Newslinks for Sunday 6th January 2013

5pm ToryDiary: Boris is (again) GQ's most influential man in Britain (and nine other things you need to know about its list of top 100 men)

3.45pm Sunday video bonanza:

• I loathe marriage, gay actor Rupert Everett tells David Cameron
• Some UKIP members are "pretty odd people", claims Cameron
• In previous parliaments the LDs have been the protest party. Today, says Grant Shapps, it's UKIP.
• Nigel Farage claims it's not "odd" to believe in control of immigration or leaving Europe. He urges Cameron to stop being "rude" about UKIP members.
• Ed Balls says Coalition is cutting welfare for working poor while cutting taxes for rich.

Noon ToryDiary: The row over NHS treatment of the elderly shows up the limits of localism

10.30am ToryDiary reviews Cameron's two new year interviews: Cameron begins 2013 with defence of child benefit changes and promise of quicker deportation of likes of Abu Qatada

ToryDiary: One Hundred Coalition Achievements

Lord Flight: We need to contemplate much more radical reform of the City

VIDEO: Both Jeremy Hunt and Andy Burnham MP are prepared to consider legislation to cut sugar content of foods

Cameron tells his internal party critics to "stop complaining" and vows to serve as PM until 2020 if given the chance

"Mr Cameron said there would be no turning back on policies unpopular with his party’s grassroots, such as same-sex marriage, the imminent child benefit cut for the better-off and the protection of foreign aid spending... Speaking to this newspaper’s political columnist Matthew d’Ancona, Mr Cameron for the first time signalled he would seek to serve a full-term if re-elected in 2015." - The Sunday Telegraph

Read Matthew d'Ancona's full interview with the PM in which he backs tough policies on immigration and human rights but also recommits to gay marriage, climate change targets and the aid budget.

• Matthew d'Ancona's reflection on his interview: "He has returned from the Christmas break more convinced than ever that the national interest is to be found on the centre ground. There is no apology for his commitment to the NHS budget ring-fence, international development, greenery, and equal marriage: quite the opposite. To govern is to choose, and Cameron has clearly chosen."

Key to election victory is the economy - Sunday Telegraph leader

• "By general agreement, the Tories’ most serious electoral disadvantage is that they are thought to be elitist, snobbish and out of touch with ordinary people" - Janet Daley in The Sunday Telegraph says Tories won't address that by ignoring majority opinions.
• Triple-dip recession will give the Tories a massive electoral headache - Observer leader
• It is too soon to predict the outcome of the next election - John Rentoul in the Independent on Sunday

George Osborne explains why he's giving up his child benefit: So that my children - and yours - aren't saddled with our debts forever

"These households are among the better-off 15 per cent of families in the country. The great majority of families – the other 85 per cent – will go on receiving their child benefit in full and in the usual way. By reducing the benefits that the better-off 15 per cent receive, we’re saving the country almost £2 billion every year from the welfare bill." - George Osborne in the Mail on Sunday

• Cameron has said there will be no turning back on the decision to remove child benefit from better-off families - BBC
• ...but the Mail on Sunday says Tory MPs don't even understand the child benefit changes
• By 77% to 13% voters support removing child benefit from higher earners - YouGov

> Yesterday's ThinkTankCentral: The Centre for Social Justice warns that the Government’s child benefit plans are “another blow to marriage”

Iain Duncan Smith tells Sun readers that he's fighting for the squeezed middle

"The very rich got richer while Labour threw money at those dependent on the state, creating a situation where too many people became trapped in welfare dependency. In the last five years, those on out-of-work benefits have seen their incomes rise almost twice as fast as people in work — at a rate of 20 per cent compared with an increase in average earnings of only 12 per cent." - The Work and Pensions Secretary in The Sun

Up to 40,000 soldiers, 300,000 nurses and 150,000 primary and nursery school teachers will lose cash because of benefits squeeze - Observer

Labour's Liam Byrne quoted by The Observer: "Iain Duncan Smith is going to come to the House of Commons this week and say this bill is all about punishing Britain's shirkers and scroungers, when that is a big lie. This is about an attack on Britain's working families."

