Newslinks for Monday 18th July 2011

8.15pm ToryDiary: Two weeks of sustained assault on the Prime Minister's character produce almost no change in the opinion polls

6.15pm Parliament: Crossbencher Baroness D'Souza elected new Lord Speaker

4.45pm ToryDiary Nick Clegg gives Boris a lesson in loyalty Update: Theresa May responds? - "the advice the Mayor takes is a matter for the Mayor."

3.45pm ToryDiary: Nick Clegg gives Boris a lesson in loyalty

3.30pm Parliament: Speaker Bercow vs. Public Opinion

2pm WATCH: Ed Miliband: David Cameron "hasn't even apologised for the hiring of Mr Coulson"

12.15pm ToryDiary: Cameron needs to get on the telly, into people's living rooms and speak to the country about our newspaper industry and the police

12.15pm WATCH: David Cameron: The Police inquiry "must go wherever the evidence leads"

Noon ConHomeUSA: Today's American political highlights

11.15am WATCH: Theresa May on Sir Paul Stephenson's resignation: "I sincerely regret that he has taken this decision"

10.30am Tim Montgomerie on Comment: BBC1's Question Time? Radio 4's Today programme? A frontpage splash in a newspaper? What are the biggest media slots?

10.15 Parliament: Parliament "may" be extended in order for Cameron to answer questions about phone-hacking

ToryDiary: Getting things in perspective. Big picture observations on Hackgate.

John Glen MP on Comment: Liam Fox in for the long haul at the MoD

Local government: Pickles to councils: keep business rates cash you raise

Also on Local government: Heseltine pushes for elected mayors

PMQs AT FIFTY: Margaret Thatcher celebrates the "decline of socialism" in her final exchanges with Neil Kinnock

Army to be cut by 19,000 soldiers as reservists increase - BBC

• "The army will be reduced to its smallest size since the Boer war under plans to be announced by Liam Fox, the defence secretary, on Monday. It will shrink from more than 100,000 regulars to about 84,000, as reforms will make reserves better trained and better paid." - Guardian
• "Under Dr Fox’s plans 7,000 soldiers are expected to go by 2015, with the remaining 10,000 axed over the following five years. Defence sources insisted the cuts would not take effect until after British manoeuvres were finished in Afghanistan." - Daily Mail
• "In return for the cut in force numbers, the army, navy and air force will be given more money by the Treasury to spend on their equipment budgets after 2015..." ...BUT... "...Defence officials said this weekend it became even harder to fulfil the vision for 2020 after Bernard Gray, the chief of defence materiel, discovered a further £5bn in unfunded spending commitments made by the last government, adding to £38bn ministers claim to have discovered already." - FT(£)

In a leader the Daily Mail urges cuts in foreign aid and the number of overseas operations involving UK troops.

Liam Fox has allegedly taken control of the Forces chiefs' diary engagements in an attempt to stem leaks criticising Government policy - Telegraph

Cameron cancels Rwanda and Sudan stages of African visit

• "David Cameron begins a two-day visit to Africa which has been curtailed to allow the prime minister to fly home early to finalise the terms and membership of Lord Justice Leveson's inquiry into the media. In his first visit to sub-Saharan Africa as prime minister, Cameron will fly into South Africa with a message that an African free trade area could increase GDP across the continent by more than it currently receives in aid." - Guardian | Times (£)
• "The BBC's deputy political editor James Landale said initially the trip had been pencilled in for five days rather than the two, limiting the trip to South Africa and Nigeria." - BBC

How badly will Cameron be damaged by Hackgate?

