ConservativeHome: Monday 5th January 2009

5.30pm WATCH: David Cameron announces tax reliefs for savers

Douglas Murray invites you to throw your shoes at Annie Lennox during her next concert.
Matt Sinclair notes a quote from Charles Krauthammer: "For Hamas, the only thing more prized than dead Jews are dead Palestinians."

2pm WATCH: George Bush Snr tells Fox News that he'd like Jeb Bush to run for the White House

1.15pm Tim Montgomerie on CentreRight: The Daily Mail's new 'Debate' blog

1pm Andrew Lilico on CentreRight: "Private capitalism, as we have come to know it - a system with private sector banks as major directers of business finance - has ceased."

Noon ToryDiary: Conservatives announce £4.2bn tax cut for savers

ToryDiary: Sometimes I want to shake the Prime Minister says David Cameron

Michael Fabricant MP on Platform: I have long defended the BBC but the World Service's coverage of the Israel-Gaza conflict means I can no longer do so

Roger Evans on Local government looks at Why some councillors find it hard to leap into parliament

Seats and candidates: Search for 100 peers: Mimi Harker

Dan Hamilton on CentreRight: The EPP is to blame for putting Britain’s Working Time Directive opt-out in peril

WATCH: Video from Israel makes the case for acting against Hamas' rocket attacks

Shadow Cabinet revolt emerges over Cameron's plans to restore Ken Clarke to frontbench -Telegraph

> A ConservativeHome poll shows Tory members support a return for Clarke by 50% to 41%

The Conservatives must persuade the electorate that Brown is wrong about Big government - Janet Daley in The Telegraph

Recession could last until 2011 says Brown - Independent | The Sun

The Conservatives must usher in a new Age of Thrift

"Half the UK workforce has little or no savings. That's more than 13m people. Given the urgent need for financial stability – and the demographic pressures we face – that fact is a national disgrace. Messrs Cameron and Osborne know nothing of financial insecurity in their own lives – and never will. But they need rapidly to start realising how insecure the general public now feels. The Tories, quite simply, must call for, and usher in, a New Age of Thrift. Spend less. Save more. End excessive consumption. It sounds like a tough political sell. And yet, it's what the vast majority of the public now wants to hear. If the Tory leadership knew more about the way ordinary people think, they'd have worked that out for themselves." - Liam Halligan in The Telegraph

MPs seek tougher controls on ex-ministers' choice of financial interests - BBC | Times

Scottish Tories call for tougher literacy and numeracy testing in primary schools - BBC | The Herald

Pact with Conservatives puts Ulster Unionists at the centre of power - Johnny Andrews in the Belfast Telegraph

Labour minister backs £4.5bn rail hub for Heathrow - Guardian

The Times: Britain should stay outside the Euro

"The strongest objection to joining the eurozone, however, is political. EMU involves giving up monetary independence while retaining control over public finances. There is an unresolved tension in that arrangement. National governments are free not to comply with EMU's fiscal rules, but they would thereby undermine an arrangement designed to establish price stability." - Times leader

Sexual health clinics could soon be open in every secondary school and college - Daily Mail

Obama's choice of Commerce Secretary steps down after ethics questions - Telegraph

Obama's stimulus includes $300bn of tax cuts - New York Times

And finally...

A correspondent to The Herald provides a list of jobs that might really give William Hague and all MPs an insight into "the realities of life in both the public and private sector ": "Classroom assistant, hospital cleaner or porter, burger slinger in a major franchise, shelf-stacker or checkout person in a supermarket, street sweeper, parking attendant, prison visitor or call-centre employee."

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