• Advocates of cuts in welfare face an uncomfortable truth: much of the system is there to make work pay - James Plunkett in The Observer
• Andrew Rawnsley in The Observer: "According to a calculation made by the House of Commons library, there are 107 Tory-held seats in which the number of families on tax credits is greater than the Conservative majority. When shown a picture of a fat slob on sofa, naturally voters are going to say yes to cutting his benefits. When they themselves are hurting, they are likely to react rather differently."
• The Tory Hunt gets in the saddle to chase "shirkers and scroungers" - Observer cartoon

Robert Francis QC' report into Staffordshire Hospital deaths will recommend sweeping changes to the way NHS staff are trained - BBC

"THE public inquiry into one of Britain’s worst medical scandals is to recommend that hospitals that cover up mistakes by doctors and nurses should face fines and even closure. The report into the deaths of up to 1,200 patients at Mid Staffordshire NHS Foundation Trust will paint a devastating picture of a health service run under a culture of fear, bullying and secrecy." - The Sunday Times (£)

"James Paget, East Surrey, Romford, Morecambe Bay and of course Stafford Hospital are amongst the many NHS institutions where people have reported failings in care in recent years that are simply not worthy of a civilised country" - Jeremy Hunt in The Sunday Telegraph

Cameron is to launch a road and rail building drive to get Britain moving — and put the Coalition back on track - The Sun

...but one of Cameron's transport ministers is on the front page of the Mail on Sunday for the wrong reasons...

• Trains minister Simon Burns costs taxpayers £80,000 to travel from Essex to London BY CAR - Mail on Sunday
• Take a train and share the pain, Minister - Mail on Sunday leader

Cheryl Gillan MP: HS2 is a cancer that will cost our country dear - The Sunday Telegraph

Cameron and Clegg to announce their mid-term review of the Coalition tomorrow - Independent on Sunday

• "The deregulation of childcare, making it more affordable for working families, is thought to be among the flagship policies due to be unveiled. The Government will also promise to implement in full the recommendations of the Dilnot Review into elderly care." - Sunday Express
• "A white paper on pensions will pledge a new single-tier pension but is already setting hares running about big increases in the retirement age in decades to come." - The Sunday Times (£)

The Sunday Times claims Osborne has raised care home bill for elderly to £75,000

"Elderly people will have to pay £75,000 towards their care home bills before the government steps in to provide financial help. Under a deal struck between the Department of Health and the Treasury, George Osborne has agreed to foot the £700m bill for the £75,000 cap. However, the figure is more than double the £35,000 cap recommended by Andrew Dilnot, the economist appointed by David Cameron to draw up a blueprint for the future of long-term care." - The Sunday Times (£)

The 2020 Conservatives Group draws up radical manifesto for George Osborne

"The range of new measures – requested by the Chancellor George Osborne — include abolishing the retirement age, extending the school day by up to three hours and paying lower benefits in the North and other parts of the country where the cost of living is less expensive. Other suggestions include encouraging more disabled people to work and obliging pupils who fail their exams to take resits during school holidays." - Sunday Telegraph

> Last April ConHome profiled 2020 Conservatives.

Support for UKIP has soared from 3% in 2010 to 16% - The Mail on Sunday lists the 51 Tory MPs who would be ousted if Nigel Farage's surge persists

• UKIP at 9% in latest YouGov/ Sunday Times poll.
• Cameron has never thought to sit down to dinner with Nigel Farage, or invite him to No 10 to see what areas of policy they do agree on - James Forsyth in the Mail on Sunday

All the 'tough' renegotiation David Cameron promises is ruled out by his refusal ever to contemplate leaving the EU - Christopher Booker in The Sunday Telegraph

Graham Brady MP: Raising price of alcohol could turn young people towards dangerous drugs

"There is no evidence whatsoever that [Minimum Unit Pricing] would stop young people from ‘pre-loading’ by drinking cheaper drinks before going out to the clubs and there is a real danger that increased prices might push more people to illegal drugs which are often cheaper already.” - Graham Brady quoted in the Sunday Express

Dom Raab MP: An EU plan to set quotas for female directors will do little to help women

"Parliament returns tomorrow to debate a proposed European Union directive imposing a 40% quota of women on the boards of Britain’s largest companies by 2020. The measure is anti-meritocratic, damaging to business and reinforces the stereotypes we should be ditching." - Dom Raab MP in The Sunday Times (£)

Nationalised industries are good at losing us money - John Redwood

The TaxPayers' Alliance starts petition to stop UK aid to Argentina - Sunday Mirror

Rebel MPs could back Labour demands for a crackdown on greedy pub companies which are forcing locals to shut - Sunday Mirror

Lib Dem President renews attack on "cruel" Tory Right in article on his party's tough election challenge - Tim Farron MP in The Observer

James Hanning meets Carina Trimingham, Chris Huhne's partner, and she talks about the Daily Mail's pursuit of her - Independent on Sunday

One of the new great divisions isn't between rich and poor but between those who cook and those who don't - Dominic Lawson in The Sunday Times (£)

And finally...

John Prescott begins his Sunday Mirror column with an attack on Michael Gove.

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