ConservativeHome

Saturday 31st March 2007

10.45pm BritainAndAmerica update: Giuliani remains ahead of Clinton and McCain in early polling

10.15pm ToryDiary update: Tories seek to establish true cost of Gordon Brown's attack on pensions

9.45pm Seats and candidates update: Steve O'Connell selected to succeed Andrew Pelling on GLA

BLOGS

ToryDiary: Charles Moore: Cameron's strategy is working

Seats and Candidates: The ones that got away

YourPlatform: Damon Lambert believes the TRC's recommendations should be implemented immediately

BROWN PERSONALLY TO BLAME FOR PENSIONS RAID

"Gordon Brown defied repeated warnings from his own officials about the potentially devastating impact of his £5 billion-a-year raid on pension funds and went ahead with it regardless, The Times can reveal. Pensions campaigners described the revelations — the result of a two year battle by The Times — as an absolute disgrace, and said that it showed the Chancellor “knowingly set about destroying” Britain’s pensions system." - Times

"Peter Hain yesterday told critics of Gordon Brown to "put up or shut up" and accused them of having a subliminal desire to see the Conservatives win the next election" - Guardian

THERE'S MORE TO LIFE THAN MONEY

"Tony Blair has tried to seize the "happiness" agenda back from David Cameron with a call for more flexibility at work. The Prime Minister directly challenged the Tory leader's remarks that there was more to life than making money and that improving people's happiness should be a key priority for politicians.  Mr Blair, addressing a conference in Manchester's Museum of Science and Industry, took a sideswipe at the Eton-educated Mr Cameron, saying: "It's a lot easier to say happiness is more important than money if money is not a problem." However, Mr Blair and Mr Cameron appear to be agreed that more people now put happiness as a priority in their lives, rather than merely paying the bills." - Independent

A NEW KIND OF CONSERVATIVE

"David Cameron's drive to modernise the Conservative Party achieved a high-profile success with the selection of a black youth worker to fight a key London target seat at the next election. Mr Bailey, a writer and community leader, has campaigned against gun crime among black youth. Mr Cameron said of Mr Bailey: "He has got a real understanding of some of the most important issues in London. He will be a great role model for the future."" - Telegraph

>>> See ConservativeHome's interview with Shaun on Wednesday

TORY BOOBIES DON'T SEE THAT CAMERON IS WINNING

"The great Tory boobies believe that what people "really" want is unchanging Conservative verity, and that only a false consciousness induced by the media prevents them from recognising this. David Cameron has a much clearer understanding. He realises that it is not enough to keep blowing the same bugles from sad shires, though he loves those shires as much as anyone. Things have changed, and so must the Tories. Why should that surprise or dismay a party that produced leaders as different as Disraeli, Churchill and Margaret Thatcher?" - Charles Moore in the Telegraph

BRITISH CITIZENSHIP USED TO MEAN SOMETHING...

"Teheran is well aware that we have been taking on additional military responsibilities while running down our capacity. Struggling to meet our commitments in Iraq and Afghanistan, we are in little position to pick a new fight. Public opinion, too, has changed. Where our great-great-grandfathers clamoured for the rescue of Gordon, we have reacted to Iran's provocation with a resigned shrug. Americans, in particular, cannot understand why we seem so indifferent to the fate of our own people. Part of this indifference has to do, disgracefully, with anti-war sentiment: there is a feeling that we have no business being in the Gulf, and that we therefore are in no position to complain when things go wrong." - Telegraph leader

"European foreign ministers failed last night to back Britain in a threat to freeze the €14 billion trade in exports to Iran, as the hostage crisis descended into a propaganda circus." - Times

"Western tactics must be to thwart the hopes and influence of these extremists. That means racheting up the pressure on Tehran, while pursuing an adroit diplomacy. There could, eventually, be a face-saving conference to delineate, once and for all, the waterway boundary, disputed since 1639. That is for the future. For now, Britain must make clear to Iranians as they enjoy a holiday that their country’s actions are despicable, unworthy of an old and proud civilisation." - Times leader

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

Friday 30th March 2007

6pm ToryDiary update: Mandela Blasts Top Barnet Tory Over Dodgy Shirt

3pm ToryDiary update: 30% of Tory voters have UKIP or BNP as second choice

11.30am Seats and candidates update: Richard Tracey adopted for Merton and Wandsworth's GLA seat

10.30am BritainAndAmerica update: Waiting for the UN is usually the most dangerous plan in the world

10am Seats and candidates: Candidates to be proud of

BLOGS

ToryDiary: Lord Tebbit becomes sponsor of 'Better Off Out'

Seats and candidates: Shaun Bailey adopted for Hammersmith and John Maples answers your questions

YourPlatform: Mark Prisk MP highlights more of Labour's failure of small businesses

20 COUNCILLORS HAVE DEFECTED TO TORIES SINCE CAMERON

"More than 35 councillors have defected from Labour and the Liberal Democrats to the Conservatives in the past two years, the party said yesterday. Senior figures said as many as four Labour and Liberal Democrat councillors were approaching the party each month about joining David Cameron's Conservatives." - Independent

TORIES DON'T FRIGHTEN VOTERS ANYMORE

"Although the Conservatives have made substantial progress, they have failed to make a breakthrough either north or south of the border. A legacy of distrust left over from the Major years probably explains a lot but the voters' second preferences hints at a continuing dilemma. When asked which party they would back if they decided not to vote Tory, Conservative voters were split between the left and right. As the figures show, 29 per cent say they would vote either Liberal Democrat or Green with 30 per cent saying they would switch to either Ukip or the BNP." - Anthony King in the Telegraph

CAMERON APOLOGISES FOR DONOR DINNERS

"David Cameron was rebuked by parliamentary watchdogs yesterday for using his Commons office to raise money for the Conservatives. The Tory leader apologised for the "ill-advised" use of his office in a letter which coincided with a separate report by the standards and privileges committee into "cash for dinners" allegations against several of his MPs, which said political fundraising clubs should not be allowed to use dining rooms in the house in future." - Guardian

DAVIS ON THE HOME OFFICE BREAK-UP

"Mr Reid's plan is not much more popular within Labour's ranks. Blunkett thinks it will "Balkanise", Clarke calls its "batty" and Beckett nearly bolted from government over it. More important, since Gordon Brown intends to take direct control of security when he becomes Prime Minister, John Reid's half-baked plans will also be short-lived. The Home Office is crying out for strong ministerial leadership and effective operational coordination. Mr Reid's plan will achieve neither. Breaking up the Home Office will just undermine public security, and overwhelm the justice system." - David Davis in the Telegraph

THE ART OF INDUCING DEFECTIONS

"Opinion poll leads are not the only signals of party success. The revelation that George Osborne had made a serious attempt to lure the Lib Dem Work and Pensions spokesman, David Laws, to the Conservative benches was another indication of great confidence among the Tories. However, the fact that Osborne made it public revealed a degree of political naivety and overconfidence that needs to be banished." - Iain Dale in the Telegraph

"The Democratic Unionist Party's MEP, Jim Allister, has resigned from the party, saying that his "stomach churned" on seeing the hitherto sworn enemies pledging to work together. "Sinn Fein, in my view, is not fit for government, nor can it be in a few weeks," he said. "They filled coffins day upon day and I have yet to hear a word of repentance or genuine remorse from those men". Allister is intending to remain an active MEP - and I gather that he can expect approaches from Conservatives eager to sign a new colleague."  - Telegraph Spy

DEFLATED

"Red-faced Tories were last night forced to take down a blow-up ad. The 30ft by 20ft sign was erected in the car park at St Joseph's church in Clarkston in Glasgow - but it blocked the disabled access bays" - Daily Record

29 YEARS AGO...

"The Conservative Party has recruited advertisers Saatchi & Saatchi to revamp its image and get its political message across ahead of the General Election. The agency is expected to help portray the opposition leader Margaret Thatcher in a softer image and as being less strident than she is currently perceived. " - BBC On This Day

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

Thursday 29th March 2007

5pm Seats and Candidates update: David Morris selected for Morecambe & Lunesdale

1:30pm ToryDiary update: "Be the change"

"Defending the move, Commons leader Jack Straw said the annual £6.5 million cost was a 'reasonable and relatively modest sum' for MPs to communicate with their constituents. He insisted it could not be used as a 'propaganda tool' or to 'entrench the position of incumbent' MPs. But critics said it allowed Labour to 'load the dice' in favour of incumbents. Shadow Commons Leader Theresa May said: 'Of course MPs have a duty to communicate with their constituents. But we also have a duty to spend our constituents' taxes wisely. With modern means of communication, we can communicate with our constituents without spending great sums of taxpayers' money'." - Daily Mail

Late morning updates:

• Joe Loconte analyses the slavery debate on BritainAndAmerica
• Andrew Lilico discusses 'Smacking, liberty and order' on YourPlatform

BLOGS

ToryDiary: Conservatives establish 'Operation Miliband'

London Mayor: Introducing Simon Fawthrop as a contender for the Conservative candidacy

Seats and candidates: Jessica Lee selected for Erewash

HOME OFFICE TO SPLIT - The Times

FARM PAYMENTS "CATASTROPHE"

"Margaret Beckett, the Foreign Secretary, and two senior officials should quit or be sacked for their part in last year's farm payments "catastrophe," a committee of MPs said yesterday.  The select committee, which is dominated by Labour MPs, took the highly unusual step of calling on all those responsible for the failure to pay English farmers their subsidies to "consider their positions"." - Telegraph

NEW SCIENCE AGENCY

"Britain needs a powerful new body to promote science throughout society, a Conservative party policy task force says today. The programme of the Science, Engineering and Society Agency (Sesa) would range from helping the public understand the nature of risk to providing scientific literacy courses for civil servants and politicians. In its third report, the science task force says a Conservative government should move funding from existing departments and agencies into Sesa." - FT

AXE THE TAX HIKE

"Tony Blair was embarrassed in the Commons yesterday as David Cameron urged him to axe a tax hike that hammers small businesses. The Tories are vowing to reverse the swingeing rise in corporation tax on small firms that Chancellor Gordon Brown announced in last week’s Budget." - The Sun

