ConservativeHome

Tuesday 30th June 2009

10pm Iain Murray on CentreRight: Whither the IEA?

4.45pm Seat and Candidates: Norwich North by-election will take place on 23rd July

4.30pm Harry Phibbs on CentreRight asks "Did Michael Jackson have a political message?"

4pm Greg Hands on CentreRight describes the "pantomime" of a visit to his constituency this morning by Gordon Brown and Ed Balls: How not to be Prime Ministerial on a Prime Ministerial visit

3.00pm Local Government: Cllr Margaret Eaton attacks Taxpayers Alliance.

1.45pm ToryDiary: Cameron's trump policy

1.30pm Alex Deane on CentreRight laments the fact that the State is set to spend 50% of UK GDP

Noon Graeme Archer on CentreRight recommends reading Nick Cohen's piece in Standpoint on expenses abuses

11.45am ToryDiary: Grant Shapps exposes the lie of Brown's promise of "local homes for local people"

10.30am ToryDiary: Policy won't win us power, admits Oliver Letwin, but it will determine whether we're successful in government

ToryDiary:

• Why do European political leaders continue to lecture British Conservatives about leaving the EPP?
• What Labour laws should a Conservative government repeal? (and other questions we'd like you to answer)

Seats and Candidates: ConservativeHome research highlights the likely surge in female Tory MPs at the next election

About ConservativeHome: ConHome is the top blog choice for Tory MPs and candidates

Humfrey Malins MP on Platform: Only comprehensive reform of Young Offender Institutions will cut re-offending rates

Local Government: Nick Seaton welcomes David Davis's reignition of the grammar schools debate

Greg Hands MP on CentreRight: Obama goes to Moscow next week. Will Brown ever make it?

WATCH: David Cameron challenges Brown in the Commons:  "When is someone going to tell him he has run out of money?"

"Deceit over cuts will lead to riots", says David Cameron

"Britain faces “riots on the streets” if Gordon Brown’s “dishonesty” over public spending enables him to win the next election, David Cameron said. The Conservative leader’s warning added to the escalating row over the Government’s spending commitments as the Prime Minister attempted to relaunch his premiership with a series of policy announcements. Mr Cameron accused Mr Brown of “deceit, dishonesty and deception” after Lord Mandelson, the Business Secretary, admitted that the Government would not publish a spending review before the next election. In what was the Tory leader’s strongest attack yet on Mr Brown’s integrity, he all but called him a liar." - Daily Telegraph

"This ramshackle, paralysed and incompetent Government is now either utterly delusional about the frightening scale of our economic crisis. Or it is taking the entire nation for fools." - Sun editorial

"The struggle between Labour and the Conservatives about the future of public spending has been pretty unedifying. Ever since Andrew Lansley, Shadow Cabinet health secretary, made clear the inexorable fall in government spending from 2010 on, the public has been assaulted by the extraordinary spectacle of both front benches pretending that public expenditure will not be reduced in the years ahead." - Tony Travers writing in The Times

"Yesterday Gordon Brown delivered the much-hyped preview of his legislative programme to be unveiled in the autumn. When the Queen's Speech is re-announced in October or November it will preview the dividing lines of the election campaign which will be held the following year. That is a lot of previews. Or to put it more starkly: the longest election campaign in recent history began yesterday." - Steve Richards writing in The Independent

> Yesterday's ToryDiary on David Cameron's monthly press conference

> Yesterday in Parliament: David Cameron taunts Gordon Brown about his "relaunch without a price-tag"

Voters trust the Tories to make spending cuts

"As the need for spending curbs moved to the top of the political agenda, ComRes asked people which party they trusted most to decide where public spending cuts should be made: 31 per cent said the Tories, 21 per cent Labour and 14 per cent the Liberal Democrats. Some 16 per cent trusted no party, 10 per cent said they didn't know and 7 per cent named other parties." - The Independent

> Last night's ToryDiary: Conservatives 11% ahead in ComRes/Independent survey

Cameron tells Shadow Cabinet to give up their second jobs

"David Cameron has told his Shadow Cabinet members that they will be required to give up all outside interests by the end of the year. The Conservative leader published a list of payments to his senior colleagues yesterday, before new rules that require the disclosure come into force tomorrow. Michael Gove, the Shadow Schools Secretary, tops the list of earners, disclosing that he works for “an hour or so” a week writing a column in The Times, for which he is paid £5,000 a month." - The Times

William Hague forced to quit JCB role - Birmingham Post

"If you are one of those scandalised by the idea of MPs having outside interests, then you will regard Mr [Ken] Clarke's resignation from the board of The Independent as an act which will bring unquantifiable benefits to the public. I can't see it, myself... One of the great virtues of MPs having outside interests is that they potentially have the courage and independence that comes from not being financially dependent entirely on the goodwill of their party leader, via the unwilled generosity of the taxpayer." - Dominic Lawson writing in The Independent

> Yesterday's ToryDiary: Shadow Cabinet to give up all outside interests by the end of December

Michael Gove brands Labour's new plan to punish disruptive pupils' parents a gimmick

"Giving schools new powers to punish the parents of disruptive pupils would be a sham, it was claimed last night as it was revealed that head teachers have completely failed to use existing sanctions... Tory schools spokesman Michael Gove said: 'Ed Balls has refused to give teachers the powers they need to deal with violence and disruption. His new gimmicks will not solve the deep problems we have with bad behaviour in schools'." - Daily Mail

Do not count on the Tories winning the election just yet

"The electoral position of the Tories is significantly weaker than that of Labour 12 years ago. Opinion polls have the Tory vote hovering between 36 and 40 per cent. This is nowhere near Labour’s poll position in early 1995, close to 60 per cent. The polls then probably overstated Labour support but the fact remains that the Conservatives have yet to win over the majority of voters... We are not saying that the Tories cannot win the general election. But it is by no means as certain as many assume." - Niall Ferguson and Glen O'Hara in The FT

Welsh Tories under fire over taxpayer-funded stay at luxury hotel

"Nine Tory AMs spent more than £6,500 of taxpayers’ money on a “fact-finding” trip to Brussels, staying in what bills itself as the city’s best luxury hotel. Details of the trip emerged with the publication of AMs’ expenses for 2008-09 by the National Assembly yesterday." - Western Mail

SNP anger at Tory vow on Trident

"A row broke out yesterday after Conservative leader David Cameron said maintaining Britain's nuclear deterrent would be "non-negotiable" for a future Tory government. The SNP said the decision – effectively giving the green light to the next generation of Trident nuclear submarines – meant an "obscene" amount of money would be spent on weapons of mass destruction." - The Scotsman

IPPR reports proposes slashing defence spending by £24 billion - BBC

Margaret Thatcher heads home after two weeks in hospital

"Baroness Thatcher returned home yesterday after more than two weeks in hospital. The former Prime Minister, 83, who broke her arm in a fall earlier this month, left Chelsea and Westminster Hospital by a back entrance. She appeared briefly at the front door of her home in Belgravia, central London, to cheers and applause, before she was escorted indoors by a female helper." - Daily Mail

> WATCH: Baroness Thatcher arrives home from hospital in good spirits

The Queen publishes her annual accounts

"The Queen has been forced to raid her savings to shore up the crumbling royal palaces, it was revealed yesterday. According to her annual accounts, she had to take an unprecedented £6.4million out of a special reserve fund to boost her Civil List earnings." - Daily Mail

"Will David Cameron, should he form a Conservative government after the next election, give the Queen a pay rise? ...When those who voted for him are facing a life of pay cuts and punier pensions, would a Conservative government have the stomach to sign a much fatter cheque to the Queen and risk accusations that you need only to scratch the modernising veneer to reveal the traditional Tory party beneath?" - Times editorial

> Jonathan Isaby on CentreRight: The Queen costs us each a mere 69p a year

"Expenses row" Labour MP recovering from heart attack - Telegraph

Please use this thread to highlight other interesting news and commentary and visit PoliticsHome.com for breaking political news and views throughout the day.

Monday 29th June 2009

10.15pm ToryDiary: Conservatives 11% ahead in ComRes/ Independent survey

7.15pm ToryDiary: Who can revive the IEA... and how?

5.30pm Parliament: David Cameron taunts Gordon Brown about his "relaunch without a price-tag"

5pm WATCH: Baroness Thatcher arrives home from hospital in good spirits

4.45pm Jonathan Isaby on CentreRight: The Queen costs us each a mere 69p a year - and she wants all MPs to know it

2.30pm ToryDiary: Any questions for you?

1.30pm WATCH: David Cameron accuses Gordon Brown and the Government of "a huge amount of deceit" over its public spending claims at his monthly press conference

11.45am ToryDiary: David Cameron questions Burkha-wearing teachers and offers Opposition time for the Royal Mail Bill at his monthly press conference

11.15am Seats and Candidates: 4,000 people have applied to be Tory candidates since the list was re-opened

 ***

10.30am ToryDiary Breaking News: Shadow Cabinet to give up all outside interests by the end of December Updated at 12.45pm with full list of Shadow Cabinet outside interests

9.30am Local Government: Social housing rule change proposed to thwart BNP

ToryDiary: Should the Conservative Party be apologising for the policies of the 1980s if it is to make electoral advances in the North of England?

Andrew Mitchell MP on Platform: Brown’s belated Iraq inquiry must probe reconstruction failures

Seats and Candidates:

• Diary of a PPC: Iain Stewart on a week of 5.45am starts and enduring the daily commute into London with his potential future constituents in Milton Keynes South
• Hazel Grove Conservatives now have the youngest association chairman in history

Local Government: Brighton comes under fire from Peter Whittle

WATCH: David Miliband calls on the Iranian authorities to release the members of staff from the British Embassy in Tehran who have been arrested

Lord Mandelson claims the Conservatives are "the soft option on public sector reform"

Lord Mandelson is engaged in serious business. Today he joins Gordon Brown in launching Building Britain’s Future, billed as Labour’s programme for the rest of this parliament and a fourth term.... Lord Mandelson claims the Tories would spend less and – especially on the NHS – shy away from reform for fear of frightening voters or public-sector unions. “They seem to have entered a Faustian pact with public-sector producer interests,” he says. “They will repeal many of the benchmarks, tests and accountability introduced by us. David Cameron offers the soft option on public sector reform.” - FT

> Yesterday's ToryDiary: Philip Hammond states that "protecting frontline public services" is the key when reviewing government spending

Other stories previewing the document being published today by the Government...

• Brown aims for core vote with pledge to house local people first - Times
• Patients to be promised six new rights to NHS treatment - Telegraph

...about which the Telegraph is unconvinced

"The country deserves better than this. Such empty posturing sells the electorate short. Labour can churn out all the eye-catching initiatives it wants but the reality is that stasis grips Whitehall and will only end when voters have had their say in a general election." - Telegraph editorial

Jackie Ashley asks: Just who are these New Tories?

"If the Conservatives get a big majority, life will certainly feel different: many current MPs will have gone and a new Commons will have arrived... those who have looked say the biggest "change" factor is the nature of the new Tories who will come in. They are, on the whole, much more right-wing than Cameron. They would be the most anti-European Commons in modern times. Many are libertarian and want the state hacked back." - Jackie Ashley in The Guardian

> At tomorrow's ConservativeHome conference, Inside David Cameron's Conservatives, Jonathan Isaby will be presenting some research assessing the likely members of the next intake of Conservative MPs

Welsh Tory Assembly Member calls for Welsh Parliament in federal British state

"The United Kingdom is in danger of disintegration and should embrace a federal structure of government and create individual parliaments in each nation, Conservative AM David Melding declares in a major book published today. He envisages a new constitutional settlement which could cut the number of MPs at Westminster to 300 and officially recognise the sovereignty over domestic issues of the parliaments of Wales, England, Scotland and Northern Ireland." - Western Mail

Speaker Bercow was "in pay" of Tory donor

"Barely a week after Bercow duly won his bid to succeed Michael Martin, some Labour MPs are bitterly regretting their decision to back the maverick former Right-winger. This stems from the revelation that the feline Bercow was paid £40,000 to be an adviser to the Priory Group, a company specialising in mental health which runs a number of schools for children with special needs. For yesterday it emerged that one of the company's major shareholders is none other than Lord Ashcroft, the multi-millionaire who is almost single-handedly bankrolling the Tories' next election campaign." - Daily Mail

Margaret Thatcher to be discharged from hospital today

"The former Prime Minister has been given the all clear by doctors at the Chelsea and Westminster Hospital. Lady Thatcher had a heavy fall at her London home more than two weeks ago and fractured her upper shoulder. After the break failed to heal as well as doctors had hoped, she underwent an operation to put in a pin into the shoulder." - Daily Telegraph

Tory MPs express concerns at extent of sharia courts in Britain

"At least 85 Islamic sharia courts are operating in Britain, a study claimed yesterday. The astonishing figure is 17 times higher than previously accepted.. Patrick Mercer, Tory MP for Newark and chairman of the Commons counter-terrorism sub committee, said: 'We have an established law of the land and a judiciary. Anything that operates otside that system must be viewed with great caution'... Philip Davies, Tory MP for Shipley, said: 'Everyone should be deeply concerned about the extent of these courts. They do entrench division in society, and do nothing to entrench integration or community cohesion'." - Daily Mail

Conservative candidate Mark Clarke successfully calls for review of sex attacker's sentence

"The sentence of a serial sex attacker who preyed on women in south-west London for more than two decades is to be reviewed by the Attorney General. Kirk Reid was jailed for life in June and ordered to serve at least seven-and-a-half years after his conviction for two rapes and 24 sexual assaults... Mark Clarke, the Tory parliamentary candidate for Tooting, was one of several people who complained to the Attorney General that the sentence was too light. He said: "I wrote to the Attorney General because when you look at the sentence, he essentially got three-and-half months for every attack. People get longer in prison for failing to pay their council tax." - BBC

> WATCH Mark Clarke being interviewed about the matter on London Tonight over the weekend

Peter Mackay: What does Dave stand for?

"Cameron's problem isn't Brown, though. It's the perception that we haven't as yet taken him to our hearts. How many times have you heard someone say: 'I don't know what David Cameron stands for'. Yet I can't think of any previous Conservative leader who has laid out his stall more comprehensively - not even Margaret Thatcher, whom I remember being far more careful about specifics prior to becoming Prime Minister. But no one acknowledges this.' - Peter Mackay in the Daily Mail

Boris Johnson: It would be wrong to sneer at the outpouring of public grief at Michael Jackson's death

"By the middle of this week, senior politicians will no doubt be chivvied in front of the camera to confirm that he was the prince of pop, or the people's prancer, and Gordon Brown will probably moonwalk into Prime Minister's questions. Now you or I may not share these emotions. We may not be the kind of people who queue to place flowers at the Neverland ranch, or hurl ourselves sobbing at the foot of his catafalque. We may not feel a sudden gap, a strange hollowness, in our lives. But some people do. Lots of people do." - Boris Johnson writing in the Daily Telegraph

Tory "plot" to axe child and OAP benefits for all - Daily Mirror

Ministers accused of spin over delayed Royal Mail sell-off plans - Telegraph

Brown facing new backbench revolt over scrapping 10p tax - Independent

Baroness Vadera tipped to be Britain's next European Commissioner - Times

MPs condemn police tactics at G20 protest - Guardian

James Purnell takes up role at Demos - Guardian

And finally... Has Ed Balls had a makeover?