"Some Labour figures hope that Mr Cameron's membership of this rich club will damage him. For most of the public the class war is over, but the connection won't help Mr Cameron's attempts to win over the voters who didn't quite trust him enough in last year's election. More dangerous is that the Prime Minister may appear in voters' eyes to have some dodgy friends and look just as bad as the Labour lot, part of the old rather than the new politics." - Andrew Grice in The Independent

• Toby Young at The Telegraph lists the reasons why Cameron is safe as PM
• David Cameron could publish details of all his meetings with media executives going back to the time when he became Conservative leader - Telegraph

The resignation of Met Chief, Sir Paul Stephenson

• "Metropolitan Police Commissioner Sir Paul Stephenson fell on his sword over his links with former News of the World deputy editor Neil Wallis, who was arrested last week, as well as concerns that he accepted free hospitality at a luxury health spa." - Daily Mail
• "In a carefully-worded resignation speech that appeared aimed directly at Downing Street, Sir Paul Stephenson, the commissioner of the Metropolitan police, said the prime minister risked being "compromised" by his closeness to former  News of the World editor Andy Coulson." - Guardian
• Theresa May is to tell MPs about her "concerns" over the closeness of the relationship between News International and police - BBC

Miliband seeks to capitalise on his improved standing

"Miliband's personal ratings have leapt up since he took on Murdoch. His Shadow Cabinet, which had been rather ignoring him, is full of admiration. He now has a chance to capitalise on his new-found authority. Today, he is giving another speech on responsibility, in which he will link bankers, politicians and journalists as powerful vested interests that have acted irresponsibly." - Mary Ann Sieghart in The Independent

...but in The Times (£) Tim Montgomerie is suspicious that he can: "The next election will be decided on the economy, and three times as many of the Conservatives’ target voters trust [Cameron] to deliver prosperity than trust Mr Miliband. Until Ed Miliband detoxifies Labour’s economic reputation I will still regard him as a failing leader."

Millions of jobs 'at risk': Clegg warns of serious threat to UK from global debt crisis - Daily Mail

• "The Ernst & Young ITEM Club has downgraded its growth forecast for 2011 to 1.4% from 1.8% and to 2.2% in 2012, from 2.3%." - Express

Business rates shake-up ‘will widen the North-South divide’

"The poorest industrial areas in the North will lose out most under the most radical shake-up of local government finance for 30 years, council chiefs warned yesterday. Eric Pickles, the Communities Secretary, is expected to announce plans today for councils to keep £19 billion of business taxes a year to spend on local services." - Times (£)

Andrew Haldenby: Most Tories still imprisoned by Left's belief in intrinsic value of public spending

"Some ministers bravely make the case that there is no link between spending and results: the roll of honour, however, is short and includes Nick Herbert, Theresa May, Andrew Mitchell, Eric Pickles and Grant Shapps. But the default position across government, from the Prime Minister downwards, is to answer a particular concern by pointing out the level of government spending." - Andrew Haldenby in The Telegraph

• The public sector now accounts for more than a third of employment appeals despite employing 22 per cent of the UK workforce - FT (£)

Wales has an advantage by having a Secretary of State versus regions such as Yorkshire - Tom Richmond in the Yorkshire Post

Calls to look at power of BBC after Ed Miliband raises prospect of breaking up News international

"Douglas McCabe, a a media analyst at Enders Analysis, argued that any review into media ownership would need to look at the reach of organisations via the internet and television. He said it would be perfectly legitimate to include the BBC in that... Tim Montgomerie, the editor of the website ConservativeHome, added: “We have been hearing so much about the dominance of Murdoch, but I think it is essential that we look at the dominance of the BBC,” he said. “Seventy three per cent of people get their news from the television and 70 per cent of TV news is provided by the BBC.”" - Times (£)

"Private firms need to fight for readers and advertisers – the BBC forces TV owners to pay a licence fee or face prison. So much for moral high horses. The vast majority of people never read the Sun, the Daily Mail or the Telegraph, but nearly everybody consumes BBC news and other content, and hence is exposed to its worldview and unavoidable cultural biases." - Allister Heath in City AM

"With some honourable exceptions, whether in its drama, comedy, news reporting or current affairs, the BBC’s output rests upon certain articles of faith. For example, traditional Christians are all fundamentalist bigots; the science of man-made global warming is settled; opponents of mass immigration are racist; Eurosceptics are swivel-eyed fanatics; and all who oppose these opinions and more are Right-wing extremists." - Melanie Phillips in the Daily Mail

> Last week's Platform examining the dominance of the BBC.
> Yesterday's LeftWatch: News International should sell some newspapers says Ed Miliband