DEALING WITH MISCREANTS

"No doubt there are many things to be done at the national, local and neighbourhood level (although Blair has given many of them a go already) but in terms of individuals acting rather than not acting, which is what Cameron is exhorting us to do, then, unless it’s just more hot air, ultimately he, me and lots of chaps like us have to get better at fighting. Home-Office-funded sparring sessions? Tax relief on protein shakes? Subsidised dumbbells? Come on, Dave, you need a few policies." - Robert Crampton in the Times

CAMERON'S TURBINE REMOVED

"Tory leader David Cameron has been forced to remove a wind turbine from the top of his house. Planners said the generator faced the wrong way and breached rules. Cameron, above, erected the turbine on his new £1.1million home in Kensington, London, last week. Neighbours who objected to the mast were delighted when it was pulled down." - Daily Record

BA UNHAPPY WITH DC

"Every Conservative MP has just received a four-page missive from BA's political affairs department, explaining how "very disappointed" the company is at the party's ideas and describing its thinking as "seriously flawed". "The proposals as they currently stand will damage UK competitiveness and the UK aviation industry while having little or no impact on emissions," it concludes." - Telegraph Spy

SHIREEN RITCHIE UPSET ABOUT TYPO

"One year ago, the Conservatives gave Shireen Ritchie a desk in party HQ, charging her with breathing life into the slate of election candidates. But Mrs Ritchie, stepmother of Madonna's husband Guy, is the target of a whispering campaign from some London Tories, who want her removed from the post. They believe that she has breached the supposed neutrality of her office by lobbying party members to back her friend, Nick Paget-Brown, to become a Tory candidate for the London Assembly elections in May." - Independent's Pandora

>>> This story is inspired by yesterday's Seats & Candidates post

LORDS DEFEAT CASINO PLAN

"Ministers are to decide whether plans for 17 new casinos can be rescued after defeat in the House of Lords.  Peers rejected the plans, which include a giant super-casino in Manchester, by 123 votes to 120." - BBC

MILIBAND: I'M IN TUNE WITH THE "I CAN" GENERATION

"In the 1980s, "I need" was replaced as the dominant philosophy by the politics of "I want". A political philosophy emerged which, again in its ideology and its methods, understood the times. The Thatcher government licensed this materialism, encouraged aspirations and captured a new constituency. Its method was simple: get out of the way. The revolution was never completed." - Telegraph

"This looks very much like a first draft of a new New Labour agenda which, in Mr Miliband's words, is "in tune with the times". It has strong overtones of the localism being espoused by David Cameron's Tories. This is doubtless going to be the key battleground for the next general election." - Telegraph leader

RIGHT-WINGERS SHOULD CHILL OUT

"The Tebbitite right-wingers who are fretting about Cameron being insufficiently conservative should chill out; it's the rest of us who should be worried. If we do not want to be ruled by a Brideshead Regurgitated clique, we need to get to work now to ensure Cameron's rising star ends up as merely a shooting star. Then he can return to his true vocation - as a shooting-hunting-and-fishing star." - Johann Hari in the Independent

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

Wednesday 28th March 2007

8pm ToryDiary update: ConservativeHome's 2nd birthday

3.45pm ToryDiary update: Sam Coates and Sam Coates

3.30pm on The Fisk: Iain Murray says 'Give free market environmentalism a chance'

>> A two week old MORI survey gives the Conservatives an 8% lead (see PoliticalBetting.com)

2.30pm ToryDiary update: Manchester casino would mean degeneration - not regeneration

12:35pm ToryDiary update: Cameron asks Blair about Iran and business tax

12.15pm BritainAndAmerica update: Iran kidnapping - What Britain must do next

BLOGS

ToryDiary: Labour set to be minority party in both England and Wales and Tory lead down from 11% to 4%

Seats and Candidates: Shireen Ritchie faces 'bias' concerns and Calder Valley selection

YourPlatform: Neil O'Brien's comprehensive article, Environmentalism is the last refuge of a Europhile

BIG PRAISE FOR CAMERON FROM DAILY MAIL

"On too many vital issues, the Tories and the Labour Party - to the impoverishment of political debate and the future of Britain - have the same policies.  But inexorably, we are seeing the emergence of one area over which there are fundamental differences: the family.  Yesterday, in a considered speech, David Cameron laid the blame for many of today's ills at the door of family breakdown... But Mr Cameron also recognises that marriage is the cement which can hold society together. Parents of young children who have been through a wedding ceremony are six times more likely to stay together than those who have not.  The Tories - unlike Labour - would encourage commitment to marriage through the tax system - an approach practised by many European countries.  His bold assertion will offend many on the Left who will say we cannot be judgmental about marriage, families and the upbringing of children.  Indeed, the Labour Party has gone out of its way to undermine marriage both by recognising civil partnerships and, much more worryingly, financially incentivising single motherhood.  Mr Cameron has raised issues which cry out for debate. He deserves praise for his courage in saying what, by and large, most politicians choose to ignore." - Daily Mail

SOFA STYLE LEADERSHIP

"David Cameron would be forced to consult his Cabinet on all new policies or face censure by Parliament if he became Prime Minister under Conservative plans proposed by Ken Clarke to restore confidence in government. The idea is aimed at preventing future Prime Ministers copying Tony Blair's informal "sofa style" which has been blamed for major policy failings, including errors over the Iraq war. The plan for a new ministerial code, drawn up by Mr Cameron's own advisers, is the centrepiece of the first report by the Tory leader's Democracy Task Force." - Telegraph

NATIONALISTS PULL AHEAD OF LABOUR AS TORIES AVOID DEBATE ON THE UNION

"The Populus poll puts the Nationalists ahead of Labour in both the first-past-the-post and proportional-representation sections. They are on track to win 50 seats in the 129-seat Scottish Parliament, seven more than Labour. The Liberal Democrats would have 18 MSPs, the Conservatives 17 and the Greens one." - Times

"It is not unusual for the Scottish National Party (SNP) to have an opinion poll lead north of the Border five months before an election. It is unprecedented for it to be in that position a mere five weeks before the ballot boxes are opened." - Times leader

"Not without good cause, Scottish Labour politicians smell a rat. They believe Mr Cameron is more interested in a weakened Labour Party than in saving the UK. Their leaders attacked him yesterday and said that his relative silence in the fight against the SNP was endangering the very union he purports to support. The Tory leader has five weeks to prove them wrong." - Telegraph leader

WEEKEND AWAY

"Few Tory politicians are more vocal about their desire to leave the European Union than Harwich MP Douglas Carswell. So imagine his horror when he and his girlfriend arrived in Berlin on Saturday for a romantic weekend, to find that the leaders of the EU's 27 member states had converged on the German capital to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the signing of the Treaty of Rome." - Telegraph Spy

THERESA MAY PROMOTING W2W

"When she arrives at Stressholme Golf Club in Darlington - her final stop in the Tees Valley - she seems relaxed and easygoing. She may be anxious to go home, with the long journey back to Maidenhead, her Berkshire constituency, looming, but if she is, she doesn't show it. She greets the women warmly and, perching casually on a desk, her leopard-print pumps on display, begins the team talk." - Northern Echo

CRISIS IN DENTISTRY

"Next week on April 1st, the Dental Contract will celebrate its first birthday, except that there won’t be any cake, balloons or bubbly. Even those few dentists who have managed to hit their newly imposed NHS targets spot on are still feeling their professionalism has been undermined. Most dentists that contacted 2020health for our review of the Contract said the past year had been one of uncertainty and disappointment." - 2020health

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

Tuesday 27th March 2007

10.30pm ToryDiary update: Tory lead down from 11% to 4%

8.15pm ToryDiary update: Hague on Iran's kidnapping of Royal Navy sailors

6pm ToryDiary update: Northern Board attacked as a "gimmick"

6pm BritainAndAmerica update: Who is Fred Thompson?

4:30pm Britain and America update: Developments on the Iranian kidnapping

12:30pm Interviews update: Youth worker and aspiring Conservative MP Shaun Bailey talks to ConservativeHome

12.30pm ToryDiary update: Reason to leave the EPP (number 93)

BLOGS

ToryDiary: Goldsmith set to be face of Green Conservatism

Seats and candidates: 400 choose Kit Malthouse to succeed Angie Bray on GLA and Kingston & Surbiton shortlist

YourPlatform: Shailesh Vara MP on the modern slave trade

KEN CLARKE CALLS FOR END TO 'SOFA GOVERNMENT'

"Tory leader David Cameron will be urged to sign up to a new ministerial code to ensure a government led by him is open and accountable, the BBC has learned.  The party's democracy task force, led by former chancellor Ken Clarke, will call for MPs to be given access to papers showing how decisions were made." - BBC

DAVID CAMERON'S PARENTING SPEECH

"Parents who fail to keep their kids in line were branded “selfish and irresponsible” by Tory leader David Cameron last night.  He claimed too many mums and dads were afraid to say “no” when their children misbehave or over-eat. He warned they were storing up future problems for themselves and society.  He insisted other adults must act if they see youngsters misbehave, even if they receive abuse. Mr Cameron said: “Allowing harmful behaviour as the price of a quiet life is grossly selfish and irresponsible." - The Sun

"The legal right for employees to request flexible working is unlikely to be extended under a Conservative government, David Cameron signalled yesterday, as he argued that additional regulation could be counter-productive." - FT

Yesterday's ToryDiary: Cameron launches quality of childhood inquiry

ADAMS-PAISLEY MEETING

Shadow Northern Ireland Secretary David Lidington issued this statement yesterday: “After four years of violence, it will not be easy for Northern Ireland’s political leaders to build trust.  However, today’s historic meeting between Ian Paisley and Gerry Adams marks a new start in that difficult process.  There are still problems to be resolved before May but there’s now a better chance than at any previous time in my adult life for Northern Ireland to move towards stable devolved government.  I wish the Prime Minister, the Secretary of State, and all the Northern Ireland parties, success in what I hope will be the final few weeks before devolution is restored.” (See Times story).