"Ed Balls took a leaf from David Cameron's book yesterday, adopting the open-neck casual look as he sought to boost his credentials as a Labour leadership contender. The Schools Secretary went tieless during an interview with the BBC's Andrew Marr. With friends saying he has begun an active campaign to succeed the Prime Minister, Mr Balls provoked speculation he has had media training to help him achieve his goal." - Daily Mail

Cameron considers joint Downing Street HQ with Osborne

Conservative candidate Chloe Smith finally has a Labour opponent in Norwich North

Jonathan Isaby: Why not hold by-elections a set time after the vacancy occurs?

13th plum Tory seat becomes vacant with retirement announcement from Penrith's David Maclean

Tim Montgomerie: The next Conservative government must rebuild our armed forces

Melanchthon: Do you really want your MPs to work for you as a job?

Please use this thread to highlight other interesting news and commentary and visit PoliticsHome.com for breaking political news and views throughout the day.

Sunday 28th June 2009

9pm Melanchthon on CentreRight: Do you really want your MPs to work for you as a job?

7.45pm Seats and Candidates: Chloe Smith finally has a Labour opponent in Norwich North

4.15pm WATCH: Culture Secretary Ben Bradshaw expresses surprise at some of the expenses claims made by top BBC executives

1.30pm Jonathan Isaby on CentreRight: We still don't have dates for the by-elections in Norwich and Glasgow - Why not change the rules so that such contests are automatically held a set time after the vacancy occurs?

11.45am ToryDiary: Philip Hammond states that "protecting frontline public services" will be the key when reviewing government spending

ToryDiary:

• Cameron considers joint Downing Street HQ with Osborne
• Conservatives back at 40% in new YouGov poll

Liam Maxwell on Platform: The State must give us back our data

Mark Wallace in Local Government: Councils must resist the demands of local NHS nanny-staters which would have the effect of banning Popeye for under-18s

WATCH: 

• Sky News's Peter Spencer on Alan Milburn's decision to step down at the next election
• Loyalists in Northern Ireland begin decommissioning their weapons and explosives

David Davis calls to bring back "inspiring" grammar schools

"I favour allowing parents to do the best possible for their children, including sending them to fee-paying schools. But we should also give the best possible chance to those who cannot afford that, and the best way to do this is to bring back grammar schools.There were no halcyon days in our past. But for those kids, with the capability but not the cash, the aptitude but not the opportunity, with all the talent but none of the chances, there is little doubt - grammar schools were best." - David Davis MP writing in the Mail on Sunday

> Wednesday's ToryDiary: Public school boys run Britain says David Davis during a defence of grammar schools

David Cameron sets up future showdown with Alex Salmond over Trident

"Tory leader David Cameron and Scotland's First Minister, Alex Salmond, have gone to war over the deployment of a new generation of Trident nuclear submarines on the Clyde. Cameron warns the Scottish Government that if the Conservatives win the next election the SNP should not "obstruct" Trident and should accept that the prime minister has a mandate to govern the whole of the UK in reserved areas such as defence. Salmond however says it will be "perfectly legitimate" for the Scottish Parliament to try to exert influence over what happens in Scotland. In a BBC documentary to mark a decade of devolution, the SNP leader promises to campaign against a Trident replacement at "every available opportunity". - Sunday Herald

The Telegraph turns its attention to MPs' second jobs

"A survey has uncovered the outside interests of dozens of MPs who hold down paid positions, ranging from legal and media work to crofting, and even grave digging. One earns £750 an hour for helping to organise an awards ceremony for the drinks industry, while another is paid more than £1,300 a day to provide business advice." - Sunday Telegraph

The paper lists second income details for a number of individual MPs

More Tory MPs resign outside interests in advance of official publication of details

"Four Tories have now officially given notice that they intend to quit directorships, consultancies and other work worth tens of thousands of pounds before Wednesday, when all MPs will have to declare how much they are paid, and how many hours they put in, on extra-curricular jobs. It has now emerged that a shadow Treasury minister, David Gauke, has given up his directorship of Ivobank, while David Evennett, Edward Leigh and Edward Timpson have confirmed that they will do the same before Wednesday." - Independent on Sunday

Osborne denies that he received leaked information from the Bank of England governor...

"Shadow chancellor George Osborne denied on Saturday that Bank of England Governor Mervyn King had leaked confidential government bank recapitalisation plans to the party... "These are allegations that are simply not true. They are made by Labour cabinet ministers, sometimes by the Prime Minister in private to people," Osborne said. "I think it says more about his government than about the entirely proper and correct relationship between the opposition and the independent central bank," he said." - Reuters

...as he expands on Tory plans to give more power to the BoE

"The Tories are considering giving more powers to the Bank of England to oversee financial institutions, George Osborne has confirmed... "The tripartite system between the chancellor, the Bank of England and the FSA has simply failed. I mean, it failed to spot the growing financial crisis, it has led to serious lack of coordination in dealing with problems like Northern Rock", Mr Osborne said. "You now see open bickering in the newspapers between some elements of the tripartite relationship. You know, none of that is healthy, not least when we're still dealing with a credit crunch." - BBC

Conservative backbencher defends expenses claim for astrology software

"Tory MP David Tredinnick charged the taxpayer for studying astrology and the influence of the planets... Mr Tredinnick, MP for Bosworth,  Leicestershire, defended the claims, saying it was necessary to pursue his interest in alternative medicine. He said that after his studies, he was inclined to believe there was some truth in the astrology and the influence of the planets on the earth and said the payments had been approved in advance by the Commons’ Fees Office." - Mail on Sunday

Claims of internal concerns about Conservative education policy

"The Swedish school plan was announced in a blaze of publicity less than a year ago... However, the party has yet to set the criteria that parents and private organisations will have to meet to be eligible for funding. A source involved in drawing up the plans listed a series of problems in adapting the Swedish system to Britain. They include the huge cost of land and property for building schools in the UK; fears the policy will be exploited by “wacky” religious groups; the scale of the plans; and Gove’s determination not to allow private operators to cash in." - Sunday Times

City benefactors donate millions to Tories

"The growing support from City donors was demonstrated last week with more than £500,000 raised at the Conservative Party Summer Fundraiser at Old Billingsgate. Hedge fund managers and City advisers have been among the most generous donors, pledging hundreds of thousands of pounds to the Conservatives." - Sunday Telegraph

How the Conservatives are exposing Labour's dishonesty on public spending

"As David Cameron cycled to the House of Commons on Wednesday morning he had one objective on his mind. How could he expose as false Gordon Brown’s pledge to keep increasing public expenditure? ...Cameron discovered that the red book figures showed expenditure on infra-structure such as schools, roads and hospitals would in fact fall from £44 billion next year to £26 billion in 2012. This simple fact was deployed with devastating effect at prime minister’s questions. Though Brown blustered about Tory plans for cuts, he could not deny the truth of data that had been produced by his own officials." - Sunday Times

Matthew Parris: David Cameron must bore or Britain on the subject of spending

"Should Mr Cameron simply hope that the Opposition have made their point, and change the subject? Or should he act the club bore and hammer tediously on about the Government’s failure to acknowledge either the mess we’re in, or the spending cuts that are thundering towards us like a runaway train? He should hammer on. He must bore for Britain. This is so much bigger than any other question facing the nation, so much more urgent, so much more disgraceful, so much more likely to impact on all our lives for a decade to come, that for Mr Cameron to turn aside from the issue in exasperation as Mr Brown fibs, and fibs, and fibs, and persistently refuses to look Parliament or the country in the eye, would be a dereliction of an opposition leader’s duty." - Matthew Parris in the Sunday Times

John Rentoul: Nick Clegg is ahead of the curve  on the need for cutting spending

"While he is not in favour of cuts in public spending this year – contrary to Brown's attempt to pretend that he is – he [Nick Clegg] is likely to fight the election on a more explicit programme of public spending cuts than the Conservatives. And it may be that a Cameron government, even a minority administration, will not only be required by its own watchdog to make deep cuts in public spending, and be able to do so with Liberal Democrat support, but it may not be unpopular if it succeeds." - John Rentoul in the Independent on Sunday

John Bercow had to pay for the repair of a Commons door in 2000

"New Speaker John Bercow’s vow to improve the conduct of MPs suffered an embarrassing setback yesterday after it was revealed that he had to pay a repair bill for smashing down a House of Commons door. Hot-headed Mr Bercow told police to break into an office in the Houses of Parliament when they could not find the key. He was accused of vandalism and agreed to foot the bill for fixing it." - Mail on Sunday

Profile of the new Speaker - Sunday Times

Conservatives launch sexual health review

"The Conservative Party has launched a review of sexual health services and appointed a new head of policy to lead the investigation. Dr David Bull will lead the review along with shadow health minister and qualified nurse Anne Milton." - Nursing Times

> Friday's Seats and Candidates post: David Bull steps down as candidate for Brighton Pavilion to head up policy review

Janet Daley: Here's a Tory war cry – power to the people

"David Cameron has been advocating a "smaller state", a shift of power from government to people – which is fine. But he has been talking about it in largely abstract, philosophical terms. Now is the time for an unambiguously clear argument which connects up the anger at public profligacy with concrete mechanisms for allowing individuals to take control of that portion of their wealth which they hand to the state." - Janet Daley in the Sunday Telegraph

William Rees-Mogg: The next intake of Tory MPs could be as revolutionary as Labour's Class of '45

"When David Cameron describes himself as a liberal Conservative, he is speaking for the Conservative generation immediately younger than himself, as well as for his generation. The new generation instinctively rejects the unproductive apparatus of quangos and bureaucrats, of cameras and identity cards, of restriction and supervision. They are committed to the ideas of social liberty, and, if they are elected, they will fight for those ideas in Parliament." - WIlliam Rees-Mogg in the Mail on Sunday

Iain Dale: Sexuality is no longer an issue in the Tory Party

"Bill Clinton invented the phrase "don't ask, don't tell" relating to gays in the US military. That used to be the maxim of gays in the Tory party. Nowadays it's different. The shock factor has disappeared and if anyone feels the need to announce they are gay, the declaration is treated with a massive shrug of the shoulders and a collective "so what?" As I say, that's exactly as it should be." - Iain Dale writing in the Independent on Sunday

Coverage of David Maclean's announcement that he is to quit Parliament

"Tory MP David Maclean, one of the leaders of the battle against the disclosure of expenses details, is to step down at the next general election. Mr Maclean, who suffers from multiple sclerosis, said he could no longer carry out his job at "full pelt". - BBC

> Yesterday's Seats and Candidates post: 13th plum Tory seat becomes vacant with retirement announcement from Penrith's David Maclean

Government to give cancer patients right to see specialist within two weeks

"Patients will get new legal rights to see a cancer specialist within two weeks under government plans to be announced this week. The Sunday Telegraph has learned that the move - to be outlined in a document called Building Britain's Future - could see NHS patients forcing local GPs to send them to private hospitals with the costs borne by the NHS." - Sunday Telegraph

Shadow Health Secretary Andrew Lansley has reacted to the story thus: “Just as Labour say they are going to scrap national targets they are proposing to create another target which threatens to distort clinical activity. Why should a two week initial referral be an entitlement, but not subsequent time to diagnosis or treatment? Or why not an entitlement to access to cancer drugs? The public are not looking for one aspect of medical treatment to be singled out, the NHS commitment is to deliver the best possible care throughout the patients’ journey.”

European Commission plans attempt to ban smoking outdoors - News of the World

"Historic day" as loyalist groups finally lay down their arms - Observer

Please use this thread to highlight other interesting news and commentary and visit PoliticsHome.com for breaking political news and views throughout the day.

Armed Forces Day 2009

9pm Melanchthon on CentreRight: "The way our society is going, before the end of the century - perhaps well before the end - we will be an Islamic state..."

12.30pm Seats and candidates: 13th plum Tory seat becomes vacant with retirement announcement from Penrith's David Maclean

ToryDiary: The next Conservative government must rebuild our armed forces

Adrian Blair on Platform: This Armed Forces Day we must commit to delivering adequate medical and psychiatric support for our veterans

Local government:

• Cllr Edward Lister: Lessons from Wandsworth for David Cameron
• Boris on his "tough week"

Tim Montgomerie on CentreRight: Barack Obama shows that moderation of style is more politically potent than moderation in policy

Cameron concedes Tories were wrong to oppose devolution - Scotsman

"In adversity, the Tories suspect they have stumbled over a core theme – honesty." - Andrew Grice in The Independent

Matthew Parris urges Dacid Cameron to "nail the blatant untruth on spending cuts, however dull it sounds." "There is no more urgent issue facing the country," he writes in his Times column.

On Radio 4's Any Questions last night Hillary Benn admitted that Labour will have to cut - BBC

Peter Oborne attacks Cameron for protecting shadow cabinet from expenses-gate

"Michael Gove might be one of the more notorious milkers of the expenses system.  But he is also an admirable and original politician who is a huge asset to the Shadow Cabinet. Cameron probably feels that he can't do without such a brilliant man.  Much the same applies to Shadow Home Secretary Chris Grayling, who has been so toughminded and forensic in opposition.  David Cameron rightly calculates that his frontbench team would be hopelessly weakened without these two hugely talented individuals.  By contrast, Sir Peter Viggers and Sir Anthony Steen are a couple of nonentities. Yet their expense cheating was arguably on a much smaller scale than Cameron's close allies Ed Vaizey and Michael Gove, who have been protected.  The truth is that Cameron has meted out justice not according to the scale of the offence, but according to how useful the culprit is to him politically." - Peter Oborne in the Daily Mail

"Can the Tories and the North ever go together?"

Anne McElvoy previews her Radio 4 series on the Conservatives' Northern challenge - The Independent

David Cameron was in Norwich again yesterday, campaigning in the crucial by-election - Eastern Daily Press

> Yesterday's Seats and candidates: First by-election polls puts Tories on 34% and Labour on 30%

The Conservatives' Latvian allies aren't Nazis, they are "sweeties" - The Times

Speaker John Bercow supported 'assisted repatriation' of immigrants in 1981 - Telegraph

> Yesterday's ToryDiary: "Something of a relief" to leave Tory benches says John Bercow

Labour ready to abandon Tony Blair's public service targets

"Labour will next week offer people a new range of rights to health, social care, education and policing as it decisively abandons the target culture for public services championed by Tony Blair. The "power shift" – part of a relaunch of Gordon Brown's premiership – will include entitlements to personal tuition in schools, minimum GP waiting times and access to police working in their neighbourhoods." - Guardian

"Gordon Brown is to stake Labour’s survival on a swift return to economic growth and giving people more power over their public services, including the police, he tells The Times today."

