5pm ToryDiary update: Satisfaction with David Cameron dipped before 4th May
BLOGS
Platform: Give 'em a title and get 'em involved - the next law of the political process
ToryDiary: State funding rejected by 81% of Conservative members
RIP: HUMAN RIGHTS ACT?
"Most of the freedoms promised in these charters could also be found in, say, the Soviet constitution; but, when our elected politicians are powerless, there is no way of ensuring their enforcement. The best guarantor of freedom is a sovereign parliament - which is another way of saying that it is up to us all to safeguard our rights. As Disraeli put it: "To the liberalism they profess, I prefer the liberties we enjoy." - Telegraph leader
"David Cameron has been steering the Tory hybrid vehicle down a very wide and green lane since he took over. Is he about to make a quick turn to the right? The Conservative leader's willingness to throw his weight behind the Sun's campaign to do away with the Human Rights Act today is, at first glance, a little surprising." - Ros Thomson in Comment is Free
"The Tory leader's aides conceded last night that even if the party scrapped the Act, Britain would still be bound by the European Convention of Human Rights." - Telegraph
"Slowly, we are getting more like a banana republic where promises are cheap, nothing ever really happens and nobody expects it to. I am sorry to sound portentous but I fear we are losing what you might call administrative certainty, a deeply unsexy term and hard to make an issue of. Slow to accumulate and easy to squander, certainty matters." - Matthew Parris in The Times
Ten facts about the law - The Independent
ASSISTED DYING FOR THE TERMINALLY ILL BILL
"There may be some who still maintain that death is an unsuitable, possibly dishonourable and perhaps pernicious, topic for public discussion. The debate surrounding the Assisted Dying for the Terminally Ill Bill has surely laid such fears to rest... It is difficult to conceive how a right to death can be enshrined in law without its presence on the statute book having potentially serious implications for the right to life." - Times leader
>>>See yesterday's Platform article by Alex Deane
TOP PRIORITY LIST WOMEN PROFILED
"Whether the local associations do pick any of these women - applications for the first tranche of constituencies to come up must be in by next Friday - remains to be seen. The list is the party's first incursion into positive action, and that's inevitably going to horrify some activists." - Guardian
>>>See ConservativeHome's rolling list of the priority candidates
PENSIONS DEALS
"The architect of the government's pensions blueprint last night welcomed a promise from Downing Street that his key recommendation, to restore the link between the state pension and earnings, has survived the settlement agreed by Tony Blair and Gordon Brown." - Guardian
"The Tories yesterday pledged to axe a deal allowing public sector workers to retire at 60. They acted after the Government announced the retirement age for other employees would rise to 67 from 2012. But public sector staff — like teachers, nurses, police and town hall workers — will be able to quit seven years earlier." - The Sun
BROWN HAS HARMED HIS CAUSE
"This is not about setting a timetable. It is about getting Blair out this year. But by doing this Brown has overplayed his hand. He appears greedy and impatient. In spite of winning his initial battle with Blair he now risks losing the much larger political war with David Cameron. My view is that Brown concluded too soon both that Labour would be massacred in the local elections and that the party would blame Blair for the defeat" - Martin Kettle in The Guardian
CREDIT CARD UK
George Osborne speech at the Credit Today conference: "As in many markets, liberalised credit markets have boosted our freedom and boosted our economy. But as well as these great advantages, the expansion of credit has brought challenges. First, for some, especially vulnerable families, too much debt can cause misery and great financial hardship. And second, high levels of debt, both public and private, make the economy more vulnerable to certain types of shock, and may put macro-economic stability at risk. For families, and for the wider economy, more debt means more vulnerability." - BBCi
"GOD'S HOUSING CRISIS"
"I am becoming increasingly obsessed by the need, in a wealthy society such as our own, for people to get much more serious about their direct, personal obligation to whatever is good that surrounds them. Surely there is a basis for an alliance between the believers who want their churches to perform their pastoral duty and the people of goodwill who may not know God, but can see that the love of neighbour can be expressed in beautiful buildings and what happens to them." - Charles Moore in The Telegraph
"TORY LEADER IN TOUCH WITH MAINSTREAM BRITAIN, SHOCK!!!"
"Mr Cameron's biggest achievement to date is persuading the public to listen to a Conservative leader. They have not done this for years... Mr Cameron still has a long way to go. When Mr Brown replaces Mr Blair next year Labour will get a new lease of life. Many rightwing Tories are also threatening dissent over their leader's revolution. But this week, David Cameron has crossed a rubicon. He needs to be careful that the roll-out of new Tory values is accompanied by some new Tory policies. And he needs to make sure that Mr Hilton remains firmly out of the media's sight." - James Blitz in the FT
OTHER NEWS
Lancashire Evening Telegraph: Burnley to be run by Con/LibDem coalition
The Yorkshire Post looks at the two Yorkshire seats included in the first tranche of target seats, and covers a by-election where a former Labour Councillor wins a seat for the Conservatives.
Scotsman: Conservatives win by-election against a 700 SNP majority
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