ROBIN HARRIS RENEWS ATTACK ON DAVID CAMERON

"David Cameron was last night called an "opportunist" who "doesn't believe anything" - by a top Tory.  The attack came from Robin Harris, one of Margaret Thatcher's main advisers.  Comparing Cameron to former leader Michael Howard, Harris said: "He did believe things. But I do not think that David Cameron believes anything."" - Daily Record

BROWN CAMP STARTS "HEAVY-HANDED" RECRUITMENT CAMPAIGN OF MINISTERS

"An angry Blairite minister complained yesterday that his colleagues faced a heavy-handed operation over the weekend pressing them to back the Brown campaign before it was clear whether any other credible contender would enter the field.  One source said "ministers were being asked to make career-determining decisions on a mobile phone".  The Brown campaign, as a result of a weekend ring-around, were able to brief correctly that a wide group of ministers, including the Home Office minister, Liam Byrne, and the health minister, Andy Burham, had come out in support of the Brown leadership bid." - The Guardian

THE IRAN HOSTAGE CRISIS

"Iran must be warned by London and Washington of the political and military consequences that would result from a failure to immediately release the British prisoners. The Iranians must also be told to stop meddling in Iraq, where to all intents and purposes Tehran is waging a proxy war against US, British and Iraqi forces. There is growing evidence that Iranian factories run by the Revolutionary Guard are producing lethal roadside bombs that are killing British soldiers in southern Iraq, and as well as actively financing and training Shia militias. The Iranians have blood on their hands and must be held to account." - Nile Gardiner on Human Events

"The Western democracies assume Iran will join the community of nations if only we are sufficiently accommodating. But accommodation is already extensive. It includes accepting Iran’s right to develop peaceful nuclear technology without necessarily pressing for a cessation of work on the nuclear fuel cycle. The US has also accepted a compromise proposal from Russia for some uranium enrichment activity to be moved from Iran to Russia. Yet Iran’s response is obdurate, and its behaviour patently aggressive. Fifteen British sailors and Marines are only the latest victims of this provocative and threatening regime." - Oliver Kamm in The Times

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

Monday 26th March 2007

6:40pm ToryDiary update: Cameron launches quality of childhood inquiry

5:30pm Seats and candidates update: Andrew Jones selected for Harrogate and Knaresborough

10.45am BritainAndAmerica update: Weakness invited Iran's capture of British sailors  ToryDiary: Cameron's shadow cabinet A-team

Seats and candidates: Proportion of women adopted dips to 33.6%

CF Diary: Race relations problems in the YCs

Greg Hands MP on YourPlatform: The proposal for a new £10,000 parliamentary communications allowance is bad for democracy

BLOG OF THE WEEK

This week's blog of the week is that of The Difference - a new small 'c' conservative magazine dedicated to politics, ethics and faith and linked to the Conservative Christian Fellowship.

DAVID WILLETTS TO SPEARHEAD 'LOST CHILDHOOD' INQUIRY

"The political battle between Gordon Brown and David Cameron will today shift from the budget to the quality of childhood when Mr Cameron announces a formal inquiry into lost childhood in Britain.
The inquiry will be led by David Willetts, the party's cerebral shadow education secretary, and will look at how children are being raised in a newly hostile environment that prematurely blurs boundaries between childhood and adolescence." - The Guardian

TORIES ANNOUNCE MEMBERSHIP OF OLYMPICS SCRUTINY PANEL - The Guardian

TWO BLAIRITE MPs ATTACK CAMERON'S SMALL 'C' CONSERVATISM

"It isn’t just that he is a Conservative — it is that he is conservative. He knows that he can’t argue against the world as it is. But he has no vision of how he wants it to be. That’s why he is tempted to press pause in the NHS. It explains his cloudy rhetoric about social responsibility." - MPs James Purnell and Jim Murphy in The Times

JACKIE ASHLEY: THE TORIES WANT MILIBAND

"The trouble is that in a beauty contest between two fortysomething Davids, Cameron is likely to win. He is, frankly, smoother, glossier and now more practised at leadership than the cerebral Miliband. That's why the conservatives and their friends in the press are so keen to promote a Miliband challenge." - The Guardian

"Gordon Brown must be challenged for the Labour leadership, one of Tony Blair's closest friends and allies have insisted.  Peter Mandelson said it was 'obvious' there should be a contest when Mr Blair steps down.  He claimed Mr Brown risks becoming the Labour equivalent of Michael Howard, who failed to the capture the public's imagination after he was crowned Tory leader." - Daily Mail

PRISONERS ARE NOW KNOWN AS RESIDENTS

"If you thought the people in jail were called prisoners and that they lived in cells, think again.  They are now known as 'residents' and - yes, you've guessed it - they stay in 'rooms' to which they are given the key.  This mind-boggling state of affairs came to light following inquiries by the Tory MP Philip Davies. But when the prisons minister, Gerry Sutcliffe, was told that thousands of convicts had keys to their cells, did he order them to be confiscated? Not at all. He defended the practice." - Daily Mail leader

LAWS YOU WANT TO REPEAL

"The Identity Cards Act and human rights legislation are the laws that most Daily Telegraph readers would like the Tories to repeal if they win power.  We asked for your views about which of the thousands of Acts and regulations introduced by Labour since 1997 should be scrapped. Many suggested the European Communities Act 1972, though Tony Blair could hardly be blamed for that. Labour laws such as the hunting ''ban'' and devolution did feature prominently." - Telegraph

CARRINGTON: EU HAS GONE TOO FAR

"Lord Carrington is the last surviving Tory grandee responsible for Britain's decision to join the European Union but he is having difficulty summoning the enthusiasm to celebrate the organisation's 50th anniversary.  "To be honest I feel rather agnostic about the whole thing," says the former Conservative foreign secretary who spent most of his political career arguing the case for British membership." - Telegraph

EU CELEBRATIONS IGNORE CHRISTIANITY

"Angry that a "Berlin Declaration" unveiled yesterday listing the EU's achievements and challenges on its 50th birthday contained no reference to the continent's Christian roots, Pope Benedict said that Europe could "not be built by ignoring its people's identities".  In his remarks to bishops gathered for ceremonies in Rome to mark the signing of the treaty that founded the EU in 1957, the Pope declared that the reluctance of women in Europe to have babies and Europe's failure to regenerate itself was putting the continent on the path to oblivion. "From a demographic standpoint ... Europe seems set on a path that could lead it to take leave of history," he warned. Europe was "losing faith in its own future"." - The Guardian

SEGOLENE ROYAL BOOSTS CAMERON'S EUROSCEPTIC CREDENTIALS

"Ségolène Royal, the French Left's candidate for president, would find it difficult working with the "anti-European" David Cameron and shuns comparisons with the "ruthless" Margaret Thatcher, her partner and Socialist party leader, François Hollande said yesterday." - Telegraph

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

Sunday 25th March 2007

7pm ToryDiary update: Danny Kruger's Conservatism of individuals, families and communities

5.45pm Seats and candidates update: Chris Whiteside readopted for Copeland

4.30pm ToryDiary update: The Brown Tories

10.45am ToryDiary update: Cameron steels Tories to oppose Manchester casino

BLOGS

ToryDiary:

• Can Cameron hear the concerns of Acacia Avenue? asks Peter Hitchens
• We must fight terror the American way says David Davis

Christine Constable writes for YourPlatform about discrimination against the English:

"A long list of anti-English rhetoric from all three Scottishocentric leaders of the main three parties, plays increasingly badly with the English public who are fed up with hearing that life saving drugs available in Scotland will be denied to England, that English children will be burdened with £3,000 top up fees, (whilst the Scots and Welsh will not have such fees), that in England lower pay for teachers and nurses is acceptable (despite the cost of living being higher in the South) and that miserly help for English pensioners will continue unchallenged (when compared to the generous support given north of the border.)  We can just imagine the wailing and crying of “foul” had these injustices been perpetrated against the Scots – but no, for some reason the English are expected to shoulder these absurdities with complaint free stoicism."

OSBORNE PLEDGES TO FIGHT BROWN'S RAID ON SMALL BUSINESSES

"The Conservatives will oppose the hike in small companies’ corporation tax announced in last week’s budget and pledge to cut the rate if elected.  George Osborne, the Tory shadow chancellor, said he understood the anger of small businesses over the planned rise in the corporation-tax rate from 19% to 22%." - Sunday Times

CAMERON IS A 'ONE MAN CLIMATE CHANGE HAZARD'

"In all, the so-called "green" leader has clocked up a staggering 35,345 air miles - mainly on freebie jaunts paid for by wealthy donors - since taking over as Tory leader 15 months ago.  Environmental campaigners yesterday said they were astonished that Cameron was flying such short journeys. "He's a one-man climate change hazard," said campaigning Lib Dem MP Norman Baker.  "It's almost unbelievable that he would want to choose helicopter journeys for such short journeys which could be done just as quickly by car. He talks green and travels dirty, and fails to practise what he preaches when it comes to green issues."" - Sunday Mirror

Elsewhere in The Sunday Mirror there is a response to attacks on their 'Cameron fails to recycle' story.

LORD (JOHN) PATTEN OBJECTS TO DOORSTEP HANDOUTS TO HOMELESS

"John Patten, a housing minister under Margaret Thatcher, is pressing for the closure of soup kitchens run for the homeless near his London flat.  The Conservative peer and former cabinet minister is demanding action against the mainly Christian charities that offer free food to hundreds of homeless and destitute people every night in Westminster." - Independent on Sunday

"He is a Tory peer who, as housing minister under Margaret Thatcher, tried in vain to end the "appalling scandal" of homeless families living in bed-and-breakfast accommodation.  But John Patten today finds himself under the cosh for calling for the removal of a soup kitchen that feeds the homeless every night on the streets close to his Belgravia apartment, in a block where two-bed homes change hands for £800,000." - Scotland on Sunday

HAS BLAIR BACKED MILIBAND FOR THE LABOUR CROWN?