Brown wants £60bn climate change fund

"Holidaymakers face higher air fares as part of a crusade to save the planet launched by Gordon Brown. Passengers may end up footing part of a £60billion-a-year climate change fund to help the world's poorest countries go green.  The cash - more than half the UK's annual NHS budget - would pay for technologies to cut carbon emissions.  Mr Brown said the pot, to be set up by 2020, would help keep annual temperature rises to below 2°C." - The Sun

Expenses-gate is undermining British diplomacy

"Accounts of MPs billing the taxpayer for duck houses and moat cleaning have been lapped up around the world and have posed a problem for British diplomats who have previously been vocal in criticising corruption. Mark Malloch-Brown, the foreign office minister, deleted sections of a speech he gave in Mozambique this month, fearing that his comments on higher standards of governance might be greeted with scorn." - FT

Please use this thread to highlight other interesting news and commentary and visit PoliticsHome.com for breaking political news and views throughout the day.

Friday 26th June 2009

8pm Local Government: One local council by-election result from yesterday

5.15pm WATCH: Eric Pickles shares his favourite party conference memories in his latest War Room Briefing (including some vintage Thatcher footage!)

4.30pm Jeremy Hunt MP on CentreRight: The BBC can learn from politicians’ mistakes

3.15pm Seats and Candidates: Dr David Bull steps down as candidate for Brighton Pavilion to head up sexual health policy review

2.30pm Reform's Patrick Nolan on CentreRight: How to successfully restore fiscal credibility

2.00pm Local Government: John Denham gives Tory Ealing "Best Achieving Council" award

12.30pm ToryDiary: "Something of a relief" to leave Tory benches says John Bercow

Noon Latest on CentreRight:

• Charlie Elphicke: The BBC must not slow the media revolution
• Melancthon forecasts how David Cameron's leadership of the Conservative Party might end
  

10.30am Seats and Candidates: First poll in Norwich North points to a Tory gain

9.30am Tim Montgomerie on CentreRight: The BBC enjoys private sector pay AND public sector security

ToryDiary: Has the time come for all members of the Shadow Cabinet to give up their outside interests?

Nicky Morgan on Platform: The real hunger for investment in the NHS, Mr Brown, can be found on hospital meal trays

Local Government: Canterbury Council cleared of anti-gay charge

WATCH: UKIP leader Nigel Farage gives a 10-minute interview to EuroparlTV after returning to Brussels with an increased tally of MEPs

Cameron orders Conservative MPs to repay another £125,000

"More Conservative MPs are expected to stand down at the general election after 41 of them were ordered to repay a further £125,000 in excessive claims for parliamentary expenses. The payback, ordered by a panel set up by David Cameron, brings to £255,000 the total amount of expenses returned to the Commons authorities by Conservative MPs... It means that 90 Tories, almost half the party's 193 MPs, have made repayments or stopped claiming. The scrutiny panel has now investigated the payments made to 188 of them." - Independent

"David Cameron is facing a growing backlash from shadow ministers and backbench MPs angered at the way that half the parliamentary party have been forced by the leadership to pay back expenses... "The leadership has treated MPs in a very high-handed manner," one senior Tory said. "David Cameron has basically gone round in the last few weeks and told MPs that their political careers are over if they do not pay up." MPs spoke up – in private for fear of action by the Tory whips – as Cameron announced the findings of an internal scrutiny panel which examined the expenses of Conservative MPs highlighted by the Daily Telegraph." - Guardian

High-profile Tories not paying back expenses before Commons review

"A former aide to David Cameron and one of the highest-profile victims of the expenses scandal has won the right for his case to be decided by an independent House of Commons review. Andrew MacKay and two other Conservative MPs, Brian Binley and Anne Main, have withheld any repayments until after an official investigation, despite the party’s efforts to resolve the issues with an internal “scrutiny panel”." - Times

Nine senior Tories decide they can get by without MPs' expenses - Telegraph

> Yesterday's ToryDiary: List of expenses repayments by Conservative MPs published

> WATCH: David Cameron explains why Tory MPs are paying back a further £125,000 they claimed in expenses

Michael Gove welcomes Labour U-Turn on national schools strategies

"The government is to abandon the most significant education reform of the New Labour era in order to end the centralised control of schools and grant headteachers more powers, the Guardian has learned. In a totemic break from the Blair years, next week's education white paper will signal the end of Labour's national strategies for schools, which includes oversight of the literacy and numeracy hours in primaries... Michael Gove, the shadow education secretary, said: "If Ed Balls is going to scrap the national strategies in their current form, we will support him. They cost a fortune and do not drive up standards. We want to give teachers more responsibility." - Guardian

David Cameron vows to end Labour's Big Brother state

"David Cameron will repeal a raft of laws that have eroded civil liberties under plans for the first days of a Conservative government. The Tory leader yesterday warned Labour has created a 'control state' with sweeping powers to intrude into people's private lives." - Daily Mail

"As David Cameron observed yesterday in an important speech, information is power. In our modern era, there is a good deal of information; but most of it – and the power – is in the hands of the state... He correctly recognises that this Labour administration's most pernicious legacy will be a governing machine that not only spends and wastes vast amounts of our money but also seeks to control us in as many ways as it can." - Telegraph editorial

> Yesterday's ToryDiary: David Cameron underlines the Conservative commitment to rebalance power of the individual over the state

Eric Pickles supports Chloe Smith in Norwich North as Lib Dem campaign gets nasty...

"The fight to be the next Norwich North MP turned nasty last night as the Green Party candidate was branded an “extremist” by the Liberal Democrats - hours after the same party vowed to “keep the election clean”... Away from all the fuss, Conservative party chairman Eric Pickles was in Norfolk with Miss Smith, spending time with activists in Broadland. He said: “This is a straight fight between Labour and the Conservatives. Voters here have a unique chance to send Gordon Brown a message about expenses and debt and vote for Chloe as their strong local champion.” - Eastern Daily Press

...and the Party Chairman pours scorn on Labour candidates' honesty pledge

"Gordon Brown launched a bizarre attempt to gain credit for cleaning up politics by forcing Labour election candidates to sign a pledge to tell the truth... Conservative Party Chairman Eric Pickles said: ‘Is this Gordon Brown’s big idea for a re-launch? It’s typical of New Labour to try and dupe the public and dress this up as some kind of radical announcement. It is, of course, vital that people in public life maintain the highest standards. But Gordon Brown must wake up and realise this should be a duty and not a virtue'." - Daily Mail

79% of the public want spending cuts

"More than three quarters of Britons believe that public spending should be cut over the next few years, an opinion poll for today's Daily Telegraph has found. The disclosure undermines Gordon Brown's insistence that spending will continue rising despite Britain facing a multi-billion pound black-hole in the country's public finances... The YouGov/Daily Telegraph opinion poll found the Conservatives now have a 13-percentage point lead over Labour. The Conservatives are on 38 per cent, Labour is on 25 per cent and the Liberal Democrats on 18 per cent." - Daily Telegraph

> Last night's ToryDiary: Tories at 38% in YouGov/ Telegraph survey

Jeremy Hunt: Publication of BBC expenses does not go far enough

"The BBC promised to reveal further information about how much it spends on top-name presenters after it released details yesterday of over £360,000 of expense claims made by 13 members of its board...The shadow culture secretary, Jeremy Hunt, said: "The BBC has made a decent start but this does not go nearly far enough. Politicians have learned the hard way that there is no point being half-hearted when it comes to disclosing how public money is spent. We need full transparency so that licence fee payers know what their money goes on." - Guardian

Speaker Bercow hauls a minister to the Despatch Box

"The new Speaker took on the government for the first time yesterday. Gordon Brown had hoped to sneak out a written statement on cybercrime and security. The Tories objected, and John Bercow had a minister hauled into the house to explain what was going on. A small triumph, perhaps, but a sign of things to come." - Guardian

Government defeated in Commons over grand committee meeting in Nottingham - Telegraph

The Tories' new European allies are a "motley crew"

"Not fascists, but not obvious soul mates either: that is a fair summary of the politicians invited on June 22nd to join Britain’s Conservatives in a new grouping in the European Parliament. Most are nationalists or social conservatives whose views hardly chime with the moderate messages pushed by David Cameron at home." - The Economist

Scottish Conservatives step back from Calman Commission findings

"The first signs of discord among Unionist parties in Scotland over the Calman Commission report into extending Holyrood’s powers surfaced yesterday. They appeared after Annabel Goldie, the Scottish Conservative leader, appeared to distance herself from any move to accelerate the implementation of Calman’s widely praised proposals to give extended financial and other powers to Holyrood." - Times

Patrick Mercer MP:  The Army can't soldier on without more men

"How can a responsible Ministry of Defence even contemplate the idea of cutting infantry battalions?...Further reductions would make our Army weaker than at any time since the Crimean War. The MoD may not wish “to reason why”, but it must remember that our soldiers have both “to do and die”. - Patrick Mercer MP writing in The Times

Steve Richards: It's time people knew how their money was being spent

"Whoever wins the next election should open the whole process up and debate public spending priorities more openly. Tony Blair gave near daily press conferences in the build-up to the war in Iraq, and we are about to have another inquiry into what happened. Yet decisions about how money is spent are taken without much debate." - Steve Richards in The Independent

Gordon Brown tells The Times: "I am getting on with the job" - Times

If you thought BBC bosses were profligate, take a look at Boris's taxi bill - Matthew Taylor in The Guardian

Johann Hari: Tory policy to promote marriage "would actually unwittingly harm children" - Johann Hari in The Independent

UK to outline emission cut plans - BBC

David Cameron opens home for autistic adults - Daily Express

Please use this thread to highlight other interesting news and commentary and visit PoliticsHome.com for breaking political news and views throughout the day.

Thursday 25th June 2009

10.30pm ToryDiary: Tories at 38% in new YouGov survey

9.30pm Ruth Lea on CentreRight: The next Conservative government should consider calling in the IMF to help Britain recover from Brown's debt disaster

6pm Thomas Cawston on CentreRight: Our welfare state is universal, unfair and unaffordable

4.15pm WATCH: David Cameron explains why Tory MPs are paying back a further £125,000 they claimed in expenses

3.45pm Jonathan Isaby on CentreRight: Today you can stop working for the state and start working for yourself...

2.30pm ToryDiary update: List published of 41 more Conservative MPs repaying expenses

2.15pm ToryDiary update: David Cameron details how a Conservative Government will rebalance power of the individual over the state Updated with key proposals announced by David Cameron

11.45am ToryDiary: Full list of expenses repayments by Conservative MPs to be published today

11.15am Seats and Candidates: Group of Tory voters in Spelthorne seeking to oust David Wilshire

ToryDiary:

• David Cameron to underline the Conservative commitment to rebalance power of the individual over the state
  
• "Emergency cuts cabinet" could meet immediately after a Tory election victory

Mark Field MP Platform: How US-China relations could fatally wound the globalisation project

Local Government: 

• Mayor of Doncaster recruits Tories to his cabinet
• Labour join Conservative-led coalition in Cumbria

Sally McNamara on CentreRight: The EU is already trying to progress from Superstate to Superpower - and must be stopped

WATCH: Labour responds to yesterday's Conservative attack ad with its own video on "Tory cuts"

Cameron attacks Brown's public spending "lies"...

"David Cameron and Gordon Brown clashed repeatedly during Prime Minister's Question Time as the Conservative leader attacked the Prime Minister for claiming that government capital spending would rise every year between now and the Olympics. Mr Cameron said Mr Brown should apologise and read out Budget statistics projecting expenditure of £44bn this year, followed by £36bn next year, £29bn in 2011 and £26bn in 2012."You have been caught absolutely red-handed," Mr Cameron told the Prime Minister. "You made a statement to the House about capital expenditure growing every year and the fact is it is being cut." - Independent

...and even the Guardian condemns Brown's line of attack on "Tory cuts"

"A Labour government would have to make cuts too to bring the deficit under control, as Alistair Darling says must happen. Mervyn King hammered home the point at Commons committee yesterday. Until Mr Brown confesses that this is true, his attacks on the opposition will always be undermined by the facts." - Guardian editorial

> Yesterday's ToryDiary posts on PMQs and the party's new attack ad on Labour spending plans

Osborne: Yesterday was demolition day for Brown's reputation on the economy

"Bank of England Governor Mervyn King yesterday blasted Gordon Brown and Alistair ­Darling for their handling of the public finances. His surprising attack came as an international watchdog warned that Britain was on course to sink further into debt than any other major country... Shadow Chancellor George Osborne said yesterday proved to be a demolition day for the Prime Minister’s reputation. He said: “In the morning new figures showed Britain facing the biggest deficit in the world and in the afternoon the Governor of the Bank of England delivered the coup de grace by demolishing for good any claim that this discredited Government ever had to a credible plan for the recovery." - Daily Express

Conservatives to bolster Bank of England's power

"The Conservatives plan to overhaul the tripartite system, giving the Bank of England overarching responsibility for the regulation of the UK's largest financial institutions and unwinding one of Gordon Brown's biggest reforms as Chancellor... A spokesman for George Osborne, the shadow chancellor, said on Wednesday night that the Tories would soon publish plans to reform the system of City regulation. "What is clear is that the current system has failed and needs changing," the spokesman said." - Daily Telegraph

Oliver Letwin reveals the extent of his outside work

"Oliver Letwin, the Conservatives’ policy chief, is paid an annual salary of £60,000 by an investment bank for working eight hours a week, The Times has learnt. N M Rothschild Corporate Finance Ltd disclosed his £145-an-hour earnings before a change to parliamentary rules which require MPs to detail the time they spend on outside jobs. Mr Letwin, who is writing the party’s manifesto, approved the release of the information in a sign of growing Tory defiance over the issue of MPs’ outside employment."  - The Times

David Cameron reiterates promise to put Conservative MPs from Northern Ireland in government

"Voters in Northern Ireland can have a say in forming the next Government — and show support for change at Westminster, Conservative leader David Cameron argues today... The Tory chief said Northern Ireland MPs have little or no say on issues including taxes, pensions and welfare, as well as social and foreign policy... “I do not want to be Prime Minister of just England, but of the whole United Kingdom. It follows that the government I lead should seek to draw on the talents of people from all parts of the United Kingdom, including Northern Ireland.” - Belfast Telegraph

David Cameorn's article in full - Belfast Telegraph

Hague condemns "monumental mess" of Brown’s Iraq War probe

"An opportunity to drain the poisonous legacy of the Iraq war from British politics has been lost by the government's handling of the inquiry into the conflict, Gordon Brown was told last night. Opening an opposition debate on the Chilcot inquiry, Shadow Foreign Secretary William Hague said the government had made a "monumental mess" of the process of consulting other parties in setting up the inquiry. The original proposal for private hearings, the restricted membership and the timing - the inquiry is due to report back after the next election - was "utterly cynical and politically motivated" said Mr Hague." - The Herald

> WATCH: William Hague challenges David Miliband over the scope and remit of the Iraq War Inquiry

Grayling: UN report underlines government failure to tackle drugs problem

"Britain has the highest number of dangerous drug abusers in Europe, a United Nations report says. It claimed this country has more than 400,000 'problem drug users' who are permanently intoxicated or regularly bingeing on illegal substances... Shadow Home Secretary Chris Grayling said the report 'underlines just how ineffective the Government's strategy on dealing with the drug problem has been'." - Daily Mail

Tory MEP voices "real concern" over new group in Brussels

"A senior Tory MEP has become the first to break ranks and voice "real concern" over the inclusion of "extreme Right-wingers" in the new anti-federalist group in the European Parliament. Edward McMillan-Scott said he was unhappy with many of the candidates who would be sitting with the Conservatives in the 55-strong group... "Despite what David Cameron has said there are already indications that some of the members have links with extremist groups and I feel very, very uncomfortable with that," he said." - Daily Telegraph

Michael White: Leaving the EPP could backfire for the Conservatives - Guardian

Benedict Brogan: The "Great Purge" has started in the Conservative Party

"The Conservative Party you see at Westminster will not be with us for much longer. Bewildered and angry, the Tory backbenches find themselves caught up in a slow-motion purge. David Cameron contemplates the prospect that more than half his MPs will be replaced at the general election. So many will go, in fact, that the high command suspects he will have to appoint ministers from among those who are not yet in the House: come the election he may not have enough experienced MPs left to fill the payroll." - Benedict Brogan writing in the Daily Telegraph

Ministers must prioritise Parliament, not the media, says Speaker - Guardian

> Yesterday in Parliament: Speaker Bercow intends to clamp down on ministers making announcements to the media

Boris's taxi bill more than double what he first claimed - BBC

Ex-Boris deputy referred to police over expenses "discrepancies" - Guardian

Labour MPs "Mr and Mrs Expenses" face house repossession - Independent

Government climbdown over increase in MPs' pensions - Independent

Please use this thread to highlight other interesting news and commentary and visit PoliticsHome.com for breaking political news and views throughout the day.

