9pm ToryDiary: Grassroots members send a protest message to leadership through ConservativeHome poll
10am ToryDiary: Boris Johnson now "illiberal" on cannabis because it has become stronger
ToryDiary: Conservative lead up to 5% according to ICM and Tories are picking a fight with ordinary working families says Graham Brady
"Musharraf talks the talk, but he needs now to put enlightened moderation into action and stop pandering to the extremists. The few meaningful reforms he has actually implemented, such as the abolition of "religious apartheid" in the electoral system, have only been taken under intense pressure from groups within Pakistan such as the All Pakistan Minorities Alliance. Musharraf has done virtually nothing, for example, to control the madrasas – many of which are incubators for extremism."
- WRITING ON YOURPLATFORM BEN ROGERS OF THE CONSERVATIVE PARTY'S HUMAN RIGHTS COMMISSION AUTHORS A MUST-READ CALL TO ACTION ABOUT PAKISTAN PRESIDENT MUSHARRAF'S FAILURE TO CURB EXTREMISM
DAVID CAMERON PROMISES POWER TO THE PEOPLE
"I want to give everyone in our country, particularly in our great cities where immigrant communities are most concentrated, much greater control over what happens in their lives, with meaningful local participation, engagement and civic responsibility. “Power to the people” is one of the most deeply held Conservative ideas and in the weeks ahead we will start to show how we plan to extend it. I believe this will help to give immigrant communities a far greater sense of belonging — and hence loyalty to — their country." - The Conservative leader writing in The Sunday Times
SUNDAY TELEGRAPH LEADER ATTACKS "ARROGANT" CAMERON
"One cannot therefore blame the media or Tory traditionalists for the general confusion as to party thinking on this matter. Whatever the merits of the initial policy, the combination of Mr Willetts's rash pronouncements and Mr Cameron's hot-headed defences have needlessly furnished the Conservatives' opponents with ammunition." - Sunday Telegraph leader
"The Tories have given Team Brown an insight into how they might eventually "kill Cameron", says Iain Martin in The Sunday Telegraph
"Here are three useful rules for a leader who wants to take on his party. Commandment number one: do not start a fight unless you know where it is going to lead. Commandment number two: do not start a fight that will turn off the voters. And the most crucial of all, commandment number three: do not start a fight unless you are absolutely confident that you are going to win it. I think it is fair to say that none of these very basic rules of political engagement has been followed by David Cameron in the great Tory quarrel over grammar schools." - Andrew Rawnsley in The Observer
TORIES AND VOUCHERS
"Willetts’s decision to mention vouchers may not have been much noticed by the press or Tory party. But it will certainly have been carefully recorded by Brown. It gives Willetts an unusual opportunity, given that the shadow cabinet usually avoids controversial proposals. Vouchers look a good idea and there is a growing body of evidence from other countries that they work. But that will not stop Brown denouncing them as Thatcherism gone mad." - Michael Portillo in The Sunday Times focuses on the Tory interest in vouchers - lost in the grammarsgate furore
ANDY COULSON'S APPOINTMENT
"Over the past fortnight, Mr Cameron's share price has wobbled in the markets, but it recovered strongly on Thursday as the party announced the hiring of Andy Coulson, former editor of the News of the World, as its new director of communications. This is an unalloyed coup for the Tories, as Mr Coulson is one of the most formidable journalists of his generation, combining a sharp tabloid eye with a keen political intellect (contrary to some of the wilder claims, he will be paid £275,000 a year). If Mr Coulson wants to be on your team, your team is worth being on." - Matthew d'Ancona in The Sunday Telegraph
The Sunday Times profiles Andy Coulson - "the antithesis of Cameron's Old Etonian circle"
The Sunday Herald is reporting that Trevor Kavanagh - rather than Andy Coulson - was the Conservatives' first choice for Head of Communications.
FURTHER EVIDENCE OF LABOUR'S LEFTWARDS LURCH
"Most ordinary Labour party members want Gordon Brown to distance Britain from America and also to increase the top rate of tax to 50%, according to a poll for The Sunday Times. The YouGov survey of more than 1,600 party members and trade unionists entitled to vote in this month’s deputy leadership contest shows that the grassroots would like the next prime minister to shift leftwards in the battle against the Tories, ahead of the next general election." - The Sunday Times
OTHER NEWSLINKS
The Independent on Sunday interviews David Cameron about the environmental features of his London home.
Please use this thread to highlight other interesting news and commentary...