"Tony Blair has told his closest political allies that if David Miliband challenges Gordon Brown for the Labour leadership 'he will win'." - Observer

"Secret plans for Environment Secretary David Miliband to launch a last-minute leadership challenge against Gordon Brown have been discussed by senior Labour MPs.  Sources close to Mr Miliband say he is still under pressure from Tony Blair and his allies to take on the Chancellor in spite of warnings by Labour MPs that it could be political suicide for him." - Mail on Sunday

STRAW TO RUN BROWN'S CAMPAIGN

"Gordon Brown has appointed Jack Straw to run his campaign to be prime minister, making the former foreign secretary frontrunner to get a top job in his administration.  Straw wrote to Labour MPs this weekend telling them that he had accepted the job as Brown’s campaign manager, saying the chancellor was “supremely well qualified” to be the next leader. In doing so, he has ruled himself out of running for the deputy leadership." - Sunday Times

BROWN ATTACKS SNP

"Gordon Brown last night revealed he was placing himself at the heart of Labour's Holyrood election campaign, declaring it was his "duty" to save the Union from the SNP.  In an exclusive interview with Scotland on Sunday, Brown pledged to spend the six weeks before polling day "explaining and exposing" the Nationalists' "disastrous" plans.  The Chancellor ruled out any plans to give more power to the Scottish Parliament saying it was not necessary." - Scotland on Sunday

WHEN CAMERON FIRST MET BROWN

"That both Brown and Cameron have young sons with life-limiting medical conditions might in other circumstances have provided common ground. But they are professional politicians, proud of their self-mastery, who have been circling one another for the past two decades; and neither is about to drop their guard now the fight is ready to start.  There may be more similarities than differences between them - just don't expect them to admit it." - Francis Elliott in The Independent on Sunday

ILLIBERAL BRITAIN

"The notion that, post-Thatcher, the boundaries of the state have been rolled back is a delusion. Industry is no longer in public ownership; but a schoolgirl can undergo a state-assisted abortion without the knowledge of her parents. Freedom of speech is now, thanks to politically correct gagging legislation, an historical memory. Equality under the law has been reversed, with the doctrine of 'aggravated' offences conferring a privileged status upon certain minority groups, as was enjoyed by post-Conquest Norman nobles until the Magna Carta. Under the pretext of anti-terrorism vigilance, unprecedentedly intrusive measures, including retention of personal DNA, are being implemented.  Now the Leviathan of the state is poised for the most aggressive and all-embracing assault on personal liberties ever conceived, under the banner of combating supposedly man-made climate change. In this darkening landscape, the pathetic figure of the excluded smoker courting pneumonia outside a public house, in pursuit of a modest pleasure, becomes an icon of lost liberty. It is precisely because the freedom to smoke is such a small thing that its prohibition is so significant. When the state has leisure to snuff out our trivial indulgences, it signals it has already occupied all the commanding heights of our formerly free society." - Gerald Warner in Scotland on Sunday

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

Saturday 24th March 2007

9.45pm ToryDiary update: Common sense on climate change (from Ann Widdecombe)

Breaking news: An article by Jonathan Oliver in tomorrow's Mail on Sunday says that "sleazy" Tory fundraising dinners in the House of Commons are set to be banned by Parliamentary Commissioner for Standards, Sir Philip Mawer.

7.45pm Seats and candidates update: Julie Moody adopted for Middlesbrough South and East Cleveland

6.15pm Seats and candidates update: Final four for Morecambe and Lunesdale

5.15pm Seats and candidates update: David Mowat selected for Warrington South

4pm Seats and candidates update: Angela Watkinson survives James Brokenshire's challenge

11am ToryDiary update: Dan Hannan is Nott impressed with the BBC

BLOGS

ToryDiary: Will The Sun finally set on Brown?

LIBERAL CONSERVATISM

"The Tory leader, who is sending personal letters to 140,000 people who voted Liberal Democrat at the last general election, highlighted the common ground between the two main opposition parties in a speech yesterday. His move will fuel speculation that he is preparing the ground for a Con-Lib pact in the event of a hung parliament." - The Independent

"Sir Menzies Campbell is set to hit back at David Cameron as they battle for crucial votes in the south of England... Sir Menzies will say: "Political parties are more than their leaders and if the Conservative Party aspires to liberalism, Mr Cameron must convince his members of it.  "He must ensure that they are ready to leave behind the baggage of Europhobia, homophobia, and xenophobia. Not just in policy, but in language and instinct too. "The evidence suggests that he has some way to go to achieve that." - Daily Mail

THE BUDGET CONTINUES TO UNRAVEL FOR BROWN

"Gordon Brown’s public standing as the likely next prime minister has fallen sharply, according to a new poll for The Times.  The Populus poll, undertaken on Wednesday evening and Thursday as voters digested the Budget measures, shows that more than twice as many people think that they will pay higher rather than lower taxes than before." (Even The Sun has noticed this poll).

""We've won," he says, pointing to the newspaper headlines. "Look who is in trouble today. The papers are all about Gordon's tax raids, Brown on the back foot, empty gestures, stealth taxes, robbing Peter to pay Paul." He laughs. "This Budget is unravelling."" - George Osborne interviewed in The Telegraph

"Gordon Brown was accused yesterday of helping to shatter faith in politics amid new claims that his Budget concealed £15 billion of "stealth taxes".  Amid mounting signs that the Chancellor's attempt this week to pose as a tax cutter had backfired, the Conservatives published new research showing 40 separate new tax increases hidden away in the Budget.  The raft of tax rises, including five separate VAT increases, would raise £15 billion - more than double the cost of Mr Brown's high-profile 2p cut in the basic rate of income tax, the Tories said.' - The Daily Telegraph

"The Chancellor has given the Tories a headache over whether to match Labour's spending totals. If they do, it will be difficult for them to make any extra spending promises without making "cuts" in Labour's plans. It won't be easy to find savings because the three-year government-wide spending blueprint to be published in October will be tight. If the Tories don't match Labour's figures, Mr Brown believes, he can rerun his "cuts-versus-investment" argument.  Having raised road tax and petrol duty himself, he thinks it will be difficult for the Tories to win public support for other green taxes to make room for the further tax cuts that Tory right-wingers are now demanding after he stole their party's traditional clothes." - Andrew Grice in The Independent

CAMERON: LOOK AT MY GREAT SHADOW CABINET

"I really believe that not enough attention is given to what individual members of the Shadow Cabinet do and what the team does as a whole," he said.  There's so much emphasis on the leadership. I wish we had more attention on the what cabinet ministers are doing, because they are doing a great job.  With the Shadow Cabinet, we've got a very strong team. Who wouldn't want Andrew Lansbury running the health service rather than Patricia Hewitt?  Who wouldn't want David Davis - a very strong and experienced minister - running the Home Office rather than the complete shambles it's in under John Reid?  We have a full-time Secretary of State for Wales in Cheryl Gillan, rather than a part-time one in Peter Hain, although to be honest I think half a Cheryl Gillan would be better than two Peter Hains."" - David Cameron quoted in the Western Mail

DAVID CAMERON'S WIND TURBINE MAY HAVE TO BE MOVED

"David Cameron might have to dismantle the roof-top wind turbine on his home because it has been put up in the wrong place.  The windmill has breached the original planning application and despite being up for less than a week could have to be taken down again." - Daily Mail

MANDELSON TO STEP DOWN IN 2009

"He once said he was a fighter not a quitter, but Peter Mandelson announced yesterday that he was stepping down at the end of his term as Britain's trade commissioner in Europe.  One of the architects of New Labour, Mr Mandelson, 53, surprised ministers by announcing he will be quitting when his five-year term ends in 2009 and delivering a thinly veiled attack on Gordon Brown, his long-term political foe..." - The Independent

THE EU AT 50

"Politicians love making speeches about how we can't be "half-in, half-out". Yet that is something like what we, the British, now are, and we seem to prefer it. Since we fell out of the ERM and later declined to join the single currency, we have proved for the first time that it is positively advantageous to us not to do what Brussels wants, and yet we do not have to destroy "Europe" in the process. It is a precedent of huge importance.  Most of this country's moves toward greater European integration have been born of weakness. The theory, in our economic decadence of the 1960s and 1970s, was that "when you want a seat in the lifeboat, you don't haggle about the price". Today, we don't need the lifeboat. More money is managed and traded in London than in all the entire euro zone put together. There is nothing that more European integration could bring us that we cannot get by other means." - Charles Moore in The Daily Telegraph

"On the edges of the Continent, a half-circle running from Spain to Ireland to Finland and down to Eastern Europe is a zone of strong economic growth. In the middle, the big powers of France, Italy and Germany cry out for deeper overhauls. As long as those economies are weak, voters will be anxious about global competition and, in turn, skeptical about opening Europe further. This explains the current unease about further EU enlargement, particularly to Turkey, and the backlash against freeing trade in services and cross-border takeovers." - The Wall Street Journal

JOHN PRESCOTT PROPOSES SLAVERY MEMORIAL DAY

"A slavery memorial day should be held every year in Britain to remember the pain of the country's black population, John Prescott has said.  The Deputy Prime Minister said the event - which he likened to Holocaust memorial day - should be held in June.  He said that a slavery memorial day would give Britons the opportunity to think about what they can do to help modern Africa as well as focusing on modern day slavery - human trafficking." - Daily Mail

BLAIR: THATCHER WAS RIGHT ON FALKLANDS

"Tony Blair has said that the Falklands war took "a lot of political courage" to fight but he would have done the same thing in Margaret Thatcher's shoes because it was "the right thing to do"." - The Guardian

ROGER HELMER INTERVIEW

ToryRadio interview with Roger Helmer MEP in which he highlights his sceptical response to the climate change consensus.