Wednesday 24th June 2009

5.45pm WATCH: William Hague challenges David Miliband over the scope and remit of the Iraq War Inquiry

5pm Latest on CentreRight: 

• Dan Hamilton: Bob Crow and the RMT need to grow up
• Alex Deane: More guff at the Tate

3.30pm ToryDiary: CCHQ produces new attack ad taking up David Cameron's theme from PMQs on Labour spending lies

3.15pm WATCH: Sky News's Joey Jones reviews the highlights of today's Prime Minister's Questions

1.15pm Parliament: Speaker Bercow intends to clamp down on ministers making announcements to the media

12.30pm ToryDiary: David Cameron and Gordon Brown exchange accusation and counter-accusation on spending at an unedifying PMQs

12.15pm Local Government:

• Conservative-led coalition takes charge in Cornwall.
• How does your Council perform on the Fixmystreet website?

10am Charlie Elphicke on CentreRight doesn't much care about Speaker Bercow's choice of clothing... He wants real Commons reform

ToryDiary:

• Have you booked your place on the ConservativeHome cruise?
• David Cameron is not one of life's haters
• Public school boys run Britain says David Davis during a defence of grammar schools

Timothy Kirkhope MEP on Platform: The allegation that the new European Conservatives and Reformists group will be marginalised in Brussels is nonsense

Parliament: Gordon Brown's standards quango will end parliamentary sovereignty

Local government:

• Chris Woodhead on how to defeat the educational establishment
• Charity Commission respond to political activity of Campaign for Better Transport

WATCH: Alan Duncan concedes that John Bercow is a "complex character" but describes talk of ousting him as "churlish"

MPs who break expenses rules will face police investigation, says Brown - Guardian

"MPs who fiddle their expenses in future could face 12 months in jail or an unlimited fine under a crackdown announced last night. A Bill will be rushed through Parliament by next month with all-party support in an attempt to restore public confidence in MPs after it was shattered by the revelations about the allowances system." - Independent

Cameron to press for fully open Iraq Inquiry

"David Cameron says he will push Gordon Brown for a "proper U-turn" on the Iraq inquiry in a debate [today]. The Conservative leader told the BBC Mr Brown and his predecessor as PM, Tony Blair, must give evidence in public." - BBC

Simon Heffer: Conservatives should oust Speaker Bercow

"I have no idea whether, as alleged yesterday, only three Tory MPs voted for Mr Bercow in a secret ballot. I would not be surprised. When the time comes – as it will after a general election, when all Speakers have to be re-elected if proposing to continue in the chair – the Tories (should they have a majority) should not hesitate to bring this offensive stunt to an end, and unelect Mr Bercow in favour of Sir George, or someone similarly serious." - Simon Heffer in The Telegraph

John Bercow will stop claiming for second home - Telegraph

"Tory anger over new Commons Speaker John Bercow deepened last night as he admitted plotting for years to get the job. Senior MPs privately suspect Conservative MP Mr Bercow, once a hardline Right-winger, began his extraordinary move across the political spectrum after realising he would only get the job with Labour support." - Daily Mail

"Sir Peter Tapsell leant back from the shoulders to regard a vile new microbe. David Davis wore an expression of incredulous intensity. James Gray next to him was generating an emotion as yet unknown to either medical science or the judicial system. What a blow it has been. John Bercow, the new Speaker. What a big fat blowfly he is in their jar of Neutrogena." - Simon Carr in The Independent

"A middleman who helped pass on details of MPs' expenses to the Daily Telegraph has said it was done for the public good and not to make money." - BBC

Boris Johnson aide could face police investigation over credit card claims - Telegraph

> Yesterday's ToryDiary: Learning lessons from the three resignations from Team Boris

Nick Clegg believes Liberal Democrats can become Britain's second party after next election

"Nick Clegg, leader of the Liberal Democrats, believes his party can overtake Labour at the next election, as “big things can happen” when a government is defeated in the battle of ideas and loses touch with the public." - FT

Daniel Finkelstein: Labour is stuck in 1992

"The central ideas that make up Gordon Brown's policy, political strategy and day-to-day tactics were all developed between 1992 and 1994. He hasn't had an important idea since. Nor has he discarded an important idea since then, remaining doggedly faithful to every last one. And these notions, the bedrock of everything he does, were developed as a response to the two big political events of 1992 - the victory of Bill Clinton and, more centrally, the defeat of Neil Kinnock by John Major. There you have it - my 1992 theory." - Daniel Finkelstein in The Times

Simon Jenkins: Labour's intellectual decline

"Today the interesting debates are within Conservatism, between the "Red Tories" and the neo-Thatcherites running riot through health and education policy. Labour's theoreticians are still twitching under the effects of Blair's anaesthetic, muttering about triangulation and the third way. The chief sign of life, outside such London coteries as Compass and Progress, has come from the old left, gloating over the supposed "demise of capitalism". Who could have predicted that the most coveted conference speaker in 2009 would be Eric Hobsbawm?" - Simon Jenkins in The Guardian

We must abolish Labour's 50p tax band - Jill Kirby in the Yorkshire Post

Italian PM Silvio Berlusconi has insisted he has never paid for sex after he was engulfed in a prostitute scandal - The Sun

Please use this thread to highlight other interesting news and commentary and visit PoliticsHome.com for breaking political news and views throughout the day.

Tuesday 23rd June 2009

10pm Alex Deane on CentreRight: Climate change questions, with no apparent (permissible) answers

2.30pm WATCH: John Bercow talks to Sky News about his plans for the Speakership and promises that there'll be no tights, no wig but a simple gown

2.15pm ToryDiary: Tories well ahead in two new opinion polls

1pm ToryDiary: Learning lessons from the three resignations from Team Boris

ToryDiary: We must now hope that John Bercow will succeed

Andrew Morrison on Platform: The case for more devolved powers for Scotland and England

The Local government blog highlights a very useful summary of the Conservative party's strength in local government and Worthing Council have threatened a pensioner with a £75 for pinning up notices on trees about a missing cat.

International: Sarkozy says Burkha is not welcome in France

Seats and candidates: Will Sir Alan Haselhurst and Sir George Young be the next Tory MPs to stand down?

Parliament: David Cameron's congratulatory marks to the new Speaker of the House of Commons, John Bercow

WATCH: Glum faces on Tory benches as John Bercow is dragged to Speaker's Chair on the back of Labour and Liberal Democrat votes

New Speaker is Tory hated by his party, tainted by expenses furore... and facing plot to unseat him - Daily Mail

"There he stood in the big green chair, puffed up like an amphibian that had scoffed too many volauvents. 'My first thought at this time,' he said from Parliament's bully pulpit, 'is, as you will understand, of...'  He was going to mention his wife but at this point a female voice from the Tory benches shouted: 'Your wages.'" - Quentin Letts in the Daily Mail

"Angry Tories last night refused to congratulate new House of Commons Speaker John Bercow - after branding him a turncoat. Conservatives folded their arms in disgust after their colleague won. One backbencher shouted: "Not in my name."" - The Sun

"In their standing ovation – including most on the Tory benches – MPs showed every sign last night of wishing him to succeed. Certainly no other candidate has fought harder for the job or thought longer about how to do it." - Telegraph

"Bercow told MPs he was the "clean break" candidate able to draw a line under the expenses scandal that forced his predecessor, Michael Martin, out of office. "I want to implement an agenda for reform, for renewal, for revitalisation and for the reassertion of the core values of this great institution in the context of the 21st century," he said in his appeal for votes." - Guardian

> Jonathan Isaby on CentreRight: Speaker Bercow's detractors must judge him on how he performs in his new role

Metro/Harris poll puts the Conservatives on course for a Commons majority of 62

"When the 15 per cent of undecided voters, or those who definitely will not vote, are removed, this puts the Tories on 35 per cent, Labour 20 per cent, the Lib Dems 16 per cent and other parties 29 per cent." - Metro

New Tory grouping of MEPs faces media flak

"The two main allies are the Polish Law and Justice Party, which has banned gay rights' marches, and the Czech Civic Democrats (ODS), the party of the Czech President Vaclav Klaus, who has described climate change as a "myth" and the former prime minister Mirek Topolanek, who was photographed naked at a party hosted by the Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi." - Independent

The Independent's cartoonist paints David Cameron making Hitler salute.

...But The Telegraph leader writers congratulate David Cameron for keeping his promise to leave the EPP

...And the Daily Mail notes that other UK parties have awkward allies: "The Tories hit back, saying that Labour and the Liberal Democrats are themselves in political groupings with ex-communists, Nazi admirers, 9/11 conspiracy theorists, homophobes and militant feminists who want to ban marriage."

> Yesterday's ToryDiary: Seven observations on successfully leaving the EPP

One of Boris Johnson's mayoral deputies resigned yesterday over his misuse of a corporate credit card - Independent

Chairman of the Iraq Inquiry has said it is "essential" as much as possible is held in public - BBC

Even if the Iraq Inquiry is held in public, the implacable critics of the war will still cry whitewash - David Aaronovitch in The Times

50p tax 'unfair, complex and damaging' to economy says Centre for Policy Studies - Telegraph

Please use this thread to highlight other interesting news and commentary and visit PoliticsHome.com for breaking political news and views throughout the day.

Monday 22nd June 2009

10.30pm Jonathan Isaby on CentreRight: Speaker Bercow's detractors must judge him on how he performs in his new role

8.30pm ToryDiary: John Bercow elected Speaker

6.45pm ToryDiary: Cameron: Bercow is not a Tory!@£$!

ToryDiary: Rolling blog - Results of Speaker ballots

From 2.30pm ToryDiary: Rolling blog on the election of a new Speaker

1.30pm ToryDiary: Seven observations on successfully leaving the EPP

1pm Andrew Lilico on CentreRight shows that Labour’s Budget plans cuts of £40bn more even than is so far being discussed

10.45am ToryDiary BREAKING NEWS: The deal is done - New Conservative grouping in the European Parliament launched Updated at 11.15am with details of membership and the group's founding principles and at 2.30pm with news of an MEP from a ninth country seeking to join the group

ToryDiary: Beckett and Bercow would be wrong choices for Speaker

Graeme Archer on CentreRight: Speaker Shepherd, please

***

Dr Teck Khong on Platform: The flaws in the NHS must be addressed by rebuilding it from its very core

Local government: £78 million uncollected Council Tax in Wales

Diary of a PPC on Seats and candidates: Caroline Nokes balances her political life with work and family duties during a busy week in Romsey

William Hague turns the screw on Iraq Inquiry

Why the ex-PM MUST give his Iraq War evidence in public - The Shadow Foreign Secretary writing for the Daily Mail

> Tim Montgomerie on CentreRight: Questions that won't (but should) be at the heart of the Iraq Inquiry

Tories fear big political hit from second job disclosures

"A source said: 'There is a fear that this could be at least as big as the second-home scandal. When we are forced to reveal our rates and the time taken by these jobs, there's going to be trouble.' Previously, MPs only had to reveal how much they were paid for second jobs that had a bearing on their parliamentary roles." - Daily Mail

Business escalates its efforts to lobby the Conservatives

"The Tories’ policies on planning and airport expansion remain bones of contention with business. "The main issue we have with the Conservatives is their opposition to Heathrow expansion,” David Frost, director-general of the British Chambers of Commerce, said. “I don’t see what their realistic alternative to that is.”" - FT

Tobias Ellwood MP hurt in confrontation with youths - Guardian | Yesterday's ToryDiary

Delay to ID cards suggests victory for Chris Grayling

"The showpiece contract for national identity cards will be held back, prompting speculation that a Tory pledge to scrap the entire scheme may have unsettled its front-running companies." - ContractorUK

Ed Balls considers ban on BNP members becoming teachers

"The government is investigating a possible ban on British National party members working as teachers in schools in a move that could challenge the legitimacy of the far-right party. A source close to the schools secretary, Ed Balls, said there had been several meetings on the issue with teaching unions which are lobbying for a change in teachers' contracts to prevent them from working if they are members of far-right groups including the BNP... Members of the BNP, National Front and Combat 18 are banned from joining the police or becoming prison officers." - Guardian

Alan Johnson says anti-social behaviour will be his top priority

"Alan Johnson will revive the crusade against antisocial behaviour after admitting that the Government has been “coasting” on the issue in past years. The new Home Secretary said that too many people on housing estates felt ignored by the authorities and that their worries about yobbish behaviour were not taken seriously." - Times

The new Speaker should take a firm grip on Prime Minister's Questions - Roy Hattersley in The Times

Yasmin Alibhai-Brown: The Left must make tough spending choices

"Refusing to consider means-testing for child benefit and transport for the retired is perverse and will mean the most needy will suffer more terribly the effects of the coming hard times." - Yasmin Alibhai-Brown in The Independent

Free NHS cannot survive, doctors told - Scotsman

If Britain scraps Trident it will may lose its place on the UN Security Council

"The five permanent members of the UN Security Council (the US, Russia, China, Britain and France) achieved their positions by being the victors of the Second World War. But they now retain those seats only thanks to their possession of credible nuclear deterrents... Anyone who does not think the seat valuable should be open enough intellectually to assess the diplomatic value of a Security Council veto. Germany, Japan, India all want and - on most measures - deserve a permanent seat more than Britain. Cancel Trident's replacement and we join the second rank of European countries, on a par with Italy or Spain economically and militarily." - Sash Tusa in The Times

Labour delaying the election might secure the passage of Lisbon

"Lisbon is genuinely a federalising treaty, a rewriting of the European constitutional treaty, which was rejected by France and the Netherlands in their national referendums. The treaty transfers power from national parliaments to the Brussels bureaucracy and would make Britain a province of a European state with a European president. The British do not support such a treaty, but have never had the opportunity to vote on it. October 2009 would be the best window of opportunity for Labour. Will Labour sacrifice their best election chance to protect the Lisbon treaty?" - William Rees-Mogg in The Times

Please use this thread to highlight other interesting news and commentary and visit PoliticsHome.com for breaking political news and views throughout the day.

