3pm Seats and candidates: Mrs Pickles would like you to join her on holiday... in Crewe
12.30pm ToryDiary: Cameronism 1.0, 2.0 and 3.0
Photo taken by Graeme Archer.
ToryDiary: 'Boris' ambition to be PM will make him a disciplined Mayor'
PlayPolitical videos: Headcases and Rory Bremner poke fun at London's new Mayor
Tim Montgomerie on CentreRight: 'Steal from me or my neighbour and I'll shoot you'
Voters are now voting tactically AGAINST LABOUR - Exclusive Guardian analysis
Brown puts some meat on his fightback plans
Scrapping the bin tax, help for first-time buyers and frozen fuel duty - Two minute Sky video profiles Brown's options
Embattled Brown to bin rubbish tax in bid to win back Britain - Daily Mail
"The Government looks certain to scrap the 2p increase in fuel duty planned for September following the recent rapid increases in petrol prices. Plans to allow councils to tax many households on their rubbish could also be abandoned. Mr Brown will announce fresh help for first-time buyers trying to get a foot on the property ladder; back a review of prices charged by the major supermarket chains; and boost aid for small businesses." - Independent
David Cameron will use his monthly press conference (tomorrow) to launch fresh attacks on "desperate" Brown - Telegraph
Boris and Sir Ian Blair
"Sir Ian Blair, the Metropolitan police commissioner, faces a testing probationary period under Boris Johnson after surviving earlier resignation calls from the Conservative party, say police and political sources. Britain's most senior police officer - a close ally of Ken Livingstone - has received lukewarm support from Mr Johnson. The Tory candidate criticised the Metropolitan police's record in fighting crime, during his mayoral campaign." - FT
Lynton Crosby's role behind Boris' win
"The political wheel is turning in Britain and it should come as no surprise that Australian political minds are deeply involved. Tony Blair copied many of the strategies of the Hawke and Keating governments to fashion his so-called Third Way revolution for British Labour. Eleven years later, with Mr Blair gone, the cycle is moving back towards the Tories in Britain, and John Howard's backroom tactician, Lynton Crosby, is being hailed as the brains behind the Conservative resurgence." - The Australian
"Much of the credit is due to Lynton Crosby, the Australian political enforcer. Whatever caused Mr Crosby's ancestor to be transported, it must have been something formidable. In 2005, Crosby advised Michael Howard's Tories to talk about immigration in a way that attracted right-wing voters without alienating the more liberal-minded. This was the "dog-whistle" technique: a sound audible to the dog which would not grate on passing humans. In 2008, Mr Crosby moved on, from the dog whistle to the dog lead. He kept Boris under control.Lynton Crosby's ticket-of-leave has run out. He is returning to Australia. This creates a vacancy. Now that Bertie Wooster is in City Hall, who will be Jeeves?" - Bruce Anderson in The Independent
David Cameron must let us run our own lives - Janet Daley in The Telegraph
Anti-Tory tactical voting is dead and buried - William Rees-Mogg in The Times
Cameron's success partly depends on Nick Clegg
"Tory prospects also depend on the success of the third party. Lib Dems have continued their northward migration, losing to the Tories in the south, gaining from Labour in the north. If the anti-Labour vote shifts en masse to the alternative party of government then Nick Clegg, however unfairly, has had it. But if Centre-Right voters in the north vote Lib Dem, then Mr Cameron, even if he wins a plurality of the vote, will struggle to achieve a Commons majority." - Telegraph leader
> Nigel Evans MP: Thursday was a calamity for Nick Clegg, too
MPs to press for pay rise of up to £15,000 - Telegraph
BNP's Richard Barnbrook calls for flying of Union Jack and a ban on burkas - Times
Do commentators matter?
"Last week, the Tories won 44 per cent of the vote. Yet while I can think of many right-wing commentators who have regularly criticised David Cameron, it is difficult to think of any who have consistently supported him. The Tories still romped to victory. One could say that Mr Cameron has been spared the vitriol of the BBC and some left-wing commentators, and he has obviously benefited from Gordon Brown's unpopularity. Yet the fact remains that he triumphed without the full-hearted support of any newspaper or many columnists. Doesn't that tell us something?" - Stephen Glover in The Independent
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