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

Friday 23rd March 2007

12.45pm ToryDiary update: David Cameron's Jewish Chronicle interview

BLOGS

ToryDiary:

• Wednesday's Budget wasn't about tax or the economy - it was about the character of the man who aspires to be our Prime Minister
• The Budget flops

Seats and candidates:

• Deborah Thomas adopted for Twickenham
• Fabian Richter selected for Bath
• Matthew Lobley adopted for Leeds NE

TORY RIGHT WANT TAX CUTS

"No one expects the Conservative Party to promise immediate tax cuts. But perhaps, after this Budget, they will feel more able to make both the moral and economic case for tax cuts. The most interesting sentence in Brown's speech was when he said the reason for 2p off income tax was that it would make the system "fairer". It would be good if the Tories could indicate clearly that it is their ambition to move to lower taxes. Can tax cuts really be so unpopular if Gordon Brown likes to give the impression of giving them?" - Norman Lamont in The Daily Telegraph

"An FT straw poll of leading rightwing Tories found broad agreement that it would be a mistake to promise specific cuts so far from a general election. But it also revealed increasing frustration with the leader’s failure to make a stronger case for lower taxation." - Financial Times

DAVID CAMERON'S FAITH

"David Cameron is a practising Christian but does not have a "direct line" to God, he admits today.  The Conservative leader, who plans to send his daughter to a local Church of England faith school near his west London home, said his faith was a "very private thing". "I am a participating member of the Church of England. I'll put it that way." - Telegraph

(A ToryDiary will follow on this story once I have picked up a copy of the Jewish Chronicle).

SHADOW CABINET IN WALES TODAY

"A total of 19 Shadow Cabinet Ministers are holding a series of meetings across 23 Welsh constituencies. Yesterday three Shadow Ministers visited North Wales, reflecting the party's hopes that they can poll well in Labour-held Clwyd West and Delyn.  Mr Cameron said, "It's not a gimmick. We're getting the whole of the Shadow Cabinet down to Wales - I think that's a record - and each of them are having meetings related to their portfolios, making sure we listening about the issues, and making sure we're taking Wales incredibly seriously." - Western Mail

SCOTTISH TORIES PROMISE £1BN CRIME CRACKDOWN

"The Scottish Conservatives promised yesterday to build another prison, as part of a £1 billion plan to cut crime.  Launching the party's law and order manifesto in a litter-strewn tunnel in Edinburgh, Ms Goldie said the Scottish Parliament had failed to improve such areas for the people of Scotland.  If the party were to win power at May's Holyrood election, she promised the biggest ever financial commitment to tackle antisocial behaviour and crime, with £250 million every year over the life of the next parliament.  Some £100 million would go towards drug rehabilitation to wean addicts off methadone and towards abstinence.  The rest of the money, she said, would help put an extra 1,500 police officers on the beat, increase prison capacity and fund other measures to get tough on crime." - Scotsman

ATTACK ADS REACH BRITAIN

Dan Sabbagh in The Times notes that "the arrival of YouTube means that political parties’ traditional monopoly on broadcast advertising is over."  18DoughtyStreet.com have known this for some time and that's why you can go there and see ads against stealthy taxation, state funding of political parties and Ken Livingstone.

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

Thursday 22nd March 2007

7.45pm ToryDiary update: Uncharitable to the bogeyman

5pm BritainAndAmerica update: Give the surge a chance

"A long-serving Bolton councillor has been chosen to head up a new Conservative Party campaign to turn the North-west blue.  Cllr John Walsh was appointed the first chairman of the new North West Regional Board at a meeting of the Conservative Party Board in London." - Bolton News

11am Seats and candidates update: Ben Jeffreys adopted as candidate for Cheadle

10am ToryDiary update: Has Brown "decontaminated" tax cuts?

BLOGS

ToryDiary: The Budget press awards and George Osborne on Today

Seats and candidates: James Cleverly set to succeed Bob Neill at GLA and Jill Skalla selected for Colchester

LondonMayor: John Bird confirms intention to challenge Livingstone... but not as a Tory

KEY BUDGET COMMENTARY

"Overall, the TaxPayers' Alliance welcomes today’s Budget because it cuts marginal rates and simplifies income tax and national insurance contributions. Like all Budgets, there will be winners and losers, but there are fewer losers than some people anticipated or have been suggesting this afternoon.  In fact, Gordon Brown has basically delivered George Osborne’s first Budget. He has brought in flatter and simpler taxes with lower rates, without greatly reducing the overall burden.  This is not a tax cutting budget, it is not a tax raising budget, it is a post-dated cheque which will make most people better off in 13 months time. Now we need to continue to make the case for much more radical reductions in tax rates and a reduced overall tax burden."

"Brown boasts of his relationship with Prudence, but is not embarrassed by increased government borrowing. Gordon Brown increased borrowing again by £8bn over the next five years. The borrowing, as every economist knows, will eventually be paid for by more taxation." - Kwasi Kwarteng, New Statesman

"In his swansong budget as chancellor today, Mr Brown cut the basic rate from 22% to 20% - but simultaneously abolished the starter rate of 10p in the pound.  After initial surprise at this brazen move, both the Tories and the Liberal Democrats claimed that the lowest-paid would be worse off as a result of this year's budget." - The Guardian

Adam Afriyie MP's summary of what the Budget means for British business (The Business).

^^^ Yesterday's CCHQ photo opportunity worked brilliantly with lots of coverage on the broadcast media and in the written press (as in The Express above).

WHERE DOES THE BUDGET LEAVE THE TORIES?

"What the Chancellor gives with one hand he takes away with another. But it is the symbolism that matters: Brown Cuts Taxes. And not just income tax either: another tuppence off corporation tax, too. And, although this was (as everything has to be these days) a "Green" Budget, he also found room to ridicule the Tories' plans to upset hundreds of thousands of their potential voters by taxing air travel. The message is simple: the Tories are now the party of high taxation, Labour is the party that gives you tax cuts. And image, as "Dave" knows, is everything now. Oh dear." - Simon Heffer in The Telegraph

"Brown has worsted six shadow chancellors who predicted recession. Beneath the retro-sheen of those "2p off" headlines this was another dull-but-decent budget. The chancellor may have seen off Dave 'n' George, but they will be back. Only when Blair is finally gone will voters see if Brown has got what the premiership takes." - Michael White in The Guardian

GAY EQUALITY LAWS PASSED BY THE LORDS

"New gay equality laws which are opposed by the Roman Catholic Church are a "major step forward", the Communities Secretary Ruth Kelly has said.  Peers voted against an amendment to throw out the Equality Act (Sexual Orientation) Regulations, brought by Tory peer Baroness O'Cathain." - BBC

THE ANGLO-NEOCONS?

An influential coterie of Tory MPs is bent on a foreign policy driven not by Britain's interests, but those of the US and Israel says Geoffrey Wheatcroft in The Guardian

AMAZING GRACE

18DoughtyStreet.com's Culture Clash previews the new film about William Wilberforce.

>>> Wilberforce Conservatism

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

Wednesday 21st March 2007

7.30pm ToryDiary update: How will the newspapers report the Budget?

4pm ToryDiary update: Don't trust Gordon Brown

1.30pm ToryDiary update: Cameron responds to Budget...

12.30pm: LIVE BUDGET BLOG

12.20pm ToryDiary update: David Cameron highlights deteriorating situation in Zimbabwe at PMQs

11.15am ToryDiary update: CCHQ press release on Lyons report

10.45am ToryDiary update: WebCameron's 99 tax rises video stunt

"People who live in the most valuable houses in England should pay more council tax, a review of local government funding has recommended.  Sir Michael Lyons' report calls for a new top rate council tax band, along with a new bottom rate to cut bills for those in the cheapest properties.  He said the reform would not mean an overall rise in the amount of tax paid.  Sir Michael said: "Council tax is not 'broken' but is seen as unfair and has been put under too much pressure."" - BBC

BLOGS

ToryDiary: The Cameroons and Wilberforce Conservatism

Mark Prisk MP on YourPlatform: Has state support for business bought any gains?

"The Task Force commissioned detailed research, including a series of 50 economic correlation analyses to assess the overall impact of state business support. No measurable correlation could be found whatsoever.  Thus £12 billion of state money is being spent by Gordon Brown, yet this Government cannot demonstrate what effect it has, if at all."

Seats and candidates: Final four for Colchester open primary

PETER OBORNE ON GORDON BROWN

"The truth is that there is little question that Mr Brown has driven forward the domestic policy agenda over the last decade. With Mr Blair drawn more and more to his partly disastrous foreign policy, at home, the Chancellor has been the main driving force.  His allies say that the Cabinet is so second rate and weak that he had no option but to take control, even if that did mean upsetting colleagues. They add that a few wounded egos in Cabinet are a small price to pay for improving the lives of ordinary people up and down the country.  Even so, Lord Turnbull has done us all a service by drawing the nation's attention to a matter which has troubled much of Westminster for some months, but rarely got the national airing it deserves." - Daily Mail

"Education and the environment will be the key themes of Chancellor Gordon Brown's 11th, and almost certainly final, Budget." - Daily Mail

"Green groups were already saying last night they were disappointed by the leaks of Gordon Brown's final Budget today for failing to rise to the challenge of climate change.  The Green Party called on the Chancellor to "put his money where his mouth is" in curbing global warming. And Friends of the Earth said the mooted increase in vehicle excise duty to £400 a year on 4x4s from next April was not enough and should be £2,000.  He was also facing a backlash from green campaigners for rejecting the Tory proposals for a hike in taxes on aviation." - The Independent

LORDS DEFEND TRIAL BY JURY

"Peers have effectively killed off the government's plans to restrict trial by jury in complex fraud cases.  Lords have continued a 10-year battle with ministers by voting to delay further debate on the Fraud (Trials Without a Jury) Bill for six months." - BBC

LORDS ATTEMPT TO KILL SEXUAL ORIENTATION LAWS

"A Conservative peer will tonight lead an eleventh-hour attempt to defeat proposals that the Roman Catholic Church says could lead to the closure of its adoption agencies.  The Equality Act (Sexual Orientation) Regulations, which outlaw discrimination against gay people in the provision of goods and services, was the subject of fierce debate about its impact on adoption agencies. But Baroness O’Cathain will highlight separate anxieties over its effect on church schools.  Her motion raises concerns that the regulations compromise religious liberty and “will result in litigation over the content of classroom teaching”, and says they should be rejected." - Times

>>> Yesterday's ToryDiary: Not such a free vote after all

HAVE YOU WATCHED CONSERVATIVEHOME TV?