Sunday 21st June 2009

6.15pm Melanchthon on CentreRight: "If Cameron can successfully renegotiate our position within the EU, then there is a chance that the UK will still be a member in thirty years time.  If Cameron chooses not to try to renegotiate, or if he does try but is not taken seriously by our EU partners, then I expect that the UK will have left the EU within ten to fifteen years."

5.45pm Tim Montgomerie on CentreRight: Questions that won't (but should) be at the heart of the Iraq Inquiry

2.45pm Tom Greeves on CentreRight defends MPs employing spouses etc: In praise of nepotism

Noon ToryDiary: Tobias Ellwood MP beaten "black and blue" by youths

11.30am WATCH: Nick Clegg tells the BBC that Tony Blair shouldn't be allowed to dictate that Iraq Inquiry takes place behind closed doors

ToryDiary: The grim mood of the Parliamentary Conservative Party

Pamela Singleton on Platform argues that The Marine Bill needs to designate 30% of UK waters as 'highly protected marine reserves'

Mark Wallace on Local government: Birmingham should cut council tax by the £193m it has allocated to a new and unnecessary library

Benedict Rogers on CentreRight comes to the defence of John Bercow and his human rights work: Another side of the story

WATCH: Zimbabwe's Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai is jeered when he tells angry London audience that "Zimbabweans must come home"

Quote of the day

"If Brown won’t offer cuts, then the Tories can outline the tax rises he will have to make in compensation – 12p in the pound in income tax rises, by some estimates."

- Martin Ivens in The Sunday Times

Brown's Cabinet colleagues unhappy at his cuts attacks on Cameron - The Sunday Times

Will 15% cuts be necessary?

"New figures show that, whichever party wins the next election, there will have to cuts of around 15%... totalling a massive £22 billion. That’s equal to the ENTIRE budget for Britain’s secondary schools or FIVE TIMES the current bill for unemployment benefit." - News of the World

Andrew Rawnsley: Tories are WRONG to protect NHS from cuts

"My sacrilegious thought for today is that it will prove to be a mistake to give health a blanket exemption which will mean an even harsher squeeze everywhere else. Some of Tony Blair's advisers used to reflect that one of their strategic mistakes was to get the balance wrong between spending on health and education. The NHS will swallow whatever cash is poured into it. Education is an investment in the country's skills and a generator of additional growth in the future." - Andrew Rawnsley in The Observer

> ToryDiary: 63% of voters say Tory line on increasing NHS spending is wrong

Tory frontbenchers in rush to give up second jobs

"Six senior Tories told The Sunday Times they had either quit or were planning to quit consultancies and directorships. Grant Shapps, the shadow housing minister, David Gauke, the Treasury spokesman, and David Evennett, the junior universities spokesman, are likely to meet the July 1 deadline and thus avoid the need to declare their earnings from second jobs Francis Maude, shadow Cabinet Office minister, David Willetts, the universities spokesman, and Gregory Barker, shadow environment minister, also indicated they would give up their second jobs. But they will not achieve this by July 1 and will have to make at least one set of declarations of their earnings and specify the number of hours they spend on second jobs."

The Independent on Sunday notes that other Labour MPs are also affected by second jobs disclosure rules: "Alan Milburn, once seen as a future Labour prime minister, has seen his business career flourish since leaving the Cabinet. He now earns over £100,000 a year from outside interests, and has set up his own company to handle his media and consultancy work. The former armed services minister Adam Ingram has put together a portfolio of directorships worth up to £170,000 since leaving the Government two years ago."

Clarke rebuked by Cameron for Lisbon remarks

"David Cameron, the Conservative leader, has slapped down Kenneth Clarke, the shadow business secretary, for suggesting that the Tories will not hold a referendum on the Lisbon Treaty." - The Sunday Telegraph

...Patrick O'Flynn got closer to the truth in The Express: "[Ken Clarke] was not carpeted, let alone sacked. Cameron's aides merely stated that the Tory policy had not changed. But they refused to be drawn further on what exactly the policy is."

> Yesterday's ToryDiary: "The Conservative leadership team would not have invited Ken Clarke to join the shadow cabinet if they had intended to be radical on Europe."

The Tory MPs who took £250 each month for unreceipted petty cash

1. Crispin Blunt
2. Peter Bone
3. Derek Conway (had whip withdrawn)
4. Gerald Howarth
5. Andrew Mackay
6. David Wilshire

From The Mail on Sunday.

Will Gordon Brown walk away BEFORE General Election?

The Mail on Sunday says POSSIBLY: "Gordon Brown may agree to step down as Prime Minister before the next General Election to avoid a humiliating defeat by David Cameron, according to Labour sources. The possibility of Mr Brown quitting to give a new leader the chance of reviving the party’s fortunes was disclosed after he talked openly for the first time of ‘walking away’ from the job and spending more time with his family."

The News of the World says NO: "Today Gordon Brown throws down a defiant challenge to Labour rebels - declaring he WILL be leading the party at the next election. In an exclusive interview with the News of the World, the Prime Minister insisted he has NO intention of quitting and will NOT be blown off course."

Downing Street dismisses claims that decision to hold an Iraq inquiry in private reflected pressure from Tony Blair - BBC

Gordon Brown is to appear on Songs of Praise as he attempts to "reconnect"

"When the show – during which Mr Brown will speak about courage and the people who have inspired him – is broadcast next month the chosen hymns will include Be Still My Soul, Fight the Good Fight and Psalm 23, The Lord is My Shepherd." - Sunday Telegraph

The unredacted expense claims of the ten candidates for Commons Speaker - Sunday Telegraph

Constitutional experts say Cabinet is now too big to take decisions - Sunday Telegraph

And finally...

"It's 2014. The Tories are running the UK, having won the election in 2010. An SNP government is re-elected in 2011. They hold a referendum on independence, and Scottish hostility to the Tories generates a yes vote. Alex Salmond and Michael Russell's less-than-secret plan? No, it's the opening of Alan Clements' excellent thriller Rogue Nation..." - Scotland on Sunday

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Saturday 20th June 2009

10pm WATCH: He'll fix the schools... he'll cool the earth... he's Super Obama

7.30pm ToryDiary: Tories 17% ahead in ComRes poll

2pm ToryDiary: Hunting Act is bad law and bad laws should be repealed, says Hague

10am Graeme Archer on CentreRight has uncovered Gordon Brown's school report

ToryDiary: Ken Clarke and William Hague are not "at loggerheads"

Antonia Cox on Platform: The lessons Afghanistan should learn from Tunisia on women's rights

Local government

• The new DCLG team of ministers
• Roger Scruton's solution to the great wheelie bin debate: "Smaller wheelie bins, made out of wood, designed by Leon Krier or Quinlan Terry, embossed with the council coat of arms."
• Campaign for Better Transport apologises for anti-Tory email

Today's must-read: Gordon Brown's Guardian interview

"Gordon Brown has admitted that he has been "hurt" by the personal attacks on him during the failed attempt to oust him this month, and said that he might move to teaching after he leaves office. Speaking to The Guardian in his first interview since the attempted coup by Labour backbenchers, the prime minister made an unprecedentedly frank series of observations on his time in office, reflecting that the recent weeks have been the worst of his political life. "To be honest, you could walk away from all of this tomorrow," he said. "I'm not interested in what accompanies being in power. I wouldn't worry if I never returned to all those places - Downing Street, Chequers ... And it would probably be good for my children.""

George Osborne says inheritance tax pledge will NOT be abandoned

"A source close to Mr Osborne said: “We stand by this policy. It will be carried out within the fi rst term if we are elected. Our proposal for an inheritance tax cut is fully costed. This is about recognising and encouraging aspiration.” - Express

> Yesterday Neil O'Brien recommended ditching the pledge but Mark Wallace defended it.

"David Miliband, the Foreign Secretary, said yesterday: "The British public should be warned: the Tory European group may contain nuts.""

"The Tories are also in talks with the Dutch Christian Union, which includes the SGP, a Calvinist party which believes the Bible means that women should not stand for parliament but have a "nurturing role" at home. Mr Cameron's party is also wooing the Latvian Fatherland and Freedom party, several of whose MPs marched in Riga with veterans of the Latvian SS in March." - Independent

The Daily Mail anticipates a Bercow victory in the race to be Speaker...

"The deeply unattractive so-called Conservative John Bercow is predicted to triumph for no other reason than that he is intensely disliked by his own party – and therefore attractive to vengeful Labour MPs, upset by Mr Martin’s toppling. Such puerile behaviour is, frankly, pathetic, particularly in light of both parties pledging to clean up a political system which has just resulted in one of the most shameful weeks for British democracy in many a decade." - Daily Mail leader

...Frank Field backs Ann Widdecombe to be Michael Martin's (interim) successor

"It took the Almighty six days to create the universe. Ann wouldn't claim to possess His powers. But in the year between now and when she retires, she is the candidate most likely to be able to re-establish a political bridgehead with our electorates. A cleaned-up Parliament will therefore be able to elect a new Speaker. She is also the only candidate under whom MPs know they won't be able to get away with some of the behaviour – let alone the excesses – that has been offered up by our expenses system." - Telegraph

Latest from expenses-gate

The Daily Telegraph is giving away a 68 page magazine guide to MPs' expenses today.

"David Willetts and Jeremy Hunt, both shadow ministers, admitted last night that they had over-claimed on their council tax by at least £500 each." - The Telegraph revealing that fifty MPs had overclaimed on council tax

Neither Darling nor Osborne can add up - The Sun

The Times probes the £2.3m paid to the Tory-only Parliamentary Resources Unit.

Scotland Yard's investigation into parliamentarians' expense claims

"Scotland Yard's announcement that fraud investigators would begin combing through the expenses claims of a few MPs and peers undermined attempts by both Gordon Brown and David Cameron to draw a line under the affair with pledges to clean up Westminster." - Guardian

"Those under investigation are believed to include:

• Elliot Morley, the former Labour minister who claimed £16,000 for a mortgage that he had already repaid. He said last night that he would co-operate with any inquiry.
• David Chaytor, Labour MP for Bury North, who claimed £13,000 for a mortgage that had been repaid.
• Baroness Uddin, Britain’s first female Muslim peer."

- Times

Baroness Thatcher will remain hospital for another week after an apparently successful operation on her broken upper arm - Telegraph

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Friday 19th June 2009

CONHOME WOULD LIKE A COPY OF THE LETTER THAT JEREMY MIDDLETON RECENTLY SENT OUT RE DESELECTION PROCEDURES. PLEASE EMAIL US IF YOU CAN HELP.

5.15pm ToryDiary: Do you want me to use unnamed sources?

4.45pm CentreRight:

• Mark Wallace: The Conservatives need to keep their promise to cut inheritance tax
• Tim Montgomerie: I don't much care if the Iraq war was "illegal"

Noon Patrick Nolan on CentreRight: Improve health productivity or ration more care

ToryDiary:

• It's time to ditch the inheritance tax cut pledge, argues Neil O'Brien
• Publish in full or be damned, says The Times after Parliament's blackest day

On CentreRight, Stephan Shakespeare argues that "The Conservative Party didn’t choose David Cameron because they loved his policies, nor because he’d be a good mate. They chose him because they saw him as a winner." He goes on to say that Cameron mustn't let MPs off the hook on expenses.

Local government: New Conservative administration in Devon begins with cutting allowances bill

Jonathan Delaney on Platform: How British rejection of the European Security and Defence Policy could lead to fundamental reform of the European Union

WATCH: Hazel Blears talks to the BBC after surviving an attempt to deselect her

MPs face universal condemnation over “disgraceful” censorship of their expenses claims - Telegraph

"Yesterday's exercise in obfuscation suggested that for all the breast-beating and the agonised mea culpas, the House of Commons has learnt nothing. After the recent disclosures, how could anyone have imagined that putting censored information into the public domain in such a way would do anything other than make voters think that, once again, their MPs have something to hide, or are totally out of touch?" - Telegraph leader

"Is this what Gordon Brown meant when he promised us transparency and open government? Is this what David Cameron and Nick Clegg regard as acceptable behaviour? The blanking out of information on MPs' expense forms was Labour's decision. But MPs of other parties all went along with it. Shame on them." - The Sun Says

Cameron to repay £947 in mortgages expenses - Times

Commons spent fortune blacking out expenses - Times

Brian Binley attacks The Telegraph for abandoning fair and honest reporting

"Sadly, such is now the Telegraph's thirst and hunger for making mischief since obtaining the records of MPs' expenses, that it has long since abandoned the idea of fair and honest reporting. Of course, some MPs have deservedly been exposed for the misuse of public funds, be it claiming for non-existent mortgages, "flipping" between homes, or claiming a fiver for a wreath they bought for Remembrance Sunday. But now the newspaper has turned it into a McCarthyite witch-hunt for the sake of a circulation increase. It is doing the reputation of British journalism a lot of damage." - Brian Binley MP in The Independent

The New Labour orthodoxy on public spending is over - The Economist's Bagehot

Annabel Goldie's enthusiasm for further Scottish devolution is not shared by some Tory MSPs - Telegraph

Outgoing European Parliament president Hans-Gert Poettering attacks Cameron for leaving EPP and for Lisbon tactics - EU Business

'I disagree with her on nearly everything' but Johann Hari says he'd support Ann Widdecombe as a "no-bullshit Speaker" - Independent

Margaret Thatcher to undergo surgery on broken arm - Guardian

Brown u-turns and concedes that Iraq Inquiry may be partly public - BBC

Clare Short wants to become Mayor of Birmingham - Telegraph

Today's clutching at straws award... goes to the New Statesman for this: "The Tories are ahead in the polls but remain unpopular."

Please use this thread to highlight other interesting news and co

mmentary and visit PoliticsHome.com for breaking political news and views throughout the day.

Thursday 18th June 2009

9,30pm Local Government: Ealing offers £50 Council Tax rebate

3.45pm ToryDiary: More expenses revelations

12.45pm Local Government: Anti Tory group funded by TfL and London Councils.

10.45am Graeme Archer on CentreRight on the implications of Nightjack's Law: "From today's Times: “I love Margaret dearly but the public would not stand for her as Speaker,” said one Cabinet minister who supports Mr Bercow. Which cabinet minister? Shouldn't we be told? How can we know that this statement wasn't planted by someone on the Bercow team? Or just made up by a journalist, desperate for some copy and with a deadline approaching?"

9.15am ToryDiary: Rolling blog on new expenses revelations

ToryDiary: Tory MP warns that Tory government endangers Union with Scotland

Mark Field MP on Platform: We must seize this watershed moment and reform politics

Local government: Tories back campaign against wheelie bins

Robert Halfon on CentreRight: We shouldn't invest too much hope in Iran's Mousavi

WATCH: Michael Martin apologises to Britain again in his final speech as Speaker

The expenses claims of every MP for the past four years have been published, but with key details blacked out - BBC

Gordon Brown sacks Kitty Usher for flipping homes to avoid tax - Guardian

Tories receive 'poison letter' slamming Cameron and Osborne for Stalinist practices - but is it genuine or a Labour hoax? - Daily Mail

> Yesterday's ToryDiary: A letter complaining about Team Cameron's power is circulated to all Tory MPs

The British Medical Association in Wales attacks Tory prescription plans - Western Mail

> Julia Manning on CentreRight: "We've had means tested prescription charges since 1951. A responsible way forward is to encourage each of us to think about what meds we need and the most appropriate place to get them."

