anything about Gordon Brown. They want to change absolutely everything." - Andrew Rawnsley in The Observer

There is much more about this new opinion tracker at PoliticsHome.com.

Boris Johnson accused of hiring mates

The Sunday Times profiles 'Team Boris'

Member of Boris' financial audit committee predicts savings of tens of millions of pounds - Sunday Telegraph

Brian Paddick's farcical London campaign diary - Mail on Sunday

...And - it's proving to be a Mirror speciality - the red top accuses Boris of cycling through red lights...

"The blundering Tory zipped through SIX red lights, one pedestrian crossing and cycled on the pavement - on his 20-minute journey to and from work." - Sunday MIrror

Another day, another Labour autobiography bashing Brown

"Brown was “frustrating, annoying, bewildering and prickly”. He sulked so often during meetings that they had to be abandoned. On other occasions he could “go off like a bloody volcano”." - The Sunday Times serialises John Prescott's account of tensions between Blair and Brown

"John Prescott urged Tony Blair to sack Gordon Brown as chancellor when tensions ran high after their frequent rows," - Independent on Sunday

And there's one very good reason why all the memoirs are being published now: "Cherie surely shares the Blairite view – even if her husband's opinion remains inscrutable – that Brown's chances of leading the party into the next election are no better than 50-50. Best to publish now before her account becomes the dry-as-dust history of two prime ministers ago. That is her book's most wounding judgement about her husband's rival and successor." - John Rentoul in The Independent on Sunday

Labour MPs launch rival attempt to cut abortion limit - The Sunday Telegraph

Wendy Alexander ordered by Brown to shut up about independence vote - Scotland on Sunday

Controversial Scottish plans to decriminalise sex for 13 to 15 year-olds - The Herald

And finally...

Michael and Sandra Howard appear on ITV1's revival of Mr & Mrs (but get most questions about each other wrong) - The Sunday Times

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

Saturday 10th May 2008

8.45pm: ICM poll puts Tories 4% ahead of Labour in Crewe and Nantwich - Iain Dale and UK Polling Report

7pm Louise Bagshawe on CentreRight: Frank Field threatens Brown with "no confidence"

3.30pm Seats and candidates: Labour MP Chris Mullin MP quits in face of the Tories' 'Sunderland surge'

1.15pm Seats and candidates video: Meet Edward Timpson MP... the next Conservative MP for Crewe and Nantwich?

ToryDiary: Boris' first week

Neil Reddin on Platform: Shifting the centre rightwards

Martin Parsons on CentreRight: A Conservative government should...replace the term 'Islamophobia' with 'Muslimophobia'

PlayPolitical video: McCain says it's "nonsense" that he didn't vote for George W Bush

Nick Clegg calls for aid to be parachuted into Burma

"The Lib Dem leader told BBC Radio 4's The World at One: "I think the time is now coming, drawing very close to taking the most drastic step of all, which is dropping aid directly into Burma, irrespective of the wishes of the Burmese regime.  "This, of course, in practical terms is not an ideal solution because you're dropping aid from the air, it doesn't guarantee it gets to the people who need it.  "But I think it would be an important step to show that the international community is simply not going to stand idly by."" - BBC

John Redwood blogs that only negotiation will succeed in bringing aid to the stricken.

News from Crewe and Nantwich

"Gordon Brown has been warned that "class war" attacks on the Tories are backfiring.  Senior ministers are said to be dismayed over attempts to mock the Conservative candidate in the upcoming Crewe by-election for being a "toff."  Labour activists, dressed in top hats and tails, have been sent to shadow Edward Timpson - son of John Timpson, the founder of the key- cutting chain - on the campaign trail." - Daily Mail

The Independent finds Labour supporters in open revolt.

Jonathan Isaby notes the Tory strategy of getting out their vote in Nantwich and outlying areas.

> Click here if you can join other ConservativeHome readers on Sunday 18th May for an action day in Crewe.

An overview of David Cameron's week - Rosa Prince in The Telegraph

Greg Clark MP highlights doubling of 'garden-grabbing' in last decade - Daily Mail

New Tory councillor resigns over allegations he lied about cancer - Guardian

Brown and Cameron both opt for state schools - Scotsman

Peter Oborne: Does Cameron understand that politics has changed?