Last week's 15 minute programme, presented by Sam Coates, discussed the environment and green taxes.

FIFTY REASONS TO LOVE THE EU - The Independent

AND FINALLY...

"William Hague's wife appeared without a bra at the Amazing Grace premiere in London last night. As a result she showed some distinctive leanings..." - Daily Mail

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

Tuesday 20th March 2007

8.45pm ToryDiary update: Not such a free vote after all

8.15pm BritainAndAmerica update: 'Wilberforce Conservatism'

3.45pm BritainAndAmerica update: London isn't Britain

3pm ToryDiary update: An open letter to David Cameron on MEP selection

David Cameron post on webcameron on nappies and tomorrow's Budget: "Responding to the budget – which happens tomorrow - is without doubt the worst thing I have to do all year. You get a few pages of the so-called Red Book an hour or so in advance – and even that has some thick black lines through it. The rest is guess work, judgement and trying to be quick on your feet…. I’ll spend some of today doing preparation, but I would give a lot for an accurate budget leak…"

11.45am ToryDiary update: Tory family policy must communicate compassion for lone parents

"A movie about former UK Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher in the run-up to the 1982 Falklands War is being planned.  Pathe and BBC Films are developing a script for a drama-documentary about the tense political period before the conflict between the UK and Argentina.' - BBC

BLOGS

ToryDiary: Where is the 'Stop Brown' blog campaign?

LIAM FOX PLANS PRIORITY MEDICAL CARE FOR SERVICEMEN AND FAMILIES

"Troops will be given priority on National Health Service waiting lists under Tory plans to woo the armed forces vote, The Times has learnt.  The pledge is likely to form the centrepiece of a “military manifesto”, published separately from the Tories’ main manifesto, to exploit high levels of disaffection among service families... Under the Conservatives’ plans, servicemen and women could automatically go to the front of NHS waiting lists to keep them fit for duty. One radical option being examined is to extend this for the rest of their lives in recognition of their service to their country." - Times

CHURCH PROTEST AT LACK OF SCRUTINY OF GAY RIGHTS LAWS

"Britain's most senior Roman Catholic accused Tony Blair of an 'abuse of Parliamentary democracy' last night by refusing MPs a debate on controversial gay rights laws... More than 20 Tory MPs, including former leader Iain Duncan Smith and Shadow Attorney General Dominic Grieve, turned up at a committee which rubber-stamped the rules last week to try to debate the issue, but were repeatedlyblocked by Meg Munn, the Minister responsible for the regulations." - Daily Mail

According to The Independent, the Government faces defeat in the Lords for attempting to rubber stamp these regulations.

POLLY TOYNBEE ATTACKS TORY COUNCILS AS REAL FACE OF PARTY

"Now that Tories run so many councils, with more to come after May, we can see the colour of their spots by what they do in office. Are they putting into action those softer, gentler words their leader speaks? Are they spreading wellbeing, social justice, green activism, concern for the disabled, the old and the poor in their localities? No, is the short answer. Cutting council tax comes top, and that means cutting services." - Guardian  

BROWN ISN'T GREEN SAYS COMMONS COMMITTEE

"Environmental groups have accused Gordon Brown of failing to be bold in his approach to climate change.  The Commons Environmental Audit Committee suggested yesterday that Mr Brown had failed to respond adequately to the “increasing risks of major and irreversible impacts from climate change.” - Times

BROWN BACKS BLAIRITE REFORMS

"Gordon Brown pledged that he would extend Tony Blair's public service reforms if he became prime minister, including his flagship city academy schools.  The Chancellor committed himself to bringing in more "personalised" state-funded services - including a greater role for private firms and voluntary groups in providing them." - Independent

"Whisper it softly, but Brownites and Blairites are starting to work together. After years of friction over public service reform, there have recently been signs of cooperation, what were called “confidence-building” measures during the detente phase of the Cold War." - Peter Riddell in The Times

DORMANT BANK ACCOUNTS MAY BE RAIDED FOR GOOD CAUSES

"Gordon Brown is plotting a stealth raid on more than £400 million of money left in dormant bank accounts.  The Chancellor will use the proceeds of the raid - on accounts that have not been touched for the past 15 years - to fund good causes in community and youth services." - Telegraph

ALEX SALMOND MAKES THE CASE FOR AN INDEPENDENT SCOTLAND

"There may be some doom-mongers who think that England is too lacking in resources - too poor without Scottish oil - to be a successful independent country. But I disagree. The people of England are just as capable, just as able, as any other nation to thrive with self-government!  The 18th-century Union is past its sell-by date. It's gone stale for both our nations. What we both need now are the political and economic powers to make our nations work, to tailor policies to suit our different circumstances, and to speak for ourselves in Europe and the wider world - while acting together where our interests converge.  What we also need is to retain the close co-operation we currently enjoy in terms of social, economic and cultural links - in many ways symbolised by our common head of state, and by our common membership of the European Union with a guaranteed home market of half a billion people." - Telegraph

'EU IS A FLOP'

"Life is worse for nearly half of the people in Europe’s Big Five since EU membership, a poll claimed yesterday.  Overall 44 per cent surveyed in Britain, France, Italy, Germany and Spain said the project had failed them.  Only the Spanish, who have been showered with cash from Brussels, said they were better off. In Britain, 52 per cent said things had got worse.  Just one in four people in Europe’s five powerhouses said they wanted to stay in the EU." - The Sun

IS OUR INTERNATIONAL AID BUDGET WORKING?

"Africa is potentially rich in agriculture and minerals, but torn by ruinous tribal conflict and corruption.  Just 100,000 key players control assets worth £220billion — yet 300million starve on 50p a day.  In Nigeria, corrupt leaders syphoned £220billion - equal to the entire aid budget for Africa over 40 years.  Monster Robert Mugabe has transformed prosperous Zimbabwe into a terror state.  Aid is filtered through the chaotic EU or the corrupt and unaccountable United Nations.  When it does reach the genuinely needy, it frequently destroys fragile local economies, turning subsistence farmers into beggars..." - The Sun Says

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

Monday 19th March 2007

8pm ToryDiary update: Brown would trail Cameron by 15% according to new ICM poll

Early evening BritainAndAmerica updates: It'll be months not weeks before we know if 'surge' has worked says Bush and Conservative website targets Giuliani

4.30pm ToryDiary update: Technology not taxation will deliver greener future say Tory members

Lunchtime Seats and candidates update: Five new seats invite candidate applications

Lunctime CF Diary update: Craig Cox's latest progress report

11am CF Diary update: What would you do with your ID card?

BLOGS

ToryDiary:

• "The party has gone to war with ConservativeHome"
• Osborne wants 3p corporation tax cut - paid for by scrapping of reliefs

100TH TAX RISE SCHEDULED FOR WEDNESDAY'S BUDGET

"Families have been hit with 99 tax increases since Gordon Brown became Chancellor - and he is likely to go over the century in his 11th Budget on Wednesday, the Tories claimed last night." - Telegraph

BUSINESS TAX BURDEN

"Businesses are paying almost £12bn more in tax in 2008/9 than they were when Labour came to power, the Engineering Employers Federation said.  Surging taxes have hit manufacturer profitability hard and turned many companies away from the UK, it added." - BBC

"Since 2000 British public spending has been pushed up faster than in any other developed economy – more than three times as fast, in fact, as in the US, which has experienced the next most rapid pace of increase. Spending has risen by an annual average of 4 per cent in real, after-inflation terms. To pay for this the tax burden has also risen more sharply than in our leading competitor countries, to an extent that has strained public tolerance, provoked wails of fury from business and led the International Monetary Fund to give warning this month that further rises would be economically damaging.' - Times

TIMES LEADER CALLS FOR BUDGET TO FOCUS ON HOW REVENUES ARE SPENT

DAVID CAMERON PROMISES MORE GRIT

"David Cameron promised a year of "grit" yesterday to build on the changes he has made to the Conservatives and cast his party as a government in waiting prepared to take tough choices.
In his keynote speech to the Tories' spring forum in Nottingham, Mr Cameron tried to answer the fears of some party members and focus groups of swing voters that he is short on substance. "It's only when you do the tough things that people know you're serious," he said." - Guardian

DAVID CAMERON'S SOCIAL CRUSADE

"The Tory leader said Mrs Thatcher had stopped the UK from being the economic “sick man of Europe” in the 1980s. He said HIS task is to stop Britain from being the “sick family of Europe”. David Cameron last night pledged that his quest is to save the NHS and rescue Britain from anarchy." - The Sun

The Sun Says:

"MargaretThatcher had her work cut out – and so does David Cameron.  She turned Britain into the world’s fourth largest economy.  Cameron announced yesterday that his mission is to save the NHS and rebuild a strong British society.  He must show he has the same iron will as Maggie.  And the ability to swing a manbag."

A TELEGRAPH LEADER WELCOMES THE TORY NHS STRATEGY

DAVID CAMERON'S RECYCLING HABITS

"Mr Cameron's staff have displayed some irritation at a Sunday newspaper whose journalists had examined the contents of rubbish bins outside his Kensington home, and accused him of not taking proper care to recycle his household waste. Some of the nappies they found were not biodegradable.  A spokesman said the party was considering a formal complaint about the intrusion on the Cameron family's privacy. The Camerons have been unable to find biodegradable nappies for their disabled four-year-old son.  The spokesman added: "I don't think there is any doubt that this sort of thing is sharp practice. We need to have a good debate in this country and I think it's a shame that it is devalued by silly stories where people rummage through people's bins." - Independent

>>> Yesterday's Sunday Mirror story

Kevin Maquire: "The Nottingham conference was surprisingly low key, attended by fewer activists than the Liberal Democrat shout-a-thon a couple of weeks ago in Harrogate.  There was none of that whiff of power you could scent at Labour gatherings in the four years up to 1997 with lots of empty seats in the hall and small hall and few exhibitors. If I were Cameron, I'd be worried. His support is shallow and the Tory faithful don't like all that green stuff, particularly now his fondness for private jets and failure to recycle his own rubbish properly has added the stench of hypocrisy."