Conservatives promise to scrap identity card contracts - Scotsman

'We do NOT want Blair as EU president,' insist Tories - Daily Mail | Watch Hague's denial

Mervyn King close to backing Tory approach to bank risk

"King pointed out that the size of our banking system was, as a proportion of GDP, five times that of America’s; and that risks associated with proprietary trading are harder to control in limited liability companies. His conclusion: we need instruments to prevent the size, leverage, fragility and risk of the financial system from becoming too great. This puts him closer to the Tory position and far away from Darling’s." - Allister Heath in City AM

The Tories will have to cut more than 10%

"The irony is that the ‘10 per cent’ figure which Mr Brown pretends to find so outrageous underestimates what will actually be necessary. If Mr Osborne is to be taken remotely seriously when he says he wants to cut debt, then he will need to impose cuts far deeper than those presently set out by the Treasury." - Fraser Nelson in The Spectator

Osborne accuses Brown of misleading Commons

"Downing Street was forced onto the defensive, after Mr Brown baldly asserted at a heated prime minister’s questions that “capital expenditure will grow until the year of the Olympics” – a statement directly contradicted by the official Treasury projections in the Budget red book. George Osborne, shadow chancellor, accused the prime minister of having “basically misled the House of Commons”. " - FT

Darling provokes fears of new taxes on higher earners

"Alistair Darling prompted fears of tax rises yesterday when he warned he would do 'whatever is necessary' to balance the books.  'No one wants to put up taxes but it is right to do it in a way that those most able to bear the burden make the greatest contribution,' the Chancellor said in his annual Mansion House speech." - Daily Mail

Margaret Beckett wins support of Conservatives in race for Speaker - Times

Gordon Brown set to make U-turn over Iraq war inquiry and hold sections in public after attack by military and intelligence chiefs - Independent

A new campaign aims to "end the damned lies told with statistics" - Nigel Hawkes in The Times

Straight Statistics: "We are a campaign established by journalists and statisticians to improve the understanding and use of statistics by government, politicians, companies, advertisers and the mass media. By exposing bad practice and rewarding good, we aim to restore public confidence in statistics."

The Independent: Britain can be proud that it is "demo central"

"From anti-Apartheid protests outside South Africa House to, more recently, the Tibetan and Falun Gong vigils outside the Chinese embassy, to Georgians outside the Russian embassy last summer, London sometimes seems like demo-central. But that is something Britain should be proud of: providing a haven and a platform for those whose voices are silenced at home." - Independent leader

And finally...

At last night's Tory Summer Ball David Cameron made light of his recent Basil Fawlty moment when he used a fake German accent to talk about ID cards.  In order to complete his new reputation he said that Bratwurst and Blue Nun would be served instead of the fine food and wines that donors were used to.

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Wednesday 17th June 2009

5.45pm Local Government: "Charity" seeks to gather attacks on Tory Councils.

5pm Julia Manning on CentreRight: "Prescription charges for some people [low paid, diabetics, pensioners] should not be brought back in order to raise money. They should be brought back for everyone to help reverse our dependency culture and reinforce the message that we need to be in more control of our own healthcare, including being responsible when obtaining medication."

4.45pm Parliament: David Cameron pays tribute to Michael Martin's "decency and kindness"

4.45pm ToryDiary: More evidence of the public/ private sector divide

4pm Patrick Mercer MP on Platform: Match rhetoric with reality and ban Al Mujahiroun

3.30pm Dan Hamilton on CentreRight: "The European People's Party group in the European Parliament has finally conceded, after seventeen acrimonious years and numerous rearguard actions to keep the party in the group, that its formal association with the Conservative Party is over."

1.45pm WATCH:

• "I got the sucker"! Obama makes impressive kill of a fly during TV interview
• Hague tells Sky News that Tories don't want Blair to become President of EU

1pm Reform on CentreRight: Nick Gibb MP discusses "the soft bigotry of low expectations"

12.30pm ToryDiary: Brown lies, lies and lies at PMQs about spending

10.15am Graeme Archer on CentreRight: "Peter Mandelson is in charge of Everything, with the exception of gas and water. He has approximately 2,400 ministers, including Baroness Esther Rantzen of Luton Parkway (the Five Genitally-Shaped Fruit 'N Veg Per Day Tsarina), Lord Amstrad of Spurs (the Buy-To-Let Property Tsar - this government knows how to ride a wave!) and Shahid Malik MP, unless it transpires, as seems plausible, that Mr Malik is 'renting' one of his several forgotten offices from an outpost of the Amstrad Empire..."

ToryDiary:

• Free prescriptions for all must end, say Welsh Tories
• A letter complaining about Team Cameron's power is circulated to all Tory MPs
• President Tony Blair?

Elizabeth Truss on Platform: Universities should be put in charge of A-Levels

Local government: Sandwell Council holds Gypsy Awareness month in schools

Seats and candidates: Simon Marcus adopted to take on Margaret Hodge (and BNP) in Barking

CentreRight:

• Tim Montgomerie: Another disastrous week for Labour
• Ridley Grove: The political benefit of being reluctant cutters

Conservative MP Brian Binley claims £57,000 to rent flat from own company

"Initially, the arrangement for Mr Binley to pay his own company may have been within MPs’ rules. In 2005, the Green Book, which sets out parliamentary rules, stated that MPs were barred from claiming for “the costs of leasing accommodation from yourself”. However, in April 2006, the rules were tightened specifically to bar MPs from paying rent to their own companies. Following the change, the House of Commons fees office contacted Mr Binley to inform him that his arrangement was outside the rules." - Telegraph

Labour MP Jim Devine, former agent to Robin Cook, becomes fifth Labour backbencher to be sacked for  dubious expense claims - Guardian

"MPs could be banned from employing their wives, husbands and children, Commons leader Harriet Harman said yesterday." - The Sun

Conservatives struggling to find new MEP allies

"David Cameron’s efforts to form a new group of anti-federalist MEPs have run into difficulty within days of the European parliamentary elections. After his pledge to quit the EU’s main centre-right bloc was criticised for isolating him from Nicolas Sarkozy and Angela Merkel, recent attempts to avoid xenophobic allies are causing friction with his Czech partner. The Czech ODS, led by Mirek Topolánek, the former Prime Minister photographed naked at Silvio Berlusconi’s villa, wants as many parties as possible to join Mr Cameron’s group of MEPs to give it extra clout. But Mr Cameron is resisting the more populist candidates, such as Italy’s anti-immigrant Northern League and the similarly inclined Danish People’s Party (DPP)." - Times

The Guardian is pleased that Ed Vaizey's policy for the arts is very similar to Labour's policy for the arts

"To all intents and purposes, this is Labour arts policy – which, after its post-1997 concentration on target-setting and diversifying audiences, adopted "excellence" as its buzzword, along with "participation", in the wake of the James Purnell-commissioned McMaster report. Vaizey ­responds: "Yes, there will be changes, but I am not pretending that they are massive ideological changes. I admit they are detailed points, and I am not going to pretend that an equally committed Labour minister wouldn't get them sorted if they had the same application."" - Guardian

Ann Widdecombe: We need more stopping and searching from police

"Police must stop and search at random in areas where there is trouble and where gangs roam. Anyone found with a knife should know that he or she will not be returning home that night and that loss of liberty is almost certain to follow. Those accompanying the knife-carrier should know they will face being sent home and subject to instant curfew." - Ann Widdecombe in The Express

John Bercow is a shameless, bumptious, expenses-fiddling greaser - Quentin Letts in The Daily Mail

Labour hits every home in Britain with a £6-a-year 'broadband tax' - Yorkshire Post

Unison threatens to cut election funding to cash-strapped Labour if it does not "do more" for public sector workers - Telegraph

"The Labour Party's struggle to raise a war chest with which to fight the next general election has intensified after Britain's second largest union said it was suspending donations to local parties. Dave Prentis, the general secretary of Unison, said his members were tired of "feeding the hand that bites them". He told members at the union's national conference that it no longer wished to back candidates that supported further privatisation proposed by the Government, including a "privatisation of our NHS more radical than anything our members saw, even in the dark days of Thatcher"." - Independent

Darling rejects big changes to financial regulation

"Chancellor Alistair Darling is to announce later that he does not plan fundamental reform of the way UK financial institutions are regulated. Mr Darling will say the current regulatory system is not to blame for the credit crunch, according to speech extracts released by the Treasury. Instead, he wants to focus on improving the quality of judgement of regulators." - BBC

Secret Iraq inquiry will be seen as cover-up, warn Army and intelligence chiefs - Independent

Vince Cable attacks "sketchy" Tory plans for spending cuts

"Making explicit choices is surely preferable to an approach that cuts services indiscriminately. That is why it is necessary to take on some sacred cows: public-sector pensions (ending defined benefit schemes for new entrants and raising contribution rates); tax credits (embracing 2m recipients with well over average incomes); defence (involving vast long-term commitments to maintaining a worldwide role); and higher education for half the population." - LibDem Treasury spokesman Vince Cable writing in The Independent

Nick Clegg has called for the Trident nuclear deterrent to be scrapped - BBC

Alex Salmond challenges Unionist parties to multi-option referendum on Scottish independence - Times

Iran shows that the neocons were right

"The people of Iran might not get what we have. But in their millions, that is what they want. Really, they are just like us." - Daniel Finkelstein in The Times

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Tuesday 16th June 2009

8.45pm Two Seats and Candidates posts:

• Thelma Matuk stands down in Walsall South - but will be looking for another seat in the autumn
• A mixed bag of seven seats seeking a candidate

7.45pm ToryDiary: New Ipsos-Mori poll puts Tory lead at 14%

5.15pm updates:

• ToryDiary: Eric Pickles warns that BNP could become a "very serious force" which "must be confronted"
• Policy Exchange's Andrew Lilico on CentreRight on the (in)significance of the Conservatives' inheritance tax pledge

4pm Alex Deane on CentreRight highlights more evidence of the grim state of the global economy

1.45pm WATCH: David Cameron uses a German accent as he describes the compulsory carrying of ID cards as "un-British"

1.30pm Tim Montgomerie on CentreRight notes how close the Daily Telegraph now is to the Government

11.15am Parliament: Francis Maude uncovers the extent of damage to mobile phones in Whitehall

11am AmericaInTheWorld: Obama says he is "inspired" by Iranians' hunger for democracy

ToryDiary:

• Why John Bercow is the right choice for Speaker
• Boris welcomes LSE report that suggests immigrant amnesty would produce £3bn boost to economy

Jeremy Hunt MP on Platform: If the BBC has surplus cash it should be returned to licence fee payers or used for a local TV revolution

Local Government:

• Nick Seaton makes the case for retaining testing in primary schools
• Cheltenham Council loses case against its former managing director

Daniel Kawczynski MP on CentreRight: The next Speaker must disregard seniority when calling MPs to speak in the Commons

WATCH:

• William Hague says there are three major problems with the Iraq War Inquiry announced by Gordon Brown
• Calman Commission proposes "radical" shake-up of powers for Holyrood 

Tory lead on economy increases in new poll

"The Tories have also pulled ahead as the party with the best economic team. Cameron and George Osborne, the shadow chancellor, lead Brown and Alistair Darling by 16 points: 47% to 31%. That lead is up 14 points since January. Labour is not gaining from signs of an economic recovery. In January last year, before the economic crisis broke, Labour had a seven-point lead on the economy." - Guardian

> Last night's ToryDiary: Volatile ICM puts Labour back in second place

A Conservative Government may change the terms of Iraq War Inquiry

David Cameron disclosed that an incoming Conservative government may change the basis of the long-awaited inquiry into the Iraq war, hours after Gordon Brown told MPs evidence would be heard entirely in secret... Conservative sources said later that if he was elected, Cameron reserved the right to change the terms of the inquiry if they were proving too restrictive. He called for some of the sessions to be held in public, and for the issue of blame to be addressed." - Guardian

"David Cameron said there was a danger that people would think the timing of the inquiry had been “fixed” because it would not report until after the next election. The Tory leader also said it reference made it unlikely that any blame would be apportioned. He said: “Shouldn’t there be some proper public sessions? Isn’t that what many will want and many will expect and part of the building of public confidence that is absolutely necessary?”- Daily Telegraph

> Yesterday in Parliament: David Cameron says the Iraq Inquiry risks looking like an "establishment stitch-up"

Andrew Mitchell is the latest Shadow Cabinet member to give up outside interests

"A third senior Tory has said he will give up his lucrative second job. The move by Andrew Mitchell piles pressure on other members of David Cameron’s top team to end their moonlighting. The spokesman for international development said he would quit City bank Lazards where he has worked for 30 years – and give up several hundred thousand pounds – to concentrate on winning the next election." - Daily Mail

David Cameron mocks ID cards in German accent

"David Cameron caused a stir last night when he put on a German accent to mock ID cards. Mr Cameron made the gaffe during a question-and-answer session with voters after promising to scrap the scheme if the Tories were in power. Explaining his concern about ID cards, he said in a cod German accent: "Where are your papers?"  - The Sun

"The biggest round of applause came when he said his first act as prime minister would be to ask his home secretary “to go into the home office, find the plans for ID cards and a national identity database, and tear them up”. - Norwich Evening News

The Sketchwriters give their take on the candidates for Speaker at their first hustings

"Ann Widdecombe got the biggest cheers. She is equal second favourite in the betting. She was splendidly shameless: "I have the right vulgar attributes that can connect with the public," which we took to mean: "I've been on lots of gimmicky TV shows." Indeed, she said later that if she could control Ian Hislop and Paul Merton, she wouldn't have any trouble with MPs." - Simon Hoggart in The Guardian

"Mr Bercow did not excel yesterday. He spent much of his opening speech spouting historical curiosities with a slightly deranged smirk. He held out his hands like a priest at Communion and spoke in such long sentences that he kept having to do a little burpy thing to draw breath. It was like listening to someone who has just knocked back a whole tin of Irn-Bru in one." - Quentin Letts in the Daily Mail

"Sir George Young: small cycle crash for the bicyling baronet. At one point Margaret Beckett (who, bizarrely, called herself the “healing” candidate) announced she’d voted for Sir George last time. “Good girl!” said Sir George, oozing Eton, though at least he didn’t say “gel”. He classified himself as among the “great and the good” in the Commons. He also said that people should vote for him because, if he were a horse, he had the longest legs. It made sense to me." - Ann Treneman in The Times

"Richard Shepherd said that "if you object to both spirit and vulgarity", you will of course object to Prime Minister's questions, but argued that it is good "if the grand people of the Government", who have such a high opinion of themselves, have a little mud flung at them from time to time. We had already warmed to Mr Shepherd when he described himself as "the back to the future" candidate." - Andrew Gimson in the Daily Telegraph