Immigration should be frozen, says Miliband adviser - Telegraph

Rising prices have left millions struggling to heat their homes while the government cuts schemes to support them - Luciana Berger MP for The Guardian

Speaker 'ticks off twice as many Tories as Labour MPs' - Daily Mail

> Yesterday's Parliament: Tory MPs twice as likely to be "Bollocked By Bercow" than Labour MPs

> PLEASE USE THE THREAD BELOW TO SUGGEST ADDITIONAL NEWSLINKS OR BLOGS THAT MIGHT BE OF INTEREST TO OTHER READERS. THIS THREAD IS NOW MODERATED AND COMMENTS WILL NOT BE PUBLISHED UNLESS THEY RELATE TO NEW LINKS.

Tuesday 21st August 2007

4.15pm ToryDiary: Is a clerical error at CCHQ more newsworthy than the lowest cancer survival rates in Europe?

12.30pm ToryDiary: Cameron repeats call to scrap Human Rights Act

12.15pm ToryDiary: Summarising 'What David Cameron should do next'

11.30am: 'Burma on the move - join the protests in solidarity' urges Ben Rogers on YourPlatform

10.45am LondonMayor: ConservativeHome reporters wanted for mayoral hustings

LondonMayor: New attack on Boris Johnson paints him as Tebbit in a clown's costume

Columnist Andrew Lilico: What should we say about taxes?

"The right approach, in my view, is to begin by asking what it is that we want the state to be involved in, and what is best left to the market and the voluntary sector... This then tell us how much we need to spend.  Then, knowing how much we need to spend, we know how much we need to raise in taxes, and we have our answer for the level of taxation — the level of taxation is the result, not the startpoint."

John O’Sullivan concludes ConservativeHome's 'What David Cameron Should Do Next' series: The next election is probably already lost but a programme of long-term renewal may also help the Conservative Party maximise its vote against Brown

David Cameron's Today programme interview

The Tory leader returned from holiday yesterday and was interviewed by Radio 4's Jim Naughtie.  The newspapers all choose to headline slightly different aspects of what he said:

• The Times focuses on Cameron's support for the family
• The Mail detects coolness towards tax cuts
• The Independent questions Cameron for using OTT language about "anarchy in the UK"
• The Mirror complains about Cameron's attack on Brown!!

Dominic Lawson questions Cameron on tax

In a must-read article for The Independent, Dominic Lawson writes: "There are two things that worry me about David Cameron's strategy on the issue of tax. First, it seems based on the notion that the overall balance between taxation and spending imposed by Gordon Brown is unchallengeable. Second - and much more worrying - it contributes to the widespread and appallingly ignorant delusion that the economy is like a cake: that if one person gets a bigger slice then everybody else must get a smaller slice."

Financial Times: The policy groups are not helping to define Project Cameron

"The policy commissions, which Mr Cameron established within weeks of becoming leader, were a good concept – a way to draw every wing of the party into Mr Cameron’s project – but the main product of their reams of analysis is confusion... The commissions pull in different directions: one week the Conservatives are talking about tax cuts and competitiveness; the next about public service reforms that imply new spending." - FT leader

Goldsmith-Gummer Quality of life policy group

"Three new bank holidays and three years of paid paternity leave are among radical ideas submitted to a Conservative "quality of life" policy review group." - Telegraph

NHS troubles

"Fresh from his summer vacation in France, David Cameron stepped back into the political ring today to challenge Gordon Brown to a "bare-knuckle fight" over possible hospital closures.  His decision to take on the government over the health service - once seen as a preserve of the Labour party - underlines Mr Cameron's determination to win the argument on the NHS." - Guardian

"The closure of local accident and emergency units under controversial Government reforms will cost lives, independent researchers warn today.  They say the further seriously-ill patients have to travel by ambulance, the more likely they are to die." - Daily Mail

Cancer survival rates among lowest in Europe - Telegraph

Tory parliamentary candidate and blogger says that Wales could flourish as independent nation - Western Mail

Glyn Davies has blogged an explanation for his remarks here.

New role for Patrick Mercer MP

"The MP sacked from the Conservative front bench after telling Times Online that it was normal for an ethnic minority serviceman to be called a “black bastard” has been recruited by Britain’s racial equality chief." - Times

50,000 have signed Telegraph petition on EU referendum - HAVE YOU?

