Wednesday 26th April 2006

3pm ToryDiary update: ChameleonArmy.com launches with £2,000 creative fund.

12.30pm ToryDiary update: PMQs focuses on the prisoner release scandal.

11.15am ToryDiary update: Tory activist's complaint against George Galloway is upheld.

BLOGS

ToryDiary:

• MORI puts Labour and Tories on 30% with LibDems up 5%
• Philip Davies MP launches 'Better Off Out' of EU campaign
• Something of the John Majors about Labour
• Conservative Movement Award Nominations for Best National Campaign.

Iain Dale: The ten most impressive new Tory MPs

CANDIDATES

"The proportion of black and ethnic minority people among the elite of Tory candidates will be greater than among the population as a whole, David Cameron said yesterday." - Guardian.

Did you see ToryDiary's exclusive on candidate selection from yesterday?

CASINOS

"The gaming industry's hopes for more Las Vegas-style super-casinos will be dashed tomorrow when the Conservatives rule out their support for plans to increase the number of properties...  However, the Tories will outline their opposition to an increase at a special seminar that will be attended by groups such as the Salvation Army and GamCare, which helps problem gamblers." - FT

ENVIRONMENT POLICY

"it is puzzling that green taxes have not caught on further. Instead we have a patchwork of schemes, often favouring particular constituencies. Rather than raising taxes on domestic heating, the government charges a reduced rate of VAT, a badly targeted attempt to help poorer households that discourages everyone from saving energy. Britain has a climate change levy, designed to encourage energy saving, but it does not distinguish between electricity generated by coal or by gas, although gas is far cleaner.  The Conservatives seem to be proposing a more straightforward tax on emissions of carbon dioxide. That would go much further towards combating climate change than Mr Cameron's choice of car." - FT leader

"Groups representing veterans who served in Japanese POW camps during the Second World War are highly upset by the decision to purchase a vehicle from the land of their former captors." - Independent diary on that Lexus purchase.

BACKDOOR INHERITANCE TAX

"The Conservatives have stepped up their criticism of the chancellor's planned changes to the inheritance tax system.  The party was on Wednesday hosting a summit on how to respond to a new "stealth tax" imposed in the Budget..." - ePolitix.com

OTHER NEWS & COMMENTARY

William Hague's speech to the new Conservative Human Rights Commission.

"‘Stalinists’ ruining the rural economy, says Tory Euro MP" - Herald

"National parties are a waste of time. Let's hear it for the independents" - Alice Miles, The Times

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Tuesday 25th April 2006

7pm ToryDiary update: "My fellow reptiles"

A 5pm ToryDiary exclusive: 20 of the 35 safest Tory seats will select women for the next election

3.15pm ToryDiary update: The incompetent release of 1,000 prisoners isn't a resigning issue in Blair's Cabinet

BLOGS

ToryDiary:

• Labour hit 19 year low
• 77% oppose public money for political parties
• Nominations for Outstanding Parliamentarian
• ChameleonArmy.com
• Fraser Nelson is new Political Editor of The Spectator

Community: Richard Robinson

Books: The Clash of Civilisations and the Remaking of World Order

PETER LAW MP PASSES AWAY

"The independent MP and AM for Blaenau Gwent Peter Law has died, aged 58, after suffering from cancer. Mr Law left the Labour Party in protest at its policy of all-women candidates' shortlists and overturned its 19,000 majority at the 2005 general election." - BBCi

£16BN COST OF FAMILY BREAKDOWN

"Family breakdown sharply increases the risk of domestic violence, crime, depression and poverty, David Cameron was warned yesterday by a Conservative policy panel led by former party leader Iain Duncan Smith.Mr Duncan Smith's social justice policy review group has concluded that equality of opportunity is hugely dependent on the stability of family structures" - Guardian

POLITICAL PARTIES SHOULD WASTE THEIR OWN MONEY

"The political parties have got themselves into terrible trouble over the corrupt way in which they raise their money. The answer is not to make taxpayers foot the bill - but for the parties to spend no more on presenting their policies than they can raise by honest means." - Telegraph leader

"The parties’ response to the cash-for-peerages row is to demand that the State pay more of their bills. We have argued that they should spend less. And we think we know how taxpayers would feel being asked to stump up £299 so that six Labour activists can dress up as Mr Spock to follow John Redwood." - Times leader

"Invoices reveal that the [Conservative] party spent £1.5 million on immigration leaflets and £523,000 on crime, with a further £7,000 on targeting UK Independence Party supporters. The “Are you thinking what we are thinking?” campaign, which led to claims of racism, cost £120,000. While Labour fought the election on the public services, the Tories’ combined spending on health and education was £1.5 million." - The Times

"Labour and the Conservatives spent nearly £1.3m on political advisers in the run up to the last general election, according to party accounts." - Independent

CHARLES CLARKE'S AUTHORITARIANISM

"The Government has always sought an obedient Parliament, a compliant judiciary, a supine press that takes dictation from its spin doctors and a police force designed purely to implement its policies. Mr Clarke fails to see the huge dangers for a country such as ours of institutional arrangements such as these." - Telegraph leader