"Voters have woken up to the fact that the Clinton governing method, as adapted by Tony Blair and now attempted by Gordon Brown, doesn't work. They have lost faith with the recycled initiatives, the bogus announcements and the structural dishonesty.  If Cameron carries on with this flawed methodology, he may win office at the next election, but he will ultimately fail in government." - Peter Oborne in The Daily Mail

Jon Cruddas MP warns that Labour is being 'out-thought' by David Cameron

"Labour must re-establish its belief in equality. Equality is the moral standard of fraternity. It is the ethical core of social justice. It holds that each person is irreplaceable and of equal worth. As the dust settles on these elections, Labour needs to rediscover its soul." - Guardian

Unhappy Labour supporters let rip on party website - Independent

Peter Hyman suggests Gordon Brown makes David Miliband his Chancellor - Times

Serialisation of Cherie Blair's autobiography begins in The Times

"Tony Blair would have resigned ahead of the 2005 general election if Gordon Brown had not dragged his feet over the pace and direction of public service reform, Cherie Blair claims today.  In an interview with the former premier's wife which accompanies extracts from her forthcoming memoirs, she also says Blair is advising Brown on how to win the next election, and she says Blair believes Brown can beat David Cameron." - Guardian

"The former Prime Minister’s wife tells how Mr Blair had a “crisis of confidence” over the Iraq war and feared that he had become an electoral liability.  But he decided to stay and fight for his domestic legacy because Mr Brown was “rattling the keys above his head”." - Telegraph

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

Friday 9th May 2008

7.30pm PlayPolitical video: John McCain's 'Happy Mother's Day' message

3.45 PlayPolitical: Cameron tells Bob Geldof and the IoD that change is possible, and tours the BackBoris call centre

3.30pm CentreRight selections: Peter Cuthbertson notes that Americans are advocating Boris as President; Peter Franklin fears the Union is doomed if bendy Wendy is its cheerleader and, more seriously, Andrew Lilico discusses regulatory impact assessments.

12.15pm Seats and candidates: CCHQ mustn't delay Henley by-election

Noon ToryDiary: 'New Labour has already won the next election'

Seats and candidates: Fancy a coach trip to Crewe and Nantwich?

Daniel Kawczynski MP on Platform: Conservatives should abolish Proportional Representation for GLA and EU elections

ToryDiary: Tory MPs queue up to offer Brown some advice

Tim Montgomerie on CentreRight: Portillo didn't vote for Boris

A YouGov poll for The Sun gives the Conservatives a 26% lead

Yesterday evening's ToryDiary has more.

"Labour has almost no representation in the south after it lost Reading council. [John] Denham called the fight to win back support in the south "crucial"." - Telegraph | Denham writes for The Guardian

Britain needs an emergency tax-cutting budget - Telegraph leader

David Cameron: Conservatives are the champions of progressive ideals

"A painful reality is dawning on Labour MPs: in its longest unbroken period in office, Labour has done little to advance progressive ideals. A government that promised social justice and economic efficiency has in fact delivered neither, to the dismay of the Labour Party. Instead, it is the Conservative Party that is the champion of progressive ideals in Britain today."- The Conservative leader writing for The Independent

Cameron appoints close friend to be new Tory CEO

"Andrew Feldman, currently a deputy treasurer, will take charge of the party’s national headquarters from July, The Times has learnt. The Tory leader is thought to have assured Caroline Spelman, the party chairman, that she will retain control of the voluntary sector and candidates and that Mr Feldman will report to her." - Telegraph

Networked from birth - John Harris looks at the high number of privately-educated Tory frontbenchers, Guardian

News from the Mayor's office

Boris Johnson to meet New York Mayor, Michael Bloomberg - BBC

Guto Harri to be Boris' communications chief - ToryDiary

"The transition is being handled by Nick Boles, the urbane former head of the Policy Exchange think tank and a dead cert to be a Cameron Cabinet minister. He's assisted by a canny Australian, James McGrath, who has toiled away at Central Office. They will keep Boris on the straight and narrow and ensure that his orders are carried out to the letter. Both have the steel needed to charm, and, where necessary, confront." - Iain Dale in The Telegraph

