6.30pm ToryDiary: Brace yourself for two bad polls tomorrow...
4.30pm Seats and Candidates: Rachel Joyce selected for Harrow West
PICK OF THE WEB
- The Difference's Dr John Hayward is frustrated at the third class service of the Royal Mail
- The BBC has more Cabinet reshuffle news - Sir Digby Jones and two LibDem peers have accepted offers, but Jon Cruddas rejected his.
- Civitas' Anastasia de Wall is sceptical about Brown's education reforms
- Wat Tyler has drawn up an interesting graph plotting GDP per capita against the size of several Western governments
- Glyn Davies tries to wish the new Welsh Assembly coalition well
- Croydonian links to an interesting survey showing a significant minority of Palestinians want full Israeli occupation
3.30pm ToryDiary: How should Cameron respond to Brown? (On security)
3pm Seats and candidates: Tory MEP David Sumberg (North West) has announced he will stand down
1.15pm BritainAndAmerica: Malloch Brown's appointment to Foreign Office signifies shift away from Blair's foreign policy
11.45am ToryDiary: Who should be the next Party Chairman?
11am: Our Events section has been updated with a host of events coming up in July. Email us if you'd like yours added.
10.15am ToryDiary: Security is back on the national agenda
ToryDiary: Caroline Spelman tipped to replace Francis Maude and Tories launch fundraising drive
YourPlatform: Peter Noordhoek offers his perspective on policy co-ordination
Seats and Candidates: Philip Allott selected for Halifax and Video of Cameron's visit to Ealing Southall
CampaignTogether: Sign up to help the Party
OLD ETONIANS COULD FACE THE CHOP IN TORY RESHUFFLE
"David Cameron is preparing to sack or demote two of his Old Etonian friends as he reshuffles his front bench team. The
Tory leader has accepted that he needs to reassert his authority and
quell growing unease within the party that he is losing his grip. The
principal casualty is expected to be Hugo Swire, the culture spokesman,
who embarrassed Mr Cameron when he was forced to make an embarrassing
retreat over a plan to scrap free admission to museums and art
galleries." - Telegraph
"The extreme Cameroons would probably like to dispense with Hague, Davis and even Liam Fox. Certainly the High Priest of Tory modernisation, Michael Portillo, wrote a few days ago that he believes that Cameron has now surrendered to the Tory right and preyed in aid comments by Davis and Hague reassuring the Tory faithful that Cameron is, after all, still a Tory. In fact, it transpires that Hague and Davis were actually doing this only at the leader's request." - Michael Brown in the Independent
"There are two schools of thought advising Cameron. Some believe he should adopt the principle of 'marking the man' and make his appointments having considered who they will be shadowing. Others think 'playing the ball' is more important and the best people should be appointed regardless of their opponents. Cameron is determined to pick his team based on who he wants rather than who he thinks should be sacked. " - Iain Dale in the Telegraph
REACTION TO BROWN'S RESHUFFLE
"Gordon Brown is trying to present his new Cabinet as bringing fresh talent to tackle Britain’s future challenges. In fact, the Cabinet members all have significant failures on their CVs. We provide a summary of these failings as part of the TPA’s Better Government campaign." - TaxPayers'Alliance pdf
"Gordon Brown had more than enough time during his leadership non-contest to mull over the line-up of his first Cabinet. He has used it well. Yesterday's reshuffle was radical and bold. It was radical in the way it changed the departmental geography of Whitehall, in an attempt to deliver a semblance, at least, of joined-up government. And it was bold in its advancement of young talent while avoiding, for the most part, appointments that smacked of faction, cronyism or political correctness." - Telegraph leader
"David Miliband is an undoubtedly able
individual. But he has an innocent enthusiasm for the EU that might not
make him the best man to play hard-ball with Britain’s partners in the
deliberations to come over the final shape of a new treaty. Supposedly
“Blairite”, he has a whiff of the old Left about him on the very
subject that he is supposed to control, foreign policy." - Times leader
"If there was less drama than some had predicted - no shock big name so far from business or the Conservatives - then there was also less brutality. While making some concilliatory gestures to opponents of the Iraq war, Mr Brown treated Tony Blair's supporters with tolerance and rewarded his own friends judiciously." - Guardian leader
"How can the PM make the Defence secretary carry out the responsibilities of Scottish Secretary as well? We have troops in action in Iraq and Afghanistan and a vital need to deal with welfare issues for forces families and tackle overstretch. If ever there was a need for a totally committed cabinet minister, this is it. After the Iran hostages shambles, it is not clear that Des Browne is up to one job, let alone two." - WebCameron
"Few things matter more to people in this country than the war in Iraq, whose growing and increasingly agonising toll was exemplified by the deaths of three more soldiers yesterday. Yet the already ineffectual minister in charge of our Armed Forces is left in place." - Simon Heffer in the Telegraph
"I went to Downing Street to see the talent. All Cabinet members have to do the “walk of fame”. This is both very short, and very long, at the same time. It is pure showbiz, with only a herbaceous border for a backdrop. Yesterday, the undeniable star of the walk was Jacqui Smith, resplendent in a white jacket, the post-Blair must-have wardrobe item for all women in politics." - Ann Treneman in the Times
WOODWARD - THE ONLY LABOUR MP WITH A BUTLER
"Having promised surprises, Gordon Brown was as good as his word in appointing
Shaun Woodward as Northern Ireland Secretary and making Baroness Scotland of
Asthal the first black and female Attorney-General." - Times
"Mr Woodward may not be the first multimillionaire with a butler to serve as Northern Ireland secretary, but he is certainly the first to do so for Labour." - Guardian
"A close friend of Peter Mandelson, Mr Woodward, who is married to Camilla Sainsbury, of the supermarket dynasty, entered Parliament as a Conservative "golden boy" in 1997." - Independent
"A Tory defector, a former UN deputy secretary general who angered the Americans and a member of the Guildford Three have all been taken into the cabinet" - Guardian
STOP PICKING ON THE MIDDLE CLASS
"Middle England is an irresistible object of satire, the perpetual target of class warriors from Nancy Mitford to John Prescott. It is rare, in fact, to find anyone who has a good word to say about the middle class, which is odd when you consider that the effect of social mobility would be to create a society almost entirely composed of the educated middle classes." - Jane Shilling in the Times
CONSERVATIVE HOME SECRETARIES CONSIDERED BANNING PINOCHET
"The unannounced visit to Britain by the Chilean dictator General
Augusto Pinochet in September 1998 presented Tony Blair's government
with the first real challenge to its commitment to international human
rights. But documents released by the Ministry of Justice under the
Freedom of Information Act show that Pinochet's previous trips to this
country had already raised concern at the heart of the Conservative
administration." - Independent
BROWN'S BAE DILEMMA
"The investigation by the American Department of Justice of allegedly corrupt dealings between BAE Systems and Saudi Arabia has cast a shadow over the company's plans for transatlantic expansion. But it is likely to pose much more of a dilemma to the Government, which may have to decide whether to allow investigators to see confidential documents held by the Ministry of Defence, the signatory to both stages of the £43 billion al-Yamamah arms deal." - Telegraph leader
Please use this thread to highlight other interesting news and commentary...