RESPECT AS BAD AS BNP

"The BNP’s cult of violence was once expressed in support for the Islamic Republics of Iran and Libya. It matters that political debate lacks a language for this phenomenon. One way of enhancing our political terminology would be to add to Mr Cameron’s observation. Civilised people abhor the BNP; and for literally the same reason, they reject Respect." - Oliver Kamm in The Times

CAMERON IS A TRADITIONAL CONSERVATIVE

"His emphasis on social justice is in the One Nation tradition promoted by Disraeli, his commitment to the public services, rather than tax cuts, is in keeping with the Conservatism of Wilberforce and his desire to help Darfur as well as Gibraltar is reminiscent of Macmillan. Even his environmentalism - cited as a symbolic demonstration of difference - derives, it could be argued, from an old-fashioned Tory desire to conserve. Traditional Conservatives like to quote Burke's maxim that the living are only "temporary possessors" of this world and must not "leave to those who come after them a ruin instead of a habitation". On family policy, the Tory leader is far too traditional for the modernisers who support him." - Rachel Sylvester in The Telegraph

LEGISLATIVE & REGULATORY BILL

"The government has already been forced to change the Legislative and Regulatory Reform Bill amid fears it would hand too much power to ministers. But the public administration committee says concerns will remain until the amendments are outlined publicly. Those changes will have to introduce restrictions on ministers, it said." - BBCi

CONGO'S WOES

"The week I spent as Unicef's guest in the DRC was one of the most shocking of my life. Then I returned to find my own country in uproar about the price of petrol and the salaries of radio disc jockeys. And I wondered ... do we and the Congo really share the same planet?" - Martin Bell in comment is free

GREEN CANDIDATE DISQUALIFIED

"Isaac is a Green candidate in next month's elections in Kensington and Chelsea, but there's a snag: his candidacy is illegal, because he is only 20. The qualifying age to be a council candidate remains at 21, which Isaac will not be until 12 days after the May 4 election" - Telegraph Spy

>>Also see Bernard Jenkin's interview with ConservativeHome about candidates

SURVEY OF PARTY WEBSITES

"I thought I'd do a little survey of each of the 3 parties (there are no oddball parties on my list) and see what they can tell me about who I am and what they'll do for me. To maintain a level playing field, I've given each party 10 minutes to convince me to vote for them, used the same questions for each and have decided I'm prepared to do some work for the 30 minute period before I make my selection." - e-Government@large blog

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Monday 24th April 2006

5pm ToryDiary update: Graeme Archer: From the frontline in Hackney

1.30pm ToryDiary update: Danny Kruger - Councillors don't have the power to be different

BLOGS

A comprehensive Ten Point Briefing on Britain's conservative movement

ToryDiary:

• Who produces the best writing?
  
• Cameron: BNP thrive on hatred
• David Cameron's cheerleaders in the press (and lack of them)

Future GoldList candidates will be profiled by readers - Howard Flight

Four Events in London tomorrow

Mike Smithson's advice to Labour: "Just keep on demonising the Conservatives without ever mentioning Cameron."

CAR CONTROL

"Motorists with gas-guzzling cars could be hit with higher road tolls and pay more for car parks, while taxes could be cut for "greener" road users, under plans being developed by the Conservatives." - FT

"The Conservatives are planning to  crack down on parents unnecessarily using their cars for the school run, the BBC has learnt."

CITY CHALLENGE FOR CONSERVATIVES

"The Tories last won an election to Manchester city council in 1992 and they lost their last councillor in 1996, the year of the huge IRA bomb in the city. So, with no seats in the council chamber (and even the Greens have one), the party has had to stand on the sidelines and gnash its teeth as Labour took the credit for the city's reconstruction." - Guardian

"It was, the Conservatives admit, an "administrative cock-up" which resulted in their failing to field a candidate in seven of the 26 Newcastle seats being contested in the city council elections on May 4. Candour is probably the best policy in the face of such embarrassment, yet it underlines the structural damage to the Tory machine caused by the party's wilderness years in Newcastle, one of several big northern cities where it has no councillors at all." - FT

"It was a marriage certain to fail, according to sceptics and opponents, when a coalition of Liberal Democrats, Conservatives and Greens ended 25 years of Labour rule in Leeds two years ago.But this year's elections see Labour still on the back foot." - Guardian

COUNCILS NEED REAL POWER

Danny Kruger in The Telegraph: "Simon Heffer, in these pages on Saturday, pointed out that the local Conservative campaign for "better composting" will hardly send voters rushing to the polling station. But the fact is that waste disposal is about the only thing in which the council has a free hand. If candidates offered policies on the issues people really care about - more money for schools, say, or more police, or a new hospital, or increases in benefits, or more housing, or the opposite of these policies - they would be lying."

The Telegraph: Twelve key council contests, and Dr Robert Waller's analysis of the local elections.

