ConservativeHome: Thursday 4th October 2007

Tories pull together in Blackpool and anticipate a bounce in the opinion polls

"Under unseasonal blue skies on the Lancashire coast, the Conservatives pulled to-gether, apparently galvanised rather than disoriented by the prospect of a November election. By the time Mr Cameron wound up the conference yesterday with his "we will fight" pledge, the party was in raptures. "He is the master," swooned one young Tory. "There will be a bounce in the polls, that's for sure," said one senior Tory official, observing that the Conservatives went up five points even after the 2002 conference, which ended with doomed leader Iain Duncan Smith extolling the "determination of the quiet man". - Financial Times

The Times has the four pages of handwritten notes that David Cameron used for his speech

Read them all here as a PDF.

"Elaine Quigley, a psychologist and editor of the Graphologist journal, said last night: “The writing is spare and clean, presumably for ease of reference, but the dots and crossbars of the letters also show a close attention to detail and focus... There is a sense of sincerity that this is what he believes, and he shows signs of being very thoughtful and deliberate in his aims." - Times

The Sun and The Daily Mail give a thumbs up to the Tory week

"Go ahead, Gordon - call that election," he said. A week ago, with the Tories flat on their back, that taunt would have sounded preposterous. Today, it has the ring of confidence from a party ready for battle." - The Sun Says (not yet online)

"For the first time in a great many years, Britain has an Opposition party worthy of the name. That can only be good for the country and for democracy itself... The Tory Party, at ease with itself for the first time in years, has emerged from its conference in Blackpool inspired with a new sense of purpose, direction and - most important of all - optimism. ts members have heard a succession of impressive speeches that made the Cabinet's efforts in Bournemouth last week, with the exception of Mr Brown's, sound distinctly second-rate." - Mail leader

Some commentators' conclusions

"The Tories have made a start and have reacted rapidly to the challenge of an early election. But they are primarily engaged in damage limitation for themselves and a spoiling operation on Labour. They are not yet really preparing for government." - Peter Riddell in The Times

"Before Blackpool, the Tories' biggest problem, according to their activists, was that voters have no clear sense of what the point is of voting Conservative. Now Cameron's troops have a message – on tax, education, immigration and crime – that they can sell in simple slogans on the doorstep. He also moved into interesting new terrain on welfare, citing the Wisconsin-style radical reform that Labour once promised to replicate." - Iain Martin in The Telegraph

The Telegraph's Philip Johnston examines this week's policy announcements.

"His speech, however, did not do the one thing to which all the pre-publicity had built up: it did not change the calculations about when that election will be. It did not bomb and thus tempt Brown to press the button. It was not a belter that forced the Prime Minister to hold off. Next week's decision is still finely poised." - John Rentoul in The Independent

Ainsworth: The environment is a core Tory value

"In a speech to the conference Peter Ainsworth, the shadow environment secretary, said: "Some seem to think that the green agenda is a departure from our 'core values'. They obviously don't understand that respect for the countryside and natural world, cutting waste, encouraging innovation, enterprise and investment in new technologies are, of course, core Conservative values." - Guardian

Greg Barker MP enlists Margaret Thatcher in his bid to win grassroots support for greenery - Guardian

Taxation of non-doms

"A £3.5bn ($7.2bn, e5bn) raid on non-domicile workers has become the centre piece of the Tory manifesto, allowing David Cameron to embrace a “tax the rich” agenda with a minimum of political damage. Few will shed a tear for the non-doms, while the decision to use this money to raise the inheritance tax threshold from £300,000 to £1m packs an incredibly powerful political punch. So the political theory makes sense, even though the scheme is doomed in practice..." - Fraser Nelson in The Business

"The Treasury's most senior civil servant has insisted that his officials abided by rules on impartiality, after George Osborne questioned Labour's use of previously unseen government figures... Alistair Darling, the chancellor, has claimed there is an almost £3bn black hole in Tory proposals to lift inheritance tax and stamp duty thresholds by placing a flat rate levy on individuals registered as non-domiciled." - Guardian

Sayeeda Warsi attacks Labour's 'patronising' attitude to ethnic minorities - BBC

Gove says National Citizen's Service will recapture what National Service did in 1950s - BBC

The Independent detects a more critical Tory position on Iraq

Goodbye Blackpool - The Independent reports on the end of the Blackpool Party Conference

Party Political Broadcast shown on TV last night:

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