The Guardian profiles Ray Lewis, Boris Johnson's deputy mayor

The party needs to put itself at the forefront of a progressive alliance that can inspire the electorate - Ken Livingstone writing in The Guardian

Alex Salmond offers Commons pact to Conservatives - Herald

Brown furious as ITV asks about sick son - Independent

Gordon Brown's £1bn boost to Ulster - Telegraph

Driving and cheap flights mean that Britain's carbon footprint is rising - Times


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 8th May 2008

LIVE CHATROOM NOW ONLINE

9pm ToryDiary: Guto Harri to be Boris' communications chief

7.45pm ToryDiary: YouGov puts Conservatives 26% ahead

5pm PlayPolitical video: Watch Alex Salmond get the better of Wendy Alexander at Scottish First Minister's Questions  

3.30pm ToryDiary: Cameron presses Brown again on his split with Wendy Alexander

1pm ToryDiary: Boris launches full audit of City hall finances

Noon ToryDiary: Tories relaunch promise to abolish stamp duty for most first-time buyers

Dominic Grieve QC MP on Platform: Is "Britishness" useful or redundant?

ToryDiary: Labour's Scottish nightmare

Parliament: David Cameron initiates Westminster Hall debate on flooding

PlayPolitical videos:

• Michael Gove tells Telegraph TV that the party has big ideas on crime, families, schools and welfare
• Clinton's Communications Director explains why Hillary is fighting on

Telegraph and Mail welcome tougher classification of cannabis and Boris' booze ban

Gordon Brown made a brave and justified decision on cannabis - Daily Mail leader

"For more than four decades, social liberalism has had a largely unfettered run in this country. The tilt towards permissiveness which began during Roy Jenkins's tenure at the Home Office in the mid-Sixties has largely shaped the way we live... Yesterday, two things happened that may just start to turn that tide..." - Telegraph leader

"Recognising that downgrading cannabis was a mistake is a step towards mending Broken Britain." - Sun Says

> Video: RMT union leader mocks Boris' public transport booze ban

> Video: Home Secretary Jacqui Smith tells the Commons why she is toughening the classification of cannabis

> ToryDiary: Boris moves quickly to impose alcohol ban on London's tube and buses

> Peter Franklin: Who decided to downgrade cannabis in the first place?

Boris promises to give crime maps to Neighbourhood Watch groups - Guardian

 George Osborne backs Telegraph petition against new motoring taxes - Telegraph

What should David Cameron do next?

In an article for The Telegraph Iain Martin advices David Cameron to present a balanced team, not just Etonians; against premature triumphalism; and of conducting themselves ethically as money starts moving again to the Conservatives

ConservativeHome Editor Tim Montgomerie argues for measures to 'lock in the base', reach into Labour's heartland and create an online supporters' base - The Guardian

Labour is £20m in red and its lenders are due to be repaid - FT

Mandelson: Scrapping 10p band was "very big mistake" - BBC

Peter Riddell examines latest Populus poll's findings on tax - Times

MPs spend £100,000 to keep expenses secret - Telegraph

 What if Scotland did become independent? - Andrew Roberts looks forward to 2025 in the Daily Mail

MPs attack "inept" handling of junior doctors recruitment crisis - BBC


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 7th May 2008

5.45pm ToryDiary: BBC banned Tory Blackberrys on election night

4pm PlayPolitical: Watch Cameron and Brown exchange personal jibes at PMQs

3.45pm ToryDiary: Boris moves quickly to impose alcohol ban on London's tube and buses

3.30pm CF Diary: IYDU Freedom Forum to be held in Paris

2.30pm CentreRight: Peter Franklin asks: "Who decided to downgrade cannabis in the first place?"

1.45pm ToryDiary: Cameron points to importance of low council tax in last week's victories

1pm ToryDiary: PMQs: Brown challenged on Scottish independence and earyl-release schemes

Seats and candidates: What do Tory members want from their parliamentary candidates? Results of our poll

Local government: Advice for the party's three hundred new councillors

Nicholas Bennett on Platform: It was Bromley wot won it

Tim Montgomerie on CentreRight: Is it finally over for Hillary?

Should Madame Tussauds make a waxwork of Gordon Brown? The Madame is holding a vote.

55% of Labour voters want Brown to quit - ToryDiary

"Yet if voters are warming to Mr Cameron and the Tories, the story of the past week was essentially about the unpopularity of Mr Brown and Labour. The Tories need a firmer base if they are to win outright rather than merely deny Labour an absolute majority. As the Cameron camp accepts, the Tories have to do much more to give the public a reason to vote for them rather than against Labour." - Peter Riddell in The Times

Brown can only survive now by cultivating his core supporters - Peter Clarke in the FT

"Gordon Brown was facing fresh battles on three fronts to retain his political authority yesterday as senior figures challenged him over Scottish independence, 42 days detention and the 10p tax climbdown." - Guardian

"Everywhere you look, there's the same impression of drift and indecision.  Take pay-as-you-throw taxes on rubbish collection. One minute, we're told they've been scrapped - the next they're going ahead. Then we're told there may be pilot schemes - but we're not to worry, because nothing much may come of them." - Daily Mail leader

Simon Jenkins: Voters don't want policy, but charm and novelty

"From the moment David Cameron took over the Conservative party in 2005, he was advised to steer clear of policy, to stick instead to such vacuities as compassionate conservatism and "social responsibility". Every pollster asserted that, with democracy no longer about some great clash of class or economic interest, voters wanted their leaders to be reassuring, celebrated, pleasant on television and somehow therefore trustworthy in a crisis." - The Guardian

But there is some good news for Mr Brown...

BBC reports that Sarkozy and Merkel have vetoed Blair getting the EU Presidency

Cameron: We are on a permanent election footing and are ready to govern at a moment's notice - Daily Mail

Cameron promises "heart and soul" battle for Crewe

"David Cameron has set his sights on securing the first Conservative by-election gain in 26 years, pledging yesterday to put his “heart and soul” into winning Crewe & Nantwich." - Times

"David Cameron yesterday tried to turn the Crewe and Nantwich byelection into a referendum on Gordon Brown's "tax con budget", which led to the abolition of the 10p starting rate of tax." - Guardian

Stand up for London, Boris

Irwin Stelzer offers some advice to Boris Johnson: "Become the noisy advocate-in-chief for London and Londoners. New Yorkers always find this endearing in their mayors. Give the business community what it needs to be internationally competitive, even if that means a thumb in the eye to George Osborne's plan to make the City less attractive to non-domiciled foreigners such as yours truly.  Persuade the leader of the Opposition and the shadow chancellor that the high-tax regime they plan to retain will hurt London's small businesses, and don't hesitate to make sure that entrepreneurs' interests are not subordinated to those of the ever-whingeing City bankers." - Telegraph

An overview of Tory measures to help business - Sean O'Grady in The Independent

"The Conservatives would work with Rolls-Royce to develop strategies for a “manufacturing revival”, David Cameron said on Tuesday, in a sign of his party’s determination to woo the corporate vote with business-friendly policies." - FT

Jacqui Smith expected to ignore advisory group and tighten classification of cannabis - BBC

House of Commons goes to Courts today to stop disclosure of MPs' expenses - Sky

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 6th May 2008

8.30pm BREAKING NEWS:  55% of LABOUR voters want Brown to resign

8pm (until 9pm): Iain Dale is hosting a live chat with Eric Pickles MP

6.15pm CF Diary: Student wing of CF launched

6pm PlayPolitical: Alan Duncan says Labour's young guns are a liability and John McCain argues that only he will stop activist judges being appointed

5.30pm CentreRight: Samuel Coates reviews Diary of an On-Call Girl and Lee Rotherham notes the benefits to be had for a country holding an EU referendum

2.45pm ToryDiary: Boris and Ray Lewis to introduce "respect schooling" as part of the war against knife crime

1.30pm ToryDiary: Nadine Dorries MP launches cross-party campaign to reduce abortion limit to twenty weeks

Noon ToryDiary: 1st May, a celebration in pictures

ToryDiary: Tories accuse Wendy Alexander of "knee-jerk panic" after she supports early referendum on Scottish independence

Seats and candidates: Conservatives can win Crewe (with YOUR help)

Dan Hannan MEP on Platform: Four pro-EU "Charities" got £34,597,219.16 last year

Local government: Wakefield's Cllr Mike Walker explains how he turned wards run by Labour for 26 years into Tory wards with four figure majorities

Boris Johnson's mayoralty begins with inspirational appointment...

