6.30pm ToryDiary: Britain's Olympic winners "left their consciences at passport control" says Tory GLA member
5.30pm Seats and candidates: Five more seats selecting
4.45pm Tim Montgomerie on CentreRight: McCain's electrifying pick
4.15pm Louise Bagshawe on CentreRight: McCain picks Sarah Palin as his running mate
4pm ToryDiary: 'Cameron on Cameron' highlights: Crime and fixing the broken society
1.15pm ToryDiary: Osborne calls for cut in corporation tax to stop exodus of businesses
12.30pm CentreRight updates:
- Dan Lewis contrasts Chinese progress on nuclear power with British inaction
- Andrew Lilico on Cameron as a Whig
- Louise Bagshawe asks if McCain will pick Pawlenty or Palin
Tobias Ellwood MP on Platform: Hotting up for a new Cold War
Chris Heaton-Harris MEP on Platform: A Rough Guide to the EU Budget
ToryDiary: The Conservative Party is 20% ahead but "behind virtually every other western Right-of-centre party in its internet operations"
CentreRight reactions to Barack Obama's big speech from Tim Montgomerie and Suli Shah
PlayPolitical: Watch Barack Obama's speech plus John McCain congratulates Barack Obama on his nomination
George Osborne speaks of "housing crash"
"House prices are falling at the fastest rate for 18 years, it was revealed yesterday. They tumbled another 1.9 per cent this month. And that took the annual rate of decline to 10.5 per cent — not seen since the 1990 property crash... Shadow Chancellor George Osborne said the market had been clobbered by confusion over mooted Government proposals for a stamp duty “holiday”. He added: “What began as a fall in prices is fast becoming a housing crash.” - The Sun
> Andrew Lilico on CentreRight: What is to be done about falling house prices?
Chris Rea is big donor to Tories
"[Chris] Rea, whose hits include The Road to Hell and Driving Home for Christmas, has given the Conservatives £25,000. Mr Rausing and his wife, Marit, who are worth more than £5 billion, have donated almost £100,000. Dave Whelan, the owner of Wigan Football Club, has given the party £250,000." - Telegraph
"The Conservative Party was given £5.6m, while Labour received £3.8m and the Liberal Democrats £945,192, according to the Electoral Commission." - BBC
"Britain’s largest trade union contributed more than 40 per cent of Labour’s funding in the three months to June, prompting renewed Conservative accusations that Gordon Brown is in hock to union “paymasters”." - FT
The Tories and obesity
"A few weeks ago, David Cameron declared that the Government had failed to stress personal responsibility for obesity: we should stop talking about it as something that just happens to people, he said: they needed to pull their socks up – specifically, to eat less and exercise more. This week, however, the Conservatives seem simultaneously to be taking the completely different tack that it is all part of a growing inequality between the various social classes which it accuses the Government of failing to address." - Dominic Lawson in The Independent
> No excuses for obesity, no nannying to combat it says Andrew Lansley
Chinese unhappy at scruffy Boris
"Chinese officials ordered Boris Johnson to smarten up at the Olympic handover ceremony" - Daily Mail
Cameron taunts PM, saying: I'll be in Glenrothes, will you? - Scotsman
> Scottish Tories select Maurice Golden for Glenrothes by-election
Interview with Helen Grant, the woman likely to be the Tories' first black woman MP - Guardian
Why a top non-white political leader is some way off in Britain - Economist
Tories have touched a nerve with public, admits Labour minister David Lammy - Guardian
MPs want more financial help for carers - BBC
"The Commons Work and Pensions Select Committee said people who care for relatives and friends saved the taxpayer an estimated £87bn every year." - Independent
Peter Hain contemplates comeback as Wales' first minister - Western Mail
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