DAVID CAMERON MOVES TO THE CENTRE

"When David Cameron switched his hair from a right-parting to a left, some wondered if he was simply mirroring his party's general shift in politics. But by Sunday the Conservative leader was offering observers a further sign - that he is moving to the centre ground... It is Mr Cameron's third hairstyle in less than a week but, unlike some celebrities and even politicians, it did not cost a fortune." - Daily Mail

Yawn.

MAUDE CALLS ON MEPs TO BACK EPP LINE OR FACE DESELECTION

"The latest Tory Radio interview with the Conservative Party Chairman is now online.  During the interview, Francis Maude effectively sent the message to current Conservative MEPs that they either back David Cameron's decision to leave the EPP grouping or face not being allowed to stand as Conservative candidates."

JOHN BIRD TO STAND AGAINST KEN LIVINGSTONE

"John Bird, the founder and editor-in-chief of The Big Issue, is to make a dramatic entry in the race to be London mayor.  In an interview with The Daily Telegraph Mr Bird disclosed that he will announce next Monday that he will run, posing potentially the most serious threat to Ken Livingstone's hopes of winning a third term. But Mr Bird, who has twice experienced homelessness, will not say whether he will stand as an Independent or for the Conservatives."

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

Sunday 18th March 2007

7.45pm ToryDiary update: Back from Nottingham

4.30pm ToryDiary update: The Tory improvement is historically modest... but probably firmer

12.30pm ToryDiary update: I'll take the tough decisions says Cameron

BLOGS

ToryDiary: We've paid the taxes - where has the money gone? and Unpopular green taxes fail to dent Tory lead

NHS TO BE AT HEART OF TORY LEADER'S SPRING CONFERENCE SPEECH

"David Cameron will accuse the Government of turning the NHS into a "vast, inhuman machine".  The Conservative leader is to launch the attack as he promises to put professionals back in charge of the health service.  He will say he backs the NHS "heart and soul" as part of an attempt to present the Tories as the party of public services, at their spring forum in Nottingham." - Sky News

News of the World scan below of David Cameron's appearance at a rally of angry junior doctors:

CAMERON: TORIES ON COURSE TO RETURN TO POWER

In his most optimistic public assessment yet of his party’s prospects, Mr Cameron told the Tory Spring conference: “This is the time for our party.  “This is the time we show we are serious, ready to turn an opinion poll lead into an election victory and a better government for our country.”  Buoyed by an at times rapturous reception from NHS doctors protesting in London at the NHS online recruitment system, the Tory leader went on: “I really believe together we can do it.”" - Sunday Telegraph

HAGUE: TIME TO TURN THE SCREW ON MUGABE

"The fact that the people of Zimbabwe were brave enough to take to the streets and protest against the Mugabe regime last week is a testament to the resilience and spirit of those caught up in this horrific situation. The time is now right for the international community to show a similar resolve in bringing their misery to an end.' - William Hague writing in The Sunday Telegraph

THE INDEPENDENT ON SUNDAY APOLOGISES FOR DECRIMINALISE CANNABIS CAMPAIGN

"Record numbers of teenagers are requiring drug treatment as a result of smoking skunk, the highly potent cannabis strain that is 25 times stronger than resin sold a decade ago.  More than 22,000 people were treated last year for cannabis addiction - and almost half of those affected were under 18. With doctors and drugs experts warning that skunk can be as damaging as cocaine and heroin, leading to mental health problems and psychosis for thousands of teenagers, The Independent on Sunday has today reversed its landmark campaign for cannabis use to be decriminalised."

LABOUR LOBBY SCANDAL INVOLVING TWO MINISTERS - Sunday Times

EVANGELICAL BRIAN SOUTER GIVES SNP £500,000 - Observer

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

Saturday 17th March 2007

9pm ToryDiary update: 6% Tory lead

6.30pm Seats and candidates update: I would choose right candidates if I was selection "dictator" says John Maples

4.30pm ToryDiary update: Notes from Nottingham

11am ToryDiary update: William Hague under fire for outside interests

BLOGS

ToryDiary:

• Does Blair look bovvered?
• Tories urged to accelerate selections
• New priorities for a new era

Seats and candidates: Final four for Bath and Zac Goldsmith selected for Richmond Park

CONSERVATIVEHOME.COM MEMBERS' PANEL

"The latest survey of grassroots Tory opinion by the ConservativeHome website suggests Mr Cameron still has some work to do to convince party members he has the right policies on the environment.  Some 70% of party members surveyed thought Mr Cameron was doing a good job as party leader.  But 54% thought climate change should be tackled through technology rather than taxation.  And 48% thought green taxes within the UK, of the kind proposed by Mr Cameron, were "pointless" because "any reduction in British emissions will be quickly overtaken by the industrial activity of fast-growing countries like India and China"." - BBC

>>> Debate on yesterday's ToryDiary

NEWSPAPERS STILL FOCUS ON 'THE RIGHT TO LEFT PARTING'

Daily Mail.

CAMERON ON THE DISAPPEARING GORDON BROWN

"What's surprising about Gordon Brown is his disappearances. What does Gordon Brown think about Catholic adoption agencies? What does Gordon Brown think about the crisis in public health? Whenever the government is in a difficult spot he disappears." - Quotation from interview with the Tory leader in The Guardian

CAMERON VERSUS BROWN

"In modern politics, the fact that Mr Cameron visibly relaxes in front of the cameras matters far more than the fine print of his policies. Mr Brown is a grim, private, dutiful Chancellor who visibly tenses up as soon as he spots a camera. In a more decorous age, this would not have mattered. But it is Mr Brown's misfortune to live in an age that demands ready laughter and easy banter, neither of which comes naturally to him, in public at least." - Telegraph leader

GORDON BROWN SET TO KILL LYONS REVIEW

"Gordon Brown has 'dumped' a landmark council tax review for fear of antagonising millions of middle-class voters.  The review, due out next week, will recommend an overhaul that would result in owners of expensive homes facing swingeing increases.  But the Chancellor has vetoed the idea even before it is published, warning that he will not endorse potentially record tax increases before the next election.  The revelation is a blow to Sir Michael Lyons, who was commissioned by Mr Brown nearly three years ago to recommend ways of reforming local government finance." - Daily Mail

"Council tax bills averaged £688 for a Band D property in 1997-8. Ten years later, the average is set to be between £1,250 and £1,300 – pretty well double.  What has gone wrong? How is it that a tax which had been introduced in the wake of the poll tax fiasco, and aroused barely a flicker of controversy in its first decade of life, has became such a rallying cry for protest and anger?  The answer can be given in just two words: Gordon Brown. In Labour's first term, when the party was desperate to shed the image of a tax and spend party, public spending was kept firmly under control.  After 2001, the Government started to pour money into public services, especially council-run services like education. It demanded huge increases in spending but failed to provide Whitehall funding to cover the increases. Councils had only one place to go for the missing millions: the council tax payer." - David Curry MP in the Yorkshire Post

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

Friday 16th March 2007

11.45pm Seats and candidates update: Zac Goldsmith adopted for Richmond Park

5pm ToryDiary update: Tory members embrace Cameron's family agenda but reject the green tax plans  

BLOGS

ToryDiary: More audio, less visual

Britain and America: An international epidemic

CF Diary: March CF bulletin

Seats and Candidates: Three updates last night

WHY I SAVED PM & GORD'S BACON

"In the 1930s we cut our defences — and paid the terrible price of World War Two. In the 1980s we stayed strong in the face of the Soviet Union — and the result was victory in the Cold War and the crashing down of the Iron Curtain. Any government I lead will put our security first — keeping Britain in our rightful place at the world’s top table. That’s why, this week, my party saved the Government’s bacon and helped keep our country safe for the future." - David Cameron in the Sun

GORE PRAISES CAMERON AND BROWN

"Former US vice president Al Gore has praised both Gordon Brown and David Cameron for their "leadership" in dealing with environmental problems. Mr Gore addressed the Conservative frontbench before a private meeting with Mr Cameron, and then talks with the chancellor. He said the UK should be proud that there was a "healthy political dialogue" about climate change." - BBC

"David Cameron has been praised by former US Vice President Al Gore for the pioneering lead he has given to the campaign to combat climate change." - Conservative Party 

IN DEFENCE OF MERCER'S SACKING

"Senator McCarthy and the way he exploited an America worried about subversion in the Cold War was more than half a century ago. A feature of that inquisition was that it made its impact by hunting out the relatively innocent to burn at the stake. That is the mood threatening to develop here over racism. Cameron did well to show his awareness of it." - W F Deedes in the Telegraph

"Returning, briefly, to yesterday's sighting of former shadow minister of homeland security Patrick Mercer pushing his bike, we belatedly realise the appropriate greeting should have been: "Faster, you Tory bastard."" - Guardian Diary

MORE REALITY TV FOR ANN

"Tory MP Ann Widdecombe could soon get a taste of life with controversial father-of-17 Mick Philpott. The outspoken former frontbencher is in talks with ITV to take part in a series in which she will spend a week living with the unemployed Derby resident - plus his wife, girlfriend and 11 of his children. Mr Philpott earned notoriety after suggesting Britain was "going down the pan" because his local council could not provide him with a bigger house." - 24dash

POLITICAL PARTIES SHOULDN'T RELY ON THE TAXPAYER

"Despite their drastically shrunk memberships, they have sought to maintain bloated staffs and ludicrous election budgets. There is a strong case for insisting that if they are to enjoy any subsidy from the taxpayer, then parties must be obliged to accept strict controls on how much they spend (which is often purchased by deficit financing)." - Times leader

"The Tories also point out that annual spending caps do not take account of the much longer-term ebbs and flows of party income. Now that they have money at last, they are spending like mad on trying to recruit and train networks of agents, open campaign offices in the North, update computer hardware and software and rebuild membership, all of which fell into desuetude during the years in which the party was virtually broke." - Mary Ann Sieghart in the Times

