ConservativeHome: Tuesday 27th November 2007

3.45pm: Speaking about the British teacher, Gillian Gibbons, who faces 40 lashes, a large fine or time in jail, after allowing the children in her class in Sudan to name a teddy bear Mohammed, Shadow Foreign Secretary, William Hague said: “To condemn Gillian Gibbons to such brutal and barbaric punishment for what appears to be an innocent mistake is clearly unacceptable. We call on our government to make it clear to the Sudanese authorities that she should be released immediately.”

1.45pm ToryDiary: Labour has become indifferent to the law says Cameron

ToryDiary: Nominations for Culture Warrior and Scotland's Tories are relevant again (but at what price?)

Sam Freedman on Platform: Conservative education policy is going in the right direction

Columnist Andrew Lilico: On advisory juries

PlayPolitical:

Police fail to provide security for Oxford Union debate with Nick Griffin - Guardian

"Michael Howard, a former leader of the Conservative Party, added his voice to the criticisms yesterday. "The Oxford debating union should not have given these people that platform," he said. "Obviously, they are entitled to their views – everybody has a right to free speech – but there is a separate question as to whether you give people like that a platform, and that is undesirable." - Independent

Tories open up 13% lead over Labour

"The Conservatives have opened a commanding 13-point lead over Labour, their biggest for 19 years, according to the latest monthly poll by ComRes for The Independent."

Yesterday's ToryDiary: Labour crashes to 27%

Peter Riddell counsels that it's all about the economy in the long-term - Times

Douglas Alexander and Harriet Harman implicated in Labour donations scandal - Telegraph

"Peter Watts, the party's general secretary, has resigned claiming that, although he had been aware that these gifts were given through second parties, he had not realised that there was a legal requirement to report them. This seems an extraordinary admission of incompetence from a senior party official." - Telegraph

"Do ministers really expect us to believe that they accepted £540,000 in donations from three individuals in the North without inquiring into their background? This latest episode in a long catalogue of party funding scandals is yet further evidence that this Government cannot be trusted to regulate the way politics in Britain is funded. Despite constant promises to clean up its act, Labour continues to behave in a manner certain to undermine what little respect remains for our politicians." - Edward Heathcoat-Amory in The Daily Mail

Tories 'would halt early prisoner release by building extra prisons' says Nick Herbert - Daily Mail

ID cards review

"Plans to bring in identity cards will be "reassessed" in the wake of the child benefits fiasco, a Government minister said last night. Michael Wills, the data protection minister, said the loss of the personal details of 25million individuals had been "deplorable". He said a review will now be carried out into the way officials store and use data - putting the future of the £5.6billion ID cards scheme under review." - ThisIsLondon | Also see Sky News

Devolution doldrums

"More than half of Scots do not think devolution has given them a stronger voice, a survey revealed yesterday. A total of 55 per cent of those questioned seven years after the historic settlement said that their influence over government had not changed as a result." - Scotsman

MPs warn that national parliaments might be marginalised by EU Treaty - BBC

17 years ago today, John Major became Prime Minister - BBC

PlayPolitical: Four videos about John Major

More rioting in Paris - Guardian

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