7.30pm Bournemouth06 updates:
- B-listers miss opportunity to collar Cameron
- Graham Smith thinks the BBC is exaggerating divisions on tax
- Andrea Leadsom: Andrew Lansley walks the walk
6pm Bournemouth06 updates:
- Cameron Watt: “We are the real criminals” claims Batmanghelidjh
- Ben Rogers: Vote Blue, Go Green
- Latest news from "the beef hunt" with Wat Tyler
4pm Bournemouth06 updates:
- IDS takes socially excluded message to the conference's excluded
- Simon Chapman: Fox puts energy security at heart of defence and foreign policy
- Oberon Houston on the Telegraph's tax cut debate
- Nick Cuff: City regions - kill or cure?
Noon Bournemouth06 update: Hannah Parker on the Conference haves and have-nots
>> Tories vote for ban on advertising to children - Telegraph
BLOGS
ToryDiary:
- Members are satisfied with David Cameron but not sure about his agenda
- Tim Montgomerie: The centre ground is not broad enough for victory
BOURNEMOUTH 06 BLOG (SPONSORED BY SOFTWARE.CO.UK)
- Tobias Ellwood MP: Day 1 of the social action project
- Peter Franklin: Radio 4 wastes its interview with Oliver Letwin
- Brian Jenner on the conference service
POLICE QUIZ TORIES OVER LOANS-FOR-PEERAGES
"A Tory multimillionaire businessman, whose peerage nomination was blocked by the House of Lords watchdog, has been questioned under caution by the police as part of the honours-for-sale investigation that has engulfed the Labour Party. The Times has learnt that Robert Edmiston, who converted a £2 million loan into a donation this year to help to avert a potential funding crisis, is one of a number of rich Tory donors who have been questioned by the police in the cash-for-peerages inquiry." - Times
TORIES ARE WILLING TO PROMISE SOME TAX CUTS...
To pensioners in Scotland... "Senior citizens will be promised massive council tax cuts in the Tory manifesto for next year's Scottish parliamentary elections. In a bid to boost the party's fortunes north of the border, Annabel Goldie, the leader of the Scottish Tories, will today unveil plans to halve the council tax bills of all pensioners in Scotland." - The Herald
...and British servicemen overseas: "British soldiers in action overseas will be exempt from tax under plans being studied by the Tories. David Cameron tells The Sun today that he wants a tax holiday for our brave troops. The UK’s Armed Forces are the only ones in Nato who pay income tax during combat. Married soldiers even fork out for a flat-rate housing tax whether they are at home or abroad." - The Sun
...But the pressure for something more radical grows as John Redwood's No Turning Back Group call for a clear path to lower taxation (BBC).
"The Taxpayers' Alliance, a new lobby group backed by Tory donors and other business figures, also issued an ICM poll yesterday suggesting people would be more likely to vote Conservative at the next election if they were promised tax cuts. The Taxpayers' Alliance chief executive, Matthew Elliott, said: "The idea that people don't want to hear the Conservative party call for lower taxes and public service reform is completely wrong. The leadership have got too many people giving them advice that's 10 years out of date." Greg Hands, MP for Hammersmith and Fulham, also issued a 10-point plan for flatter taxes under the aegis of Conservative Way Forward. Even from the party's left, Steve Norris called for a commitment to reduce public spending as a proportion of GDP. Mr Norris told a fringe meeting: "I think we pay far too much tax ... 42% of GDP is appalling; 37% would be a lot nearer the mark."" - The Guardian
FRANCIS MAUDE IS 'HISSED' OVER A-LIST
"The Conservative Party chairman and senior officials faced open revolt over the controversial A-list of handpicked candidates yesterday when members booed and hissed Francis Maude." - Times
>>> In the ConservativeHome/ Independent survey of Tory members just 6% thought the A-list represented the most talented members of the Conservative Party.
REACTION TO DAVID CAMERON'S OPENING SPEECH
BBC Online reviews the newspaper highlights.
"It was surprising enough that Mr Cameron spoke at all. This was no formal speech of welcome pending his major set piece on Wednesday, it was a full-length headline-grabber. One can only conclude that he simply did not trust anyone else to engage the attention of either the hall or the nation. It is not a great comment on the state of the party." - FT
>>> The speech is discussed on ConservativeHome's Bournemouth 06 blog.
LINKS TO COMMENT
Max Hastings in The Guardian wants the Tory leader to break free from the "astonishing number of Tory zealots [who] have learned nothing from the past decade's failures": "The Conservative leader may require less steel in his soul to win a general election three years hence than he will need in the days and months ahead, to see off the dogs of his own party snapping at his heels."
"If politics has seemed topsy-turvy recently, you ain't seen nothing yet. It is time to admit it squarely: as things stand, we could go into the next general election with David Cameron's Conservatives appearing to attack Labour from the left, and Labour pitching its appeal to the centre right. We could see Cameron, heart-on-sleeve ecowarrior and anti-Bush civil libertarian, v Brown, Reid and co promising new immigration controls and an ever tougher crackdown on terrorists, hoodies and the workshy." - Jackie Ashley in The Guardian
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