"The party leaders say they want an agreement, though everyone knows the Conservatives, flush with money again after 15 years of penury, won't lose much sleep if Sir Hayden's plea for agreement by August is kicked into very tall grass. Lord Ashcroft and his acolytes say so openly. Their technique is to prod Labour's weak spot: if there is to be a £50,000 cap it must include trade unions. They want to break the union link, confident they have more supporters with 50 grand to spare." - Michael White in the Guardian

BLAIR DEFENDS THE UNION

"Our age is being shaped by the twin forces of globalisation and interdependence. In such an era, our Union is not a relic of a bygone age, but a quintessentially modern expression of how we find common bridges between diverse peoples and hold shared values while retaining distinctive identities. What a dismal message it would send to the rest of the world that we, on these small islands, cannot live together in a political, social and economic union." - Tony Blair in the Telegraph

LIMITS TO THE OPENNESS OF PRIMARIES

"The Conservative Party's decision to adopt American-style "open primaries" to select some of its parliamentary candidates has generally met with a positive response. But the party is coming under fire for the way it is handling tonight's primary in the key target seat of Richmond Park, where environmental campaigner Zac Goldsmith starts as favourite to win the nomination. "I applied for a ticket to the event, but was told it was already oversubscribed," complains one local resident who was eager to take part in the process. "Apparently fire regulations dictate that no more than 350 people can attend." So just how open is this open primary?"" - Telegraph Spy

NOTHING PERSONAL, ROBERT

"This is not — whatever President Mugabe may claim — a personal attack on him. We care about policies not personalities. We want reform. We want sensible economic measures. We want a return to freedom of association and freedom of the press. We want free and fair elections. More importantly, so do the people of Zimbabwe. We don’t care if this is done by Mr Mugabe or by someone else." - Margaret Beckett in the Times

WRONG VIEW

"Tories have attacked London Mayor Ken Livingstone for seeking to reduce the view of St Paul's Cathedral from Richmond Park. The stunning scene from King Henry's Mound could be all but eradicated by Mayor Ken Livingstone's plans to reduce the viewing corridor from 150m to 70m." - YourLocalGuardian

TIMETABLE OF WITHDRAWAL

"Labour's ruling National Executive Committee is expected to agree a timetable next week for the leadership election to replace Tony Blair. The BBC understands Labour officials have settled on a seven-week campaign for both the leader and deputy leader to run simultaneously." - BBC

LONDON'S GREAT, BUT...

"It hosts a metropolitan elite that loftily gazes three ways: outward, at the supposed superiority of anything not British; inward, at its own ineffable genius; and down its elegantly pampered nose, at the provincial trivialities that consume the dreary lives of the rest of the population. But worst of all; much more, much more baleful than any of these irritations, is the political, cultural and intellectual hegemony exercised by the ultimate self-serving metropolitan monopoly, the BBC." - Gerard Baker in the Times

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

Thursday 15th March 2007

11.10pm Seats and Candidates update: Gary Ridley selected for Coventry North West

11pm Seats and Candidates update: Hannah Parker selected for Exeter

10pm Seats and Candidates update: Calder Valley open primary candidates

5:30pm update: The TaxPayers' Alliance has worked out that if Sir Hayden Phillips' recommendations had been in place since 1997, a quarter of a billion pounds of taxpayers' money would have been spent on political parties already. Click here to download their response, and here for William Norton's TPA paper on how much we already pay for Ministers and their SpAds.

4:30pm Seats and Candidates update: John Woodward selected for Camborne Redruth

3.30pm ToryDiary update: Are you better off than you were four years ago?

Noon update from conservatives.com: Conservative response to party funding review

11.45am ToryDiary update: The Republicans are our sister party says Francis Maude

11:30am Seats and Candidates update: Final four for Hammersmith

11.30am BritainAndAmerica update: "Cameron's 'spin team made up rift with Bush'"

BLOGS

ToryDiary: Do we really need another Eurosceptic pressure group?

The latest ConservativeHome survey is now online.  In addition to the regular tracker questions there are questions on green taxation, family policy, House of Lords reform and the Patrick Mercer episode.
CLICK HERE TO HAVE YOUR SAY

18 Doughty Street: Andrew Mitchell's five-part video diary of his covert trip to the Burmese jungle is well worth having a look at.

SUCCESSFUL TRIDENT VOTE

"The two revolts – one involving 94 Labour MPs, the other 85 – came after ministers from the Prime Minister down had assured MPs that the decision was not necessarily the final word." - Times

"The Conservatives yesterday began to exploit Labour divisions over the nuclear deterrent, as William Hague showered praise on the plans for renewal. Tory support ensured the government won the vote. But the shadow foreign secretary undermined ministers' arguments that the motion was not an irreversible commitment, seeking to highlight splits within Labour and goad more MPs into rebelling." - Guardian

GOVERNMENT IN A JAM OF ITS OWN MAKING

"The BBC is to suspend its £150 million online education service, BBC Jam, after claims that it is damaging the interests of industry competitors. Children who have been using BBC Jam to help with schoolwork will be unable to access it from March 20. About 200 BBC staff are facing uncertain futures after yesterday's announcement. The commercial sector complained to the European Commission about BBC Jam. Ed Vaizey, the Tory's broadcasting spokesman, said: "This is a mess of the Government's own making. They told the BBC to set up Jam even though a number of education companies were already providing those services. We have constantly raised concerns about BBC Jam and its impact on the private sector."" - Telegraph

FABRICATED STORIES OF RIFTS WITH REPUBLICANS

"David Cameron's advisers fabricated disagreements with George Bush to try to win favour with British voters, a senior US government official claims. At a private meeting in London, the official said that members of the Tory leader's team were "more deceitful spinners" than Tony Blair's." - Telegraph

SAMANTHA, THE ONE-WOMAN FOCUS GROUP

"According to a new biography of David Cameron by Francis Elliott and James Hanning, his wife Samantha should take much of the credit for the transformation of this cheerful stag-shooter into the sensitive modernising stag-shooter we see today. Cameron could always cry easily, but it was Samantha who selected a modern suit, "by fashionable tailor Timothy Everest", for his no-notes party conference speech." - Catherine Bennett in the Guardian

HOUSEHOLD DISPOSABLE INCOME UP £9PW IN 6 YEARS

"The average family is almost no better off than it was five years ago despite sustained economic growth, a new report claims. Real disposable income per household has gone up by a meagre £9 a week since 2001, rising from £491 to £500, it concludes. The study, by leading tax lawyer Charlie Elphicke, says that is a growth rate of just 0.35 per cent a year." - Daily Mail

SHARING RESEARCH RESOURCES WITH THE DUP

"Last October, Spy reported that Ian Paisley and his DUP MPs had held several meetings with David Cameron. The veteran Ulster politician added he would be "very interested in doing business with the Conservatives". Still, I'm surprised to see that the Paisleyite politicians have started subscribing to the Parliamentary Resources Unit, a team of researchers that provided information and briefings for Tory backbenchers, who each contribute a small proportion of their research allowance to fund it." - Telegraph Spy

CORPORATE SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY

"Conservatives managed to set the agenda in Strasbourg today by ensuring that regulations and red tape would not strangle business in its efforts to become more socially responsible. In a key vote today, the work of Philip Bushill-Matthews MEP, Conservative Employment and Social Affairs Spokesman, guaranteed that EU corporate social responsibility will be voluntary." - Conservative Party

UKIP FIND BACK-UP FOR ILLEGAL LOAN

"The UK Independence Party (UKIP) says it has found a new backer to bail it out if it has to forfeit a £367,697 political donation. The Electoral Commission has accused the party of breaking the law by accepting money from a donor whose name was not on the electoral register." - BBC

HAYDEN PHILLIPS REPORT PUBLISHED TODAY

"An inquiry into how political parties should be funded to be published today is unlikely to break the deadlock between Labour and the Conservatives on the issue. Sir Hayden Phillips, a former senior civil servant called in by Tony Blair in an attempt to broker a deal between the parties, will say in his final report that there is scope for a compromise based on his package, which could help to "clean up politics" after the cash-for-honours affair. He is expected to recommend lower legal spending limits for the parties at general elections and a ceiling on individual donations, on which the Tories have called for a £50,000 limit. In return, the parties would receive more state funding, which might be worth £25m between them." - Guardian

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

Wednesday 14th March 2007

The latest ConservativeHome survey is now online.  In addition to the regular tracker questions there are questions on green taxation, family policy, House of Lords reform and the Patrick Mercer episode.

CLICK HERE TO HAVE YOUR SAY

3.30pm Interviews update: Any questions for Francis Maude?

1:30pm Seats and Candidates update: Welsh Assembly constituency candidates

12:40am ToryDiary update: Both opposition leaders focus on Trident at PMQs

BLOGS

ToryDiary:

• The great Adam Smith
• Save on council tax with the Tories if you greenify your home
• Edward Heath's dying wish is refused by local Tories

CF Diary: Two conservative movement training opportunities

Seats and Candidates: Diana Coad selected for Slough

MOVING TO THE RIGHT

"Hot news! David Cameron has changed his hair. Until recently he parted it on the left. Now, suddenly, he parts it on the right. What can this mean? According to   Hair Part Theory (Google it) a parting on the left draws attention to masculine attributes, whereas a parting on the right highlights the feminine. A PR man as canny as Cameron would surely know this. In which case, why the switch?" - Hugo Rifkind in the Times

ADAM SMITH ON £20 NOTES

"Surely the Adam Smith Institute should lead a boycott of anything made in Third World sweatshops, until the 12-year-old machinists are given a week off, a free pass for art galleries and a six-pack of their choice. He certainly wouldn't recognise the insatiable greed of modern business, in which nothing is assumed to have any value unless it makes a profit. If someone turned up on Dragons' Den, saying they needed a few grand because they'd love to set up a home for destitute sick people, the panel would go: "How dare you waste our time? This crackpot scheme's going to lose money hand over fist."" - Mark Steel in the Independent

GREEN SCHEMES MUST BE TAX-NEUTRAL

"What voters fear is stealth taxes disguised as green taxes. That is why the Liberal Democrats' "polluter pays" package last autumn was tax-neutral. So is Mr Cameron's. So - in theory - are Labour's road pricing pipedreams. No wonder Mr Brown's speech on Monