Sunday 7th September 2008

7.45pm International: Canadian Conservatives present election as choice between strength and risky experiments

7.45pm Andrew Lilico on CentreRight: Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac effectively nationalised

1.30pm PlayPolitical video: Is wind the answer to the energy crisis?

ToryDiary: Tories' spending pledge will not be repeated

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Greg Clark MP on Platform: Labour turns to charity for funds

ConservativeInternational: The Republicans after St Paul

CentreRight:

• Suli Shah says McCain can win in spite of Palin
• David Lidington's reflections on the Republican Convention
• Matt Sinclair on the energy crisis

Tories may boost benefits for stay-at-home mothers by up to £500 a month

"The study, from a think tank favoured by David Cameron, the Tory leader, warns that too many women who want to be stay-at-home mothers are being forced back to work by financial pressures while their children are still very young... The Next Generation report, compiled by a panel of psychologists, educationists, and child health specialists for the Centre for Social Justice, argues that levels of statutory maternity pay and child benefit are not nearly sufficient to give mothers choice over when to return to work." - The Times

Cameron tells Labour to back Gordon Brown or sack him - Interview in The Telegraph

David Cameron's tax plan for 'hard working Britons'

David Cameron holds out fresh hope of tax cuts under the Tories as he puts his party on a war footing for an early general election - The Telegraph

David Cameron takes on the state - The Telegraph

The leading Labour rebel, Frank Field, has teamed up with senior Tories to demand a cap on the number of immigrants settling in Britain - The Times

In Afghanistan and Pakistan, David Cameron has been rehearsing for the world stage

"Mr Cameron's four-day visit to Afghanistan and Pakistan last week was part of a summer drive to bolster his foreign policy credentials. Although seen as a young leader who had transformed his party and led it to impressive opinion-poll leads over Labour, he had almost no foreign policy experience (his government jobs in the John Major era were at the Treasury and the Home Office) and the Tories, out of power for more than a decade, had little or no presence on the world stage." - The Telegraph

David Cameron has hailed the bravery of a British soldier who was killed the day after the Conservative party visited him and his comrades in Afghanistan - The Telegraph

David Cameron has lured a team of Tony Blair's key advisers into the Tory 'big tent' - The Observer

Senior Ulster Unionist McGimpsey says link-up with Tories would be a betrayal of working-class members - The Observer

Gordon Brown is to appeal to the country to give him a second chance at the Labour Party Conference

"Early drafts of Brown’s address are said to strike a humble tone, acknowledging the scale of disillusionment with the government’s performance and his role in the party’s slumping fortunes... However, in a bullish finale, he is expected to insist that Labour can still win the next election, and declare his intention to lead the party to victory." - The Times

Blairites gather 'to plot against Gordon Brown'

The sight of leading Blairites, including Tessa Jowell, Peter Mandelson and Anji Hunter arriving at Mr Blair's £4 million Grade I listed manor house in Buckinghamshire immediately increased suspicion in the already febrile Labour Party - The Telegraph

Open warfare as Labour's relaunch falters - The Observer

Labour despairs of Brown, but there is no sign of a Brutus - Andrew Rawnsley in The Observer

"In the spirit of Nineteen Eighty-Four, Tony Blair is becoming the Emmanuel Goldstein of today's Labour party, the fabricated enemy, and his followers - or imagined followers - the seditious "Brotherhood". Can it be long before huge tele-screens appear in public places to beam out pictures of the grinning former Prime Minister for the daily "Two Minutes Hate"?" - Matthew D'Ancona in The Telegraph

Government paid charity to produce eco-town 'fact' leaflets

"Shelter, one of the few organisations backing the plan to build new towns in the English countryside, said it had been given £100,000 by the Government to publish a series of 13 pamphlets, one for each proposed eco-town site." - The Telegraph

Clegg promises larger Lib Dem tax cuts

Nick Clegg has told The Sunday Telegraph that he is reviewing his pledge to cut 4p from income tax with a view to offering a much bigger cut for "middle earners" - The Telegraph

Lib Dems face court over funding row - The Observer

IMF: Brown policies are piling up the budget deficit

Gordon Brown has left the public finances heading for a budget deficit almost as large as the one that triggered the 1970s International Monetary Fund bail-out, financiers have warned - The Telegraph

How Britain can boom again - Dan Roberts in The Telegraph

Councils are using anti-terrorism laws to spy on residents and tackle barking dogs and noisy children - The Telegraph

United Nations says eat less meat to curb global warming - The Observer

Pupils to be taught how to be happy - The Times

And finally ... Healthy break leaves PM a stone lighter, but Tory leader seems to have put on weight - The Independent

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