Kate Hoey MP calls for African nations allied to Zimbabwe to lose aid - Telegraph

LibDems to launch campaign against Gordon Brown's 'surveillance society' - The Independent

Please use this thread to highlight other interesting news and commentary...

Monday 30th April 2007

7pm BritainAndAmerica update: America's changing religious right

6.30pm PlayPolitical update: Comedy sketch of Obama and Clinton

11.45am ToryDiary update: Best Conservative Parliamentary Blogs

10.15am ToryDiary update: David Cameron's recipe for civic renewal

BORIS JOHNSON PROVIDES THE WARM UP FOR DAVID CAMERON'S PRE-ELECTION RALLY >>>

ToryDiary: Average councillor's allowance hits £9,300

Interviews: Any questions for Andrew Mitchell MP?

Seats and candidates: Andy Jennings adopted for Greenwich and Lewisham GLA seat

The April ConservativeHome survey closes at midnight tonight.  Please click here to have your say.

AFTER BLAIR - THE LABOUR SUCCESSION

"John Reid, the Home Secretary, cleared the way for Gordon Brown's coronation as Labour leader yesterday by signalling he will not "fracture" party harmony by standing against the Chancellor...The Home Secretary's comments came amid clear signs that Tony Blair is now ready to endorse the Chancellor as his successor after he marks his 10th anniversary in No 10 tomorrow." - Telegraph

"Tony Blair will mark his decade in office this week with "big regrets" at his inability to move more quickly to reform Britain's public services, one of his closest cabinet allies has claimed." - Guardian

"Gordon Brown is the most unpopular politician in Britain. That is the Labour Party’s problem. The party is facing a landslide defeat in the local government and Scottish Parliament elections. That is Mr Brown’s problem." - Willam Rees- Mogg in the Times

DAVID CAMERON: WHERE I WOULD BE TOUGH AND SENSITIVE

"We cannot address social problems merely with state solutions. Government has a role to play in setting the framework of law and incentives that encourage the right behaviour. But the best thing that the state can do is to help build the independent institutions of a responsible society - strong families and strong communities." - Telegraph

LOCAL ELECTION FRAUD

"Some councils are refusing independent observers full access to e-voting and e-counting centres for Thursday's elections, raising the fear that the experiments will not be monitored for potential fraud and breaches of voter privacy." - Guardian

CAMERON'S TEAM APPROVE COUNCIL TAX CUTS

"Conservative councils are promising upfront tax cuts, squeezing spending and cutting back on funding for voluntary groups with the approval of David Cameron’s inner circle" - The Times

VOTE AGAINST BLAIR BUT NOT AGAINST THE UNION

"Frustration with Labour is one thing, but to swallow whole what the SNP leader calls the "golden thread" of his campaign - namely the promise of a referendum on Scotland leaving the United Kingdom in 2010 - is naive in the extreme." - Telegraph leader

MEPS VOTE TO STOP PENSIONS SCRUTINY

"Euro-MPs are on a collision course with open information watchdogs after voting to prevent scrutiny of pension perks worth £8 million every year. The European Parliament's bureau, the body that oversees the assembly's administration, has voted to prevent publication of a list naming the 475 MEPs who benefit from a pension scheme worth more than £1,400 a month to Euro-MPs with the taxpayer matching every euro personally contributed with two from the public purse." - Telegraph

GUARDIAN'S GREAT SPEECHES OF THE 20TH CENTURY - MARGARET THATCHER

"To those waiting with bated breath for that favourite media catchphrase, the "U" turn, I have only one thing to say. You turn if you want to. The lady's not for turning." - Guardian

Read Simon Jenkins' commentary on the speech - Guardian

Please use this thread to highlight other interesting news and commentary... 

Sunday 29th April 2007

7.30pm PlayPolitical update: 'If your house is anything like mine...' - Comedy Central pokes fun at Earth Day antics

4pm ToryDiary update: Young English voters lead calls for Scottish independence

3.30pm Seats and candidates update: Finalists for Ealing North

Iain Dale has two interesting posts this afternoon: One on a generous apology from Peter Hitchens to David Cameron and another on the possibility of controversial policeman Brian Paddick being the latest possible candidate for the Tory nomination for London Mayor.