"Mr Johnson, elected on Friday, announced the appointment of Ray Lewis, an inspirational black community leader, as a deputy mayor with a key role in tackling youth violence. Mr Lewis, a former prison governor, runs a successful school for troubled youths, which he predicts will educate Britain's first black prime minister." - Telegraph

"On his first official day in office, Johnson asked the "inspirational" Ray Lewis to deliver his "dynamic but strict approach" across London. Lewis, 44, who was educated in Walthamstow, north-east London, after moving to Britain from Guyana, is a former governor of Woodhill prison in Milton Keynes. He set up the Eastside Young Leaders' Academy, which encourages black boys to be leaders in business and law, after being appalled by the number of black youngsters who end up in prison." - Guardian

...and he may bring in New York police guru

"Mr Johnson is reportedly considering taking on Bill Bratton, the US police chief, to advise on policies to cut crime rates in London, which would further strain relations with Sir Ian Blair, the Metropolitan Police Commissioner. None of Mr Livingstone’s key advisers is expected to be retained." - Times

Will there be tensions between Cameron and Johnson on immigration and the environment? - Daily Mail

Talksport sack James Whale for urging listeners to vote for Boris - Daily Mail

Tories vow to save £100m from lottery waste

"New figures seen by The Daily Telegraph show that hundreds of millions of lottery tickets have to be sold to pay for the running costs of the 15 organisations which distribute the money. The costs have grown from £145 million in 2003 to £205 million this year. This means that for two months every penny spent on tickets is absorbed by the bureaucrats." - Telegraph

The Tories need to behave like a government-in-waiting

"The challenge for the Conservatives is to position themselves to take maximum advantage of the new interest in them, to create a sense of inevitable momentum sweeping them to power.  They need to form broad alliances with charities, businesses and leading personalities, taking them on board on commissions and policy groups, creating as wide a buy-in as possible to the Conservatives forming the new government." - Telegraph

Brown accelerates help for losers from 10p tax abolition - Independent

Polly Toynbee: Labour has become the stupid party

"It is Labour that has become the stupid party - dumb, directionless, depressing. That's why the voters gave them that 24% sucker punch: it wasn't about ideology, it was about basic political competence." - Guardian

The world needs a Britain in control of her own destiny

"It remains to be seen whether David Cameron as prime minister would embark upon a major confrontation with the European Union, but if he does so he will be remembered as a leader who changed the course of British history and reasserted Britain's place as an independent nation state. He must also be prepared to reverse years of defense cuts that threaten to cripple Britain's hugely overstretched armed services, currently suffering from the lowest levels of defense spending since the 1930s. And Cameron must work to strengthen the Anglo-American Special Relationship, a unique partnership between two great nations that has been considerably weakened under Gordon Brown. The world needs a Britain that is more powerful, self-confident, and in control of her own destiny, and for the next prime minister these must be top priorities." - Nile Gardiner writing for The Weekly Standard

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

Monday 5th May 2008

 3pm Seats and candidates: Mrs Pickles would like you to join her on holiday... in Crewe

12.30pm ToryDiary: Cameronism 1.0, 2.0 and 3.0

Photo taken by Graeme Archer.