"RAZZMATAZZ IS SO LAST YEAR"

"Mr Cameron has sought to fuse a semi-Clintonian style with some of the slogans and repositioning of George W. Bush in 2000. This is most striking in his constant references to “modern, compassionate Conservatism”. The President, as much as his immediate predecessor, has employed “triangulation” (presenting himself as the acceptable middle option between two less attractive alternatives) to sell his candidacy to his countrymen." - Tim Hames in The Times

DAVE ON THE OFFENSIVE

Mr Cameron told Sky News' Sunday Live: "I hope nobody votes for the BNP - I'd rather they voted for any other party. I think they are completely unacceptable in their views and they thrive on hatred."

"The Tory leader today said Labour's decision to "go negative" with a personal jibe at him was a sign that it had nothing to offer voters in the English local elections. He said it was "desperately sad" for British politics that Labour had chosen to attack him rather than promote its own policies." - Scotsman

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St George's Day 2006

5.45pm ToryDiary update: Nomination Categories for the Inaugural Conservative Movement Awards.

BLOGS

Priscilla Cullen makes the case for an English Parliament on YourPlatform.

ToryDiary: Dave The Chameleon ad backfires on the snakes, leeches and pot-bellied pigs of New Labour.

EVER GREENER BLUES

ToryDiary: DAVID CAMERON: I'M FOR GREENER CARS, I'M NOT ANTI-CAR

"David Cameron has committed a future Conservative government to cutting car emissions by more than a third." - Sunday Telegraph

"As part of a big launch ahead of the local elections on May 4, the Tories are to publish their ideas for a “new generation” transport strategy. The paper will spell out proposals for better parking, improved cycle lanes and more use of 20mph speed limits." - Sunday Times

"The politician who is really serious about saving the planet is not the one who promises that you won't have to make any sacrifices. The politician who means it is the one who tells you where and how much it is going to hurt. David Cameron and Gordon Brown are both still suggesting that we can have our planet and eat it." - Andrew Rawnsley, The Observer

BNP SURGE

"A Tory MP has presented David Cameron with the first real test of his pledge to create a more tolerant Conservative party. Philip Davies claimed voters were turning to the BNP because political correctness had left white Britons afraid of being 'sacked or locked up' for expressing their feelings on race... Davies, the MP for Shipley, North Yorkshire, said he would 'obviously' like his own party to talk more about the issue, but added that he believed Cameron agreed with him that tough immigration policies were crucial to good race relations." - Observer

Iain Dale: "Tomorrow's Sunday Mirror carries a very depressing poll. An unbelievable 45.5% of the voters of Barking are set to vote for the BNP in the council elections on May 4th."

LOCAL ELECTIONS

"The best measure of Tory success could well be the four boroughs that got away in 2002. In Bexley and in Hammersmith and Fulham, a swing of just 2% would give the Tories control; in Croydon a swing of less than 3% is needed. Merton is a more difficult target, requiring a swing of 5%. If the Tories won three of these, and kept the eight London boroughs they currently control, they would probably emerge from the elections with control of more boroughs than Labour..." - Colin Rallings and Michael Thrasher, Sunday Times

BETSYGATE RESURFACES

"The Sunday Telegraph has learnt that, for the past four months, the party has been re-investigating the saga surrounding payments made by the former leader, Iain Duncan Smith, to his wife, Betsy, for secretarial work in 2003... Although cleared of any wrongdoing at the time, Mr Duncan Smith privately still blames two former Tory officials - Vanessa Gearson and Mark MacGregor - for sparking the row and ending his career as leader." - Sunday Telegraph

NO TO STATE FUNDING

"There is a growing division in this country between what the French call the pays légal (the governing elites) and the pays réel (everyone else). The rise of the BNP is only the latest manifestation of the phenomenon. That unlovely party is benefiting from a reaction against the established parties, which strike many voters as a remote and self-interested cartel. The fall in turnout is a symptom of the same malady. If the established parties agreed on a system of state funding, explicitly designed to protect them from new challengers, public disenchantment would grow - as has happened on the Continent, where parties are already subsidised by the taxpayer." - Sunday Telegraph leader

The Sunday Mirror has a letter that reveals "the Shadow Chancellor's Club" - a network that facilitates rich backers having private meals with George Osborne.

OTHER NEWS & COMMENTARY

"Will Moray revert to its true Tory colours?" - Observer

Lord Onslow "tells David Cameron that he should be restoring the party's traditional values on liberties" - Observer

Sunday Times discovers that Paddy Ashdown was a surprise supporter of the Iraq war.

"Republicans are urging President George W Bush to dump Dick Cheney as vice-president and replace him with Condoleezza Rice if he is serious about presenting a new face to the jaded American public.  They believe that only the sacrifice of one or more of the big beasts of the jungle, such as Cheney or Donald Rumsfeld, the defence secretary, will convince voters that Bush understands the need for a fresh start." - Sunday Times

"The eurozone is heading for inevitable collapse because it cannot function without full political union, a senior economic adviser to the European Commission has warned.  Paul De Grauwe, a leading economist whose work was used to make the case for European monetary union in the 1990s, says the signs point to a slow death for the euro project over as long as two decades." - The Business

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