1pm ToryDiary update: The world has failed Darfur for four years

12.30pm ToryDiary update: Cameron versus Brown on ITV1

10.30am ToryDiary update: Previewing Thursday night's elections

ToryDiary: "Your last chance to vote against Tony Blair. Your first chance to vote against Gordon Brown." 

SCOTS DIVIDED ON INDEPENDENCE

"A total of 38% of more than 1,000 people surveyed said they backed independence, while 37% opposed it.  However, a remarkable 35% of Labour supporters said they backed independence and one out of five Tories followed suit - almost half of them 'strongly supporting' a divorce from the rest of the UK." - Scotland on Sunday

"The YouGov survey, the largest conducted during the campaign, gives the Scottish National Party its most convincing lead yet, with an eight-point gap in the first-past-the-post constituency vote and a five-point margin in the 'top-up' section." - Observer

TORIES SHOULD VOTE TACTICALLY TO KEEP ALEX SALMOND OUT

"The principal tactical battleground is Gordon, where Alex Salmond is standing and where the SNP is in third place. The Liberal Democrats have held it since 1983 and they do not seem to be sharing in their Labour coalition partners' meltdown. Their majority is 4,000 over the Tories, with the SNP less than 400 votes behind. If a sizeable slice of the nearly 7,000 Tory and 3,000 Labour voters last time bite the bullet and vote Lib Dem to preserve the Union, Salmond sleeps with the fishes." - Gerald Warner in Scotland on Sunday

"If political diversity is as a good a measure of a country's well being as its bio-diversity, then the whole of Scotland should be an SSSI - a site of special scientific interest - because political parties have blossomed under proportional representation and the general breakdown of political discipline." - BBC

TORIES HOPE TO WIN CONTROL OF NOTTINGHAM - BBC

THE SUNDAY TELEGRAPH STAGES A MODERN DAY BULLINGDON PHOTOGRAPH OF A-LIST CANDIDATES - See it here.

DAVID CAMERON USES CONNECTIONS TO GET HIS SKY TV FIXED - Mail on Sunday

CAMERON SHOULD PROPOSE A STREET WIDE WEB

"Thus the World Wide Web should be complemented by the establishment of a Street Wide Web. A plan should be put into place to enable every street in every town to have its own website. The sites could even be set up by local government in the first place, thus performing the municipal functions that Cameron would most like to see - not nannying, but enablement and encouragement." - Tim Lott in the Independent on Sunday

VICTORIA COREN POKES FUN AT DAVID CAMERON'S PHOTO OPPORTUNITY ON THE TUBE - Observer

TORY COUNCILLOR 'OUTED' ON EXPLICIT GAY DATING SITE -  Edgware and Mill Hill Times

JOHN MAJOR ON CRICKET

"England no longer owns cricket. Like radar, penicillin, electricity, the steam engine, railways, the jet engine, computers and the worldwide web, cricket is an English invention; an export as potent as the English language itself.  At one level it is a game and no more; at another it helped cement an Empire and bind a Commonwealth. Its legacy is a fellowship of cricket-lovers across continents and through generations." - Mail on Sunday

BLAIR WILL BACK BROWN WHEN HE ANNOUNCES HIS RESIGNATION - Sunday Times

EUROPE NEEDS TO LOOSEN UP

"Membership of the EU's political and economic union now holds Britain back. The EU's regulations damage business competitiveness, its protectionist policies restrict trade and Britain's increasing net budget contributions could be far better employed domestically by cutting taxes or improving public services.  Britain can have a wonderful future, but it must be freed from the EU's political and regulatory shackles." - Ruth Lea in The Sunday Telegraph

ABORTION OF THE BRITISH AEROSPACE CORRUPTION PROBE

"The Government's controversial decision to drop a fraud investigation into BAE Systems' £40bn arms deal with Saudi Arabia has caused "severe damage" to Britain's reputation for fighting corruption, MPs warned yesterday." - Independent on Sunday

Please use this thread to highlight other interesting news and commentary...