ConservativeHome: Thursday 11th October 2007

12pm Parliament updates:

11am BritainAndAmerica: British judge finds nine errors in Al Gore's "alarmist and exaggerated" Inconvenient Truth movie

11am WrongMan: Mr Notcredible!

9.45am ToryDiary: Buying votes

Columnist Louise Bagshawe is proud to be a Conservative

Platform: Keith Marsden picks apart Darling's Dodgy Dossier

Interviews: Any questions for Cheryl Gillan MP?

Cameron's in California

"David Cameron will address a Google conference and meet California governor Arnold Schwarzenegger as he seeks to prove himself as an international statesman on a three day trip to the US. The Conservative leader flew out on Wednesday, aiming to cap off a highly successful week for his party." - Telegraph

New ad agency

"The Conservative party has hired a new advertising agency, following a year-long search, in a move highlighting the rush to prepare for an autumn general election that the prime minister never called. Appointing Euro RSCG - best known for it brash, impactful but traditional advertising." - FT

PBR reaction

"The backlash against Alistair Darling’s revenue-raising mini-Budget intensified on Wednesday when it emerged that thousands of employees participating in company “save as you earn” schemes could be landed with bigger tax bills." - FT

"The Chancellor and officials spent long hours on Sunday rewriting his speech. This process continued through much of Monday. Out went stamp duty and other tax cuts; in came inheritance tax." - Times

"There have been howls of disapproval from the business community to news that the capital gains tax taper relief will be replaced by one rate of 18 per cent." - RealBusiness

"Alistair Darling denied stealing Tory policies as he faced Opposition claims that his first tax and spending statement as Chancellor was already unravelling." - Independent

Council tax rises not inheritance tax cuts will be the biggest long-term result of this pre-Budget - Peter Riddell in The Times

The TaxPayers' Alliance has more: "Average council tax on a Band D property in England in 2007-08 is £1,321. Increasing this by 28 per cent would mean an increase of £370 a year for an average Band D bill. This means that by 2013 an average Band D bill could reach £1,691."

PMQs

"David Cameron raised the political temperature of the House of Commons yesterday with a devastating attack on Gordon Brown's lack of "moral authority"." - Herald

"Gordon Brown endured a Commons humiliation on Wednesday as David Cameron, the Conservative leader, pinned him against the ropes over his retreat from a general election and his government’s “copy cat” mini-budget." - FT

"At Prime Minister’s Questions yesterday – as close as the Commons gets to burning a man at the stake – Mr Brown struck me as briefly the bravest man in Britain." - Matthew Parris in The Times

"In the first Prime Minister's Questions since the summer recess, the Opposition leader berated a weakened Prime Minister for shilly-shallying over calling an election, plagiarising Tory policy on inheritance tax and breaking a promise to hold a referendum on EU reform." - Telegraph leader

"It was a disastrous Prime Minister’s Questions for Gordon Brown. He must have known what was coming and yet he reacted to Tory taunts with the incoherent fury of a wounded grizzly bear: rearing back, teeth bared, claws extended, eyes ablaze. " - Ann Treneman in The Times

"Shares in Mr Osborne are soaring"

"He followed [his conference speech] up with a blistering response to Alistair Darling's pre-budget report which fell just the right side of the confident/cocky divide. Later, as he delivered a follow-up briefing to the press gallery, he punched through the messages that defined the coverage yesterday" - Guardian

Preparing for government

"The Tory leadership knows it must consign its policy commissions to history and begin a serious attempt to work hard on the detail on education, welfare, the tax system and turning back the tide of lawlessness. They plan to form such policies in-house, using think tanks and outside expertise where appropriate. Cameron does require a road map to the next election, and the beginnings of a programme for government, if he is to stand a chance of winning." - Iain Martin in The Telegraph

Samantha Cameron's interests

"Though she is justly lauded as "the glamorous and grounded wife of the Tory leader", and she is, indeed, "creative director of swanky stationers Smythson", with a mother who "founded smart interior design company Oka", does it help to have all three brands jostling together, like this, in the same little paragraph?" - Guardian

Please use this thread to highlight other interesting news and commentary...