ToryDiary: 'Boris' ambition to be PM will make him a disciplined Mayor'

PlayPolitical videos: Headcases and Rory Bremner poke fun at London's new Mayor

Tim Montgomerie on CentreRight: 'Steal from me or my neighbour and I'll shoot you'

Voters are now voting tactically AGAINST LABOUR - Exclusive Guardian analysis

Brown puts some meat on his fightback plans

Scrapping the bin tax, help for first-time buyers and frozen fuel duty - Two minute Sky video profiles Brown's options

Embattled Brown to bin rubbish tax in bid to win back Britain - Daily Mail

"The Government looks certain to scrap the 2p increase in fuel duty planned for September following the recent rapid increases in petrol prices. Plans to allow councils to tax many households on their rubbish could also be abandoned.  Mr Brown will announce fresh help for first-time buyers trying to get a foot on the property ladder; back a review of prices charged by the major supermarket chains; and boost aid for small businesses." - Independent

David Cameron will use his monthly press conference (tomorrow) to launch fresh attacks on "desperate" Brown - Telegraph

Boris and Sir Ian Blair

"Sir Ian Blair, the Metropolitan police commissioner, faces a testing probationary period under Boris Johnson after surviving earlier resignation calls from the Conservative party, say police and political sources.  Britain's most senior police officer - a close ally of Ken Livingstone - has received lukewarm support from Mr Johnson. The Tory candidate criticised the Metropolitan police's record in fighting crime, during his mayoral campaign." - FT

Lynton Crosby's role behind Boris' win

"The political wheel is turning in Britain and it should come as no surprise that Australian political minds are deeply involved. Tony Blair copied many of the strategies of the Hawke and Keating governments to fashion his so-called Third Way revolution for British Labour. Eleven years later, with Mr Blair gone, the cycle is moving back towards the Tories in Britain, and John Howard's backroom tactician, Lynton Crosby, is being hailed as the brains behind the Conservative resurgence." - The Australian

"Much of the credit is due to Lynton Crosby, the Australian political enforcer. Whatever caused Mr Crosby's ancestor to be transported, it must have been something formidable. In 2005, Crosby advised Michael Howard's Tories to talk about immigration in a way that attracted right-wing voters without alienating the more liberal-minded. This was the "dog-whistle" technique: a sound audible to the dog which would not grate on passing humans. In 2008, Mr Crosby moved on, from the dog whistle to the dog lead. He kept Boris under control.Lynton Crosby's ticket-of-leave has run out. He is returning to Australia. This creates a vacancy. Now that Bertie Wooster is in City Hall, who will be Jeeves?" - Bruce Anderson in The Independent

David Cameron must let us run our own lives - Janet Daley in The Telegraph

Anti-Tory tactical voting is dead and buried - William Rees-Mogg in The Times

Cameron's success partly depends on Nick Clegg

"Tory prospects also depend on the success of the third party. Lib Dems have continued their northward migration, losing to the Tories in the south, gaining from Labour in the north. If the anti-Labour vote shifts en masse to the alternative party of government then Nick Clegg, however unfairly, has had it. But if Centre-Right voters in the north vote Lib Dem, then Mr Cameron, even if he wins a plurality of the vote, will struggle to achieve a Commons majority." - Telegraph leader

> Nigel Evans MP: Thursday was a calamity for Nick Clegg, too

MPs to press for pay rise of up to £15,000 - Telegraph

BNP's Richard Barnbrook calls for flying of Union Jack and a ban on burkas - Times

Do commentators matter?

"Last week, the Tories won 44 per cent of the vote. Yet while I can think of many right-wing commentators who have regularly criticised David Cameron, it is difficult to think of any who have consistently supported him.  The Tories still romped to victory. One could say that Mr Cameron has been spared the vitriol of the BBC and some left-wing commentators, and he has obviously benefited from Gordon Brown's unpopularity. Yet the fact remains that he triumphed without the full-hearted support of any newspaper or many columnists. Doesn't that tell us something?" - Stephen Glover in The 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.

Sunday 4th May 2008

4.15pm Seats and candidates: Tories paint Tamsin Dunwoody as "outsider" who won't stand up to Gordon Brown

2.15pm LondonMayor: And let's not forget the new Conservative GLA team...

1.45pm PlayPolitical video: You may be glad to have missed it but if not... Watch Jeremy Vine dress up as a cowboy as part of BBC1's local elections coverage.  Public service broadcasting?  We don't think so.

1pm, Nigel Evans MP on CentreRight: Thursday was a calamity for Nick Clegg, too

11.30am ToryDiary: Tories promise "policy striptease" as Brown bores on

ToryDiary: Will Boris be green?

Trouble for Brown

• "Our people are abandoning us, we're sinking fast and no amount of hand-wringing and promises of 'listening and learning' will change that." - Jon Cruddas in The Sunday Mirror
• Left-winger John McDonnell MP is preparing a stalking horse leadership challenge - Mail on Sunday
• Writing for the Mail on Sunday, Frank Field threatens to retable his 10p tax amendment if Brown and Darling fail to clarify their compensation package.
• "One of the many perils now facing Labour is that it becomes trapped in a downward spiral. Critics are emboldened; fairweather friends desert; even the stalwarts lose all heart. Party unity will shatter as it becomes every man for himself on the backbenches." - Andrew Rawnsley in The Observer
• "Gordon Brown has to regroup his troops and hammer out a more focused battle plan to win back those trusted supporters who feel betrayed.  As PM in waiting, David Cameron must prove he is more than a smart soundbite and provide policies that are clear and affordable.  The voters have spoken. Their message couldn't be clearer.  The fight to the death is on." - News of the World

Thrasher and Rallings: Thursday's results would produce Tory majority of 126

"We have examined more than 3.5m votes in 1,350 local wards in order to calculate how the parties would have fared if these elections had taken place in every part of the country. This comprehensive analysis has the Tories on 43% (a three-point increase since last year) with Labour on 24% (down two points). The Lib Dems scored 23%, down a single percentage point from last year.  Repeated at a general election, such a result would put the Tories in power with a majority of 126 seats. The number of Labour MPs in the House of Commons would slump from 356 at the last election to just 177. The Liberal Democrats would be left with 55 seats." - The Sunday Times

David Cameron ends the stigma of voting Conservative

"David Cameron still has his detractors, who worry whether there is substance beneath the style.  But his achievement should be recorded: A whole new generation of voters is emerging who were not alive when the Tories were the most formidable vote-winning outfit in history.  They remember only the wilderness years. Now, as Mr Brown enters his political death throes, Mr Cameron has finally shed the stigma of voting Conservative." - Mail on Sunday leader

Francis Maude leads the Tory preparations for office

"Francis Maude, is making his mark. Maude has spent months quietly culling advice from retired permanent secretaries and former ministers on how a Cameron administration could hit the ground running: how to manage civil servants, tackle a 24/7 rolling news culture, navigate freedom of information laws and deliver on promises." - Within an Observer piece reviewing Thursday's elections

"Everything seemed to go so well for the Tories that night back in 2008, when victory in London was a taste of things to come. Then things went disastrously wrong. Our chief political commentator reports from 2012." - John Rentoul in The Independent on Sunday

The role of the London Evening Standard in Boris' victory - Tim Luckhurst in the Independent on Sunday

BNP wins London Assembly seat after scoring 5.3% of vote

"[BNP's Richard Barnbrook] said he would stand up for all Londoners regardless of "colour or identity" as long as "you play part within the identity of this great city".  "People should remain as individuals and belong to the environment they come from or they come into  This is Britain, it is for the British people... it is not for people to enter into this land dictating what will or will not happen to the people that created it and built it over generations." - BBC

> PlayPolitical: BNP's local elections video and Richard Barnbrook of the BNP gives angry speech after being elected to the Greater London Assembly with 5.3% of the vote

 Labour adopt Gwyneth Dunwoody's daughter as their by-election candidate

"Gwyneth Dunwoody's daughter, Tamsin, has been chosen by the Labour Party as its candidate to be Crewe and Nantwich's next MP. She will now fight the May 22 by-election to try and take the seat her mother held for the last 34 years." - Crewe and Nantwich Guardian

> Click here to register to help for the by-election

And finally...

Photographer David Bailey on Nick Clegg: "Telling everyone how many women he's been with, what's that all about?" he asks, referring to Clegg's recent admission that he had slept with "no more" than 30 women. "I mean, do I really want to know what an under-achiever he is?"" - As part of a wider interview for The Sunday Telegraph

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