"Sir Patrick Cormack, a rotund, clubbable Tory who lists his hobby as "fighting Philistines", has one of these mellifluous voices that the voice-over artist for Wind in the Willows would willingly gargle several barrels of port to achieve. He sounds lovely and posh for a boy born into modest circumstances in Grimsby." - Torcuil Crichton in The Herald

Sarkozy smarts at Cameron "snub" on Europe

"Nicolas Sarkozy, the French president, was asked this week about the pledge of David Cameron, the UK opposition Conservatives’ leader, to hold a referendum on the treaty if he comes to power before it is fully ratified. The French leader’s response was ­telling. “I am watching the debate in that country,” Mr Sarkozy said. “I simply want to say that we have been happy to have Gordon Brown round the table with us because he has assumed his responsibilities and he has acted with courage by bringing his country with him on the path of European integration.” Mr Sarkozy’s tribute to Mr Brown’s “courage” on Europe spoke volumes of his low opinion of Mr Cameron’s Euroscepticism." - FT

Conservatives in the South West are poised for "dramatic" gains from the Lib Dems at the general election

"The political map of the Westcountry is on course to be dramatically redrawn, an analysis of how the region voted on June 4 reveals. Across Devon and Cornwall, the Conservatives have made extraordinary gains in areas once considered rock-solid Lib-Dem. With less than a year until a General Election must be called, the Western Morning News has looked in detail at how the results of the council and European polls show the extent to which the region's politics appears to be undergoing a radical overhaul. Again and again, the Conservatives out-polled the Lib-Dems, even in constituencies where the Lib-Dem MP has an apparently insurmountable majority." - Western Morning News

Business backs Tory pledge on jobs legislation

"Business yesterday welcomed the Conservative's commitment to seek to return power over employment law from Brussels to the UK, but voiced worries about the potential knock-on effect on Britain's influence in Europe." - FT

Tories considering response to Calman Commission review of Scottish devolution

"An official review of devolution, expected to be endorsed by Gordon Brown and David Cameron, recommended Scottish ministers raise more of the money they spend... Mr Cameron will discuss the proposals at a meeting in London with David Mundell, the Shadow Scottish Secretary, and Annabel Goldie, the Scottish Tory leader. It is understood he is likely to back the extra tax powers. Mr Mundell said the commission's proposals "merit serious consideration and that is why our Treasury team will be now looking at the recommendations in detail."  - Daily Telegraph

Labour plan to spar with Tories over cuts backfires

"Labour’s attempts to make political capital out of a Conservative pledge to reduce public spending backfired yesterday as ministers squabbled over whether they would match the cuts." - The Times

Polly Toynbee: Candour is the weapon to target the Tory achilles heel

"if the name of the game is seeming the most honest then the Conservatives are winning hands down. However, carrying off the silver cup for honesty on future spending cuts may turn out to do them more damage than if they had lied. They have made a great mistake in abandoning their original promise to track Labour's spending plans" - Polly Toynbee in The Guardian

Ed Vaizey calls for a Video Games Council

"The Conservative Party's shadow culture minister has spoken of his desire to negotiate tax breaks for the video games industry, in addition to setting up a Video Games Council to communicate with the government." - Gamezine

Ivan Massow now wants to be a Tory MP

"The 41-year-old entrepreneur, famous for being rich, gay, Tory and pro-hunting, has just returned to Britain after a three-year exile in Barcelona... Politics is his passion, and, after seemingly forsaking the Tories for Labour in 2000, then becoming an independent London mayoral candidate in 2004, he has just written to David Cameron to ask the Conservative leader to take him on as a prospective candidate." - The Times

Ian Taylor MP to stand down - Esher News and Mail

> Yesterday in Seats and Candidates: Ian Taylor MP becomes twelfth Tory MP to announce decision to leave Commons in recent weeks

Douglas Hurd: The Immortality and Incompetence of nation states

"The nation states are immortal and incompetent. Immortal because they are based on the stubborn and continuing loyalty of the citizen, which makes them reluctant to pool authority. Incompetent because none, not even the most powerful, can by itself meet the needs and wishes of its citizens." - Lord Hurd in The Guardian

An assessment of the state of the parties' youth wings - The Independent

Baroness Thatcher to remain in hospital as "precautionary measure" - Guardian

Mary Riddell: Labour is paying the price for neglecting White Van Man - Daily Telegraph

Please use this thread to highlight other interesting news and commentary and visit PoliticsHome.com for breaking political news and views throughout the day.

Monday 15th June 2009

10.45pm: The comments are now functioning again on the Clarke, Norwich North and Melanchthon threads.; Whatever the bug was, it's fixed :-)

8.45pm ToryDiary: Harriet Harman sends out recruitment letter bracketing Conservative Party with BNP

7.15pm ToryDiary: Volatile ICM puts Labour back in second place

6.15pm Matthew Elliott on CentreRight: "When Ken Clarke was invited into the Shadow Cabinet, the nation was told that he would not be allowed to force the Conservative Party into following his unnatural and unpopular support for closer EU integration. Sadly, it seems that yesterday he attempted to rush the Opposition into just such a commitment.

4.30pm Seats and candidates: Ian Taylor MP becomes twelfth Tory MP to announce decision to leave Commons in recent weeks

4.15pm Parliament: David Cameron: Iraq Inquiry risks looking like an "establishment stitch-up"

1.45pm Parliament: Conservatives welcome plans to make Scotland responsible for a third of its budget

10.30am Jill Kirby on CentreRight: "If the Conservatives can get on top in the battle of truth and lies, they will stand to gain not only a big majority but also a mandate to govern."

10.15am Matt Sinclair on CentreRight: Housing MPs in the Olympic village

ConHome is continuing to experience technical issues with the publication of some comments. Please bear with us as we resolve the problem.

ToryDiary:

• Furious Tory MPs threaten to remove John Bercow if he becomes "third Labour Speaker in a row"
• Conservative MPs prepare for second jobs scrutiny

Parliament: Should David Cameron facing a regular equivalent to PMQs?

Matthew Oliver on Platform: David Cameron must put his money where his mouth is on capping political donations

Local government: Should we have talking CCTV?

Diary of a PPC on Seats and candidates: Sir John Major supports Annesley Abercorn (and his Routemaster bus) in Hazel Grove

AmericaInTheWorld: Israel PM Netanyahu accepts principle of Palestinian state after pressure from White House

WATCH: Government considers forcing BBC to give £130m of its £3.4bn licence fee revenue to commercial rivals

George Osborne: "It's ridiculous to pretend there won't be cuts" - Times | Yesterday's ToryDiary

Jackie Ashley: Labour is guilty of "teenage politics" on spending

"What is silly is to imply that Labour would not make cuts or that they would not have to raise taxes for ordinary families. The pretence that one party can protect us and the other one would cheerfully slash, is old politics." - Jackie Ashley in The Guardian

Labour's Ed Balls persists with the "old politics" in an article for Ms Ashley's newspaper: "the dividing line at the next election won't simply be about Labour investment versus Tory cuts. It will also be a debate about values and priorities: between a Labour party that has asked the wealthiest to pay a little more to help the most vulnerable through the recession, and a Conservative party that would cut apprenticeships and close Sure Start centres to give millionaires a tax break."

Boris Johnson, in The Telegraph, calls for a renewed focus on wealth creation: "I want to hear politicians talk less about themselves and their priorities and more about the entrepreneurs, the people who get up at 5am to organise their business or cut deals with the other side of the world. Every time you hear politicians swanking about what they are going to do with public funds, remember that wealth was ultimately created by private enterprise; and, if they don't help the wealth creators, they won't have any money to spend."

National Union of Teachers welcome Michael Gove's abolition of tests for 11 year olds

"Controversial national curriculum tests for 11-year-olds will be scrapped if the Conservatives win the next general election. The tests, dubbed "SATs" and taken by 600,000 children in the final year of primary school in maths, English and science, will instead be sat by students as soon as they start secondary school. The pledge was immediately welcomed by both the National Union of Teachers and the National Association of Head Teachers who have threatened to boycott the tests next summer on the grounds they narrow the curriculum on offer." - Independent

"Conservative proposals to reform Sats tests would be a "huge step backwards" for school accountability, Schools Minister Vernon Coaker has said." - BBC

A leading article in The Independent welcomes the policy shift as "imaginative".

'Ken Clarke softens Tory line on Lisbon'

"A future Tory government would accept the Lisbon treaty and concentrate instead on repatriating powers, mainly in the field of employment, the shadow business secretary, Kenneth Clarke, said yesterday... A Tory spokesman said Clarke had not changed party policy. "As Ken Clarke explained, if the Lisbon treaty is ratified and in force across the EU by the time of the election of a Conservative government, we would not let matters rest there. We have consistently made clear that the return of social and employment legislation to UK control would be a major goal for a Conservative government."" - Guardian

"The intervention of Mr Clarke, who has always been fervently supportive of the EU, appeared to rule out categorically the possibility of a referendum on the treaty if it has already been ratified when the Tories win power." - Daily Mail

> Yesterday's ToryDiary: Clarke admits that Tories won't re-open Lisbon if it is ratified by the Irish
> Video of Clarke: 'I joined the frontbench because the Conservative Party is not as Eurosceptic as it was.'

California can no longer be a model for the Conservatives

"It was not that long ago that David Cameron, the Tory leader, was holding up California as the economic model he most wanted to emulate. One of his closest aides, Steve Hilton, is based in Silicon Valley, where his wife works for Google; and the more radical Cameroons thought they had discovered the perfect cocktail of entrepreneurialism, sunny lifestyle, environmentalism, social liberalism and third-way economics.  Not too surprisingly, we are hearing much less talk of rebuilding post-credit crunch Britain in California’s image at the moment. California faces a $24.3bn budget deficit and is set to run out of cash by late July; its European-style welfare state, pegged on to its hardcore capitalist culture, is facing total collapse." - Allister Heath in City AM

> Yesterday on CentreRight: Allister Heath's daily economic wisdom is now online

Tory-backed Calman Commission recommends more devolution to Scotland

"Holyrood would take charge of half the income tax raised in Scotland, under plans being put forward by the body reviewing Scottish devolution. The Calman Commission will also say the Scottish Parliament should be in control of national speed limits, drink driving laws and airguns legislation." - BBC

FT poll finds considerable public support for independent candidates

"Widespread disgust about MPs’ lavish expenses claims has led as many as three in five voters to consider ­punishing Labour, the Conservatives and the Liberal Democrats at the next general election by switching their support to independent candidates." - FT

"Up to 50 Labour MPs face the axe as the party cleans up its image after the expenses scandal" - The Sun

Keeping Iran in our thoughts

(PICTURE FROM ANDREW SULLIVAN)

"When a regime peremptorily chooses which candidates can run; shutters newspapers, Web sites and television bureaus; silences text messaging; and throws critics into prison -- such a regime should not expect its pronouncements on election results to garner any respect." - Washington Post leader

"I believe Joe Biden, who conferred with Barack Obama before going on TV Sunday, made a mistake in reiterating America's intention to engage Iran, regardless of the election outcome. Why make that statement at this time? Why give the Iranian regime any kind of positive reinforcement for its violent suppression of the opposition?" - The Economist's Lexington

Please use this thread to highlight other interesting news and commentary and visit PoliticsHome.com for breaking political news and views throughout the day.

Sunday 14th June 2009

11pm ToryDiary: "It's ridiculous to pretend there won't be cuts" says George Osborne

8.50pm: We are aware that comments below various threads have 'disappeared'. This has been raised with the blog host, TypePad, and will hopefully be resolved soon. It is a bug and not deliberate!

8pm ToryDiary: Put the General Election countdown clock on your blog

7.15pm Tim Montgomerie on CentreRight:

• The Guardian notices some similarities between Gordon Brown and Cristano Ronaldo...
• Allister Heath's economic wisdom is now online

3.30pm: WATCH: Ken Clarke tells Sky News that 'I joined the frontbench because the Conservative Party is not as Eurosceptic as it was.'

12.30pm ToryDiary: Clarke admits that Tories won't re-open Lisbon if it is ratified by the Irish

10.15am WATCH: Iain Dale interviews 'Margaret Thatcher' about saying no, Gordon Brown's smile and David Cameron's casual manner

ToryDiary: Dishonest Brown plans to paint David Cameron as 'Mr 10% Cuts'

Melanchthon on Platform: The worst thing about the BNP, at the moment, is how many true things we let them say

Seats and candidates: Tories begin Norwich North campaign with attempt to kill off third parties

Mark Wallace on Local government: The Local Government Association's efforts to keep council allowances secret show that some have learnt nothing from Michael Martin's demise

Matt Sinclair on CentreRight takes issue with Radomir Tylecote on climate change

51% agree that “Gordon Brown’s continued presence as prime minister is damaging the country” - The Sunday Times

> Yesterday's ToryDiary noted the headline finding of the poll; a 16% Tory lead

Conservatives will scrap all Sats taken by 11-year-olds in England at the end of their primary schooling

"Instead, pupils would sit national tests in the first year of secondary school, which would be marked by their teachers and not external examiners. The proposals will be outlined later by Shadow Schools Secretary Michael Gove. Teaching unions, who are planning to boycott next year's Sats, have welcomed the Conservatives' plans." - BBC

The Independent on Sunday returns to speculation that Andy Coulson will leave his CCHQ communications post after election

"Mr Coulson's contract expires at the next election. It is understood he will leave at or shortly after polling day under a mutual arrangement. The move will leave the Tory leader searching for a similarly tough Alastair Campbell figure if, as expected, the Conservatives win power." - Independent on Sunday

Lansley warned that his job is on the line

"Ignore official denials that David Cameron threatened to fire foot-in- mouth Shadow Health Secretary Andrew Lansley for saying the Tories would slash public spending by ten per cent.  Lansley was reduced to a jibbering lump when Dave went ballistic and told him: ‘One more stupid mistake like that and you’re toast.’" - Mail on Sunday's Black Dog column

We'd all prefer spending cuts to tax rises - Janet Daley in The Sunday Telegraph

A former Scottish Finance Minister has warned that Scotland's public services face "Armageddon" unless billions of pounds of savings are made ahead of massive spending cuts over the coming decade - Scotland on Sunday

Boris claims RMT strike was poorly supported

"“There is no doubt it was the least successful Tube strike in the history of the RMT,” he says forcefully from the depths of his magisterial office at City Hall, “and the least supported by RMT members. People did a fantastic job of getting to work.”" - The Mayor of London within a wide-ranging interview for The Sunday Times

 Michael Fabricant under fire for plugging Waitrose - Sunday Mirror

LibDems want George Osborne to pay back £55,000 in Capital Gains Tax from 'flipping' property - The Sunday Telegraph

Will Hutton says George Osborne has the best policies for discouraging financial sector short-termism - Observer

Gordon Brown is being abandoned by the multi-millionaire businessmen who bankrolled Labour’s last election campaign - Sunday Times

Brown forms inner Cabinet

"The ‘Magnificent Seven’ Ministers in Mr Brown’s new Cabinet ‘A-team’ are Lord Mandelson, Harriet Harman, Jack Straw, Ed Balls, David Miliband, Alan Johnson and Alistair Darling." - Mail on Sunday

Brown announces Iraq war inquiry – but it will be behind closed doors - Independent on Sunday

Glenys and Neil Kinnock have six state pensions - Sunday Times

How the Kinnocks have enjoyed an astonishing £10m ride on the EU gravy train - Mail on Sunday

The BBC will be told this week that more than £100m of its funding should be "top-sliced" to pay for independent broadcasters - Independent on Sunday

"John Whittingdale, the Conservative MP and chairman of the Commons culture, media and sport committee, said some licence fee money should go outside the BBC. "The idea that you just go on pouring all the money into the BBC is increasingly difficult to argue," he said. Mr Whittingdale criticised the salaries that the corporation was paying its main stars as "fanciful amounts" and "way above the market-rate". "The BBC has been spending a lot of money where savings could have been made," he said." - Observer

"My lost appendix and what it taught me about the NHS" - Vince Cable writing in the Mail on Sunday

BNP's Andrew Brons MEP drew up some of the National Front's inflammatory policies - Observer

Please use this thread to highlight other interesting news and commentary and visit PoliticsHome.com for breaking political news and views throughout the day.

Saturday 13th June 2009

10.45pm ToryDiary: Conservatives advance in all parts of UK... except Scotland

8pm Tim Montgomerie on CentreRight: Telegraph profited by at least £300,000 from expenses-gate

5.30pm WATCH: George Bush Senior celebrates 85th birthday with a 100mph sky jump

12.15pm WATCH: In his latest War Room videocast Eric Pickles reviews last week's electoral successes and previews the Norwich North by-election

10am Parliament: The BBC is using licence fee money to broadcast "smut" says Christopher Chope

ToryDiary: John Major and Douglas Hurd recommend radical changes to compensate for declining quality of MPs

Radomir Tylecote on Platform: Greening the Blue - Why the Tories should drive forward environmental economic policy

WATCH:

• Mandelson warns of autumn plot against Brown
• Two-thirds of Iranians re-elect Mahmoud Ahmadinejad according to official returns

Matthew Parris: Time to make the case for smaller government

"As the Labour Party implodes, Conservatives should start getting back on to the front foot on the role of the State. It may not only be a matter of “admitting” that governments will “have to” cut spending to reduce debt. It may be time, not just to defend the economic necessity of cheaper government in straitened times, but to assert the moral superiority of smaller government at all times." - Matthew Parris in The Times

Cameron has been slow to recognise economic realities

"As recently as five months ago, the Tory leader was still talking of "sharing the proceeds of growth", apparently oblivious to the fact that Britain was entering recession. Even in April, he was planning "growth in public spending", as if still scared stiff that voters would reject the Conservatives if they didn't parrot the Labour maxim that public spending was a worthy objective in itself. And now, when the Party has finally got round to realising that deep cuts in spending are not only desirable but inevitable, thanks to Gordon Brown's calamitous mishandling of the economy, Cameron has at last picked up the axe but plans to wield it in a very strange manner." - Richard Hopwood in the Yorkshire Post

"There are epic sums of money wasted in the NHS, such as £20 billion on a failed computer system. It needs not more money, but better value to be obtained for what is now spent. Similarly, schools need rigorous teaching rather than money being thrown at them. But the real stinker is overseas aid. The Tories claim to believe in it because it makes them look non-nasty. What it usually consists of, though, is huge amounts of taxpayers’ money being given to corrupt Third World despots to buy fleets of Mercedes cars for their chums and send their wives shopping to Paris. There’s a spending cut if ever I saw one." - Simon Heffer in The Telegraph

Margaret Thatcher is under observation in hospital after breaking her arm - BBC

Britain should join the Euro, says Mandy, as he praises 'great success' of single currency - Daily Mail

"It is typical of Lord Mandelson - who rode the Brussels gravy train as trade commissioner for four years - to see Britain's future as being ever-more tightly bound to the unaccountable EU. But the reality is that the Union is an increasingly injurious influence. In the past week alone, rulings originating in Europe have paved the way for 20 dangerous terror suspects under control orders to go free, and placed a crippling burden on businesses to award holiday pay to staff on long-term sick leave." - Mail leader | The Sun Says

"Gordon Brown will face another attempt to unseat him this autumn by a group of Labour MPs who will never be reconciled to his leadership, Lord Mandelson has said." - Telegraph

David Miliband admits that he considered following James Purnell's resignation lead

"Speaking to the Guardian at the end of 10 extraordinary days, the foreign secretary says the party's high command was given an "electric shock" by the disastrous European election results, and he urges fellow ministers to get out and prepare for "the fight of our life". But Miliband also concedes that he considered following his close friend and ally James Purnell, who resigned from the government last week and called for the prime minister to stand down."

Gordon Brown's Cabinet is now too big for the Downing Street Cabinet room - Telegraph

Labour backbencher Greg Pope has announced he will step down at the next general election - Telegraph

Mail claims of a Guardian plot against Gordon Brown are hypocritical nonsense - Polly Toynbee in The Guardian

Labour's motivation for thinking about PR

"There is another reason Mr Brown should grasp the nettle. The Liberal Democrats won't admit it either, but there are some private nods and winks about what might happen in a hung parliament. If Labour has fought the election on a manifesto including voting and Lords reform, it would be harder for Nick Clegg to put down the phone when the Labour leader called. Of course, it would also be hard to prop up a government perceived to have lost an election." - Andrew Grice in The Independent

Carol Ann Duffy leaps into expenses row with first official poem as laureate - Guardian

Alan Sugar may take 'The Apprentice' to ITV to stay in Government - Times

A poll of business leaders rejects Alan Sugar's role - Independent

Royal British Legion tell Nick Griffin to stop wearing poppy badge - Guardian

The BNP rise is not about jobs or housing but about identity - Michael Collins in The Times

"When Nick Griffin was pelted with eggs outside Parliament this week, the protest divided public opinion over whether it was a legitimate expression of anger or a foolhardy stunt that handed unwarranted publicity to the British National Party. It has also widened a rift in the anti-fascist movement over how to combat the rise of the far-right party." - Times

Please use this thread to highlight other interesting news and commentary and visit PoliticsHome.com for breaking political news and views throughout the day.

Friday 12th June 2009

4.15pm International: Does immigration explain the European Right's electoral success?

3pm WATCH: Close-to-tears, Hazel Blears apologises for the damage she has inflicted on Gordon Brown

2.30pm CentreRight updates:

• Mark Field MP: Home education - the government casts aside another liberty
• Dr Patrick Nolan advocates user charging in the NHS
• Shemadene Edwards advocates better use of information by the NHS

11am ToryDiary: 63% of voters say Tory line on increasing NHS spending is wrong

ToryDiary: 44% of voters want Cameron to lead the country and just 22% want Brown

Adam Afriyie MP on Platform: Gordon Brown's sudden abolition of the Department for Innovation was a snub to students, a blow for taxpayers and all about the survival of his weakened Government

On Local government Harry Phibbs sends a 'Memo to Boris': "Diversity Officers (especially those recruited by Ken Livingstone) do not promote integration. They promote multicultarlism. Division. Racial separatism. Grievance exploitation."

Martin Parsons on CentreRight: A future Conservative government should replace Labour's promotion of 'diversity' with Conservative 'equality for all'

The public spending debate

Westminster insiders expect the Tories to cut more deeply than Labour - PoliticsHome

"In an intensification of the battle over spending, the Tories released figures which showed 12 departments, dubbed the "dirty dozen", that will see their spending cut by billions of pounds in real terms during the final year of the current spending period in 2010-11. The MoD will see a real terms cuts of £2.9bn while the communities department will see its spending cut by £2.8bn. George Osborne, the shadow chancellor, said: "Why can't the prime minister just be honest with people and admit to the cuts which are in his own budget? Then we can have a grown-up discussion about how to solve Labour's debt crisis while protecting frontline services." - Guardian

The Guardian attempts to summarise Conservative spending policy: "Two specific commitments for the post-2011 period: real-terms increase in health spending and meeting the UN target on overseas aid. The Tories have said they would spend less than Labour in the final two years of the current spending period. They are declining to say whether they will match the overall figures from 2011. Cameron is calling for greater honesty because this time Labour will campaign with pledges to cut spending in real terms."

Labour has admitted that it cannot commit to increased funding for the National Health Service after 2011 - Telegraph

"Once the rising cost of interest payments on the nation's debts is taken into account, along with social security costs and other spending over which the Treasury has little short-term control, the "departmental expenditure limits" that cover central government spending on public services and administration will have to drop by 2.3 per cent a year in real terms, or around 7 per cent by the third year." - Robert Chote of the Institute for Fiscal Studies in The Telegraph

"The terrible irony is that Mr Brown's planned cuts are far too small to put the public finances on a sound footing. Trying to conceal them is not macho, but madness." - Camilla Cavendish in The Times

George Osborne last night angrily denied “flipping” homes to milk his Commons expenses - The Sun

Steve Richards: Mr Cameron has too many priorities

 "Cameron has told one audience he is in politics above all to improve the NHS. Another audience was told he is in politics to cut taxes. At a fringe meeting in 2006 he declared that tackling global warming was his overriding priority. Which is it and how will he go about ensuring he achieves his apparently flexible priorities? Again I am not sure." - Steve Richards in The Independent

Tories and Labour differ on early years care

"Interestingly, the sliver of cigarette paper that separates the parties only wrinkles in the case of the availability of parents of very young children to work. Research by Iain Duncan Smith and the Centre for Social Justice has repeatedly emphasised the importance of early years care and state support for committed (married) couples. How the Tories square this with the inconvenient existence of single parents remains to be seen." - Libby Brooks in The Guardian 

New Gitmo prisoners row

"Foreign Secretary David Miliband has been urged to explain why Bermuda accepted the Chinese Muslim Uighurs without consulting the Foreign Office... William Hague demanded an explanation from Mr Miliband and said the Government appeared to have "lost grip of running the country"." - Sky News

In an interview with the Financial Times the Chancellor is cautious about data suggesting recovery - FT

The Parliamentary Commissioner for Standards is considering a complaint over Communities Minister Shahid Malik MP - BBC

Caroline Flint says she resigned from her ministerial job because Gordon Brown questioned her loyalty - BBC

> Listen to Ms Flint's nine minute Radio 4 interview

Brown is Mandelson's pet

"Lord Mandelson could easily have destroyed his erstwhile foe. Yet to a refined palate, the one-off rush of bringing down an old adversary might seem a crass and unsatisfying triumph. How much more gratifying to hold his fate in your hands every day—and he knowing you own it? It is a turn of events that, before he became prime minister, Mr Brown cannot have anticipated in his worst, wildest dreams." - The Economist's Bagehot

BNP could be forced to abandon its all-white membership policy

"The British National party’s “whites-only” membership policy would be made illegal under new equality legislation being pushed through parliament, Harriet Harman, the deputy Labour leader and equality minister, said on Thursday." - FT

Please use this thread to highlight other interesting news and commentary and visit PoliticsHome.com for breaking political news and views throughout the day.

Thursday 11th June 2009

5pm WATCH: Ann Widdecombe promises to be a "sort the mess out" interim Speaker

3pm Parliament: Edward Leigh MP encourages transfer of powers from Leader of House to Speaker

1.45pm Local Government:

• Council byelection results from last week
• Merton Labour councillor denounced by his own leader

12.45pm ToryDiary: "Turn a blind eye" to Tory UKIP voters says Brian Binley MP

John Glen on CentreRight: Honesty will bring dividends in the end

ToryDiary: Fleet Street rejects Gordon Brown's lies about 'Tory cuts'

Local government: Councillor allowances rise above inflation

Howard Flight on Platform: Reforms in the wake of "Expenses-gate" must not prohibit MPs from earning an outside income

Parliament: 'I wouldn't be surprised if Gordon Brown made Peter Mandelson an Archbishop!' says William Hague

Seats and candidates: Zehra Zaidi records the exhausting - but successful - final week of the Euro-election campaign in South West England

Seats and candidates: BNP plan General Election campaign in Labour heartland seats

On CentreRight:

• Daniel Kawczynski MP: An open letter to Polish President Kaczyński, urging him to withhold his signature from the Lisbon Treaty
• Simon Chapman: What does the NHS Chief Executive say about future NHS spending?

WATCH: Brown and Cameron clash at PMQs with Tory leader accusing the Prime Minister of attempting to fix the electoral system

Timothy Garton-Ash attacks Tory exit from EPP

"The fact that Cameron insists on withdrawing from a grouping that includes the parties of the German chancellor, the French president and the Italian and Polish prime ministers sends to them all, and to Washington, this message: prepare for the British again to be the spoilers, the naysayers, the foot-draggers of Europe." - Guardian

Ken Livingstone: 'Boris Johnson has failed to build a relationship with the unions'

"Although Boris Johnson gave an election pledge to introduce a no-strike deal we know that not only has he failed to meet the transport union leaders in the 14 months since his election, but he did not even bother to send a letter asking them to consider a no-strike deal." - Ken Livingstone, writing in The Times, puts the blame on Boris for the Tube strike

Benedict Brogan: 'John Bercow is the Speaker that Parliament is going to get but not the one it needs' - Telegraph

Veteran Conservative MP Ann Widdecombe has announced she is to stand as Speaker of the House of Commons - BBC

WATCH: Margaret Beckett explains why she is standing to become Commons Speaker

Tories organise 'Gay Pride' celebration for Manchester Party Conference - ToryBear

Oxford University Conservatives face expulsion for racist joke competition - Daily Mail

George Osborne ‘flipped’ second home to claim for £450,000 loan - Times

MPs including David Amess broke rules on declaring interests - Telegraph

Shahid Malik admits charging taxpayer for two houses - Telegraph

James Forsyth interviews Jon Cruddas

"Jon Cruddas, tribune of the left and foe of the BNP, tells James Forsyth his support for the PM is not unconditional, and praises James Purnell for being ‘true to himself’" - Spectator

Brown sets out his 'democracy renewal' ideas

"The prime minister set out ideas to curb the power of whips and surrender to MPs important controls over the way Westminster business is conducted. In future, MPs would elect all select committees, take control of the Commons' business programme, and be given a greater chance to introduce legislation." - Guardian

"Our voting system is the source code of the power wielded by MPs. It bestows the authority of the people on their representatives. Yet few MPs can claim support from more than 50% of their electors. AV enables ­preference (ranked) voting, ensuring an MP can claim authority of a majority of their voters. AV also allows voters to protest – through the support of small and single-issue groups, while also choosing to support a larger party, if they so wish. Unlike some other voting systems, it allows the retention of a geographic link between MP and electors." - Tom Watson in The Guardian

The Daily Mail attacks Brown's plan: "In the real world that most of us inhabit, Britain is gripped by two parallel crises of monumental proportions. One is the economic meltdown, threatening homes and jobs and saddling children yet unborn with terrifying debts. The other is the unprecedented crisis of confidence in our politicians. Yet, incredibly, this is the moment Gordon Brown chooses to launch hugely complex and controversial proposals that have nothing whatever to do with the pressing concerns of the people."

Labour MP Linda Riordan makes the case for retaining the first-past-the-post electoral system for Westminster - ePolitix

Please use this thread to highlight other interesting news and commentary and visit PoliticsHome.com for breaking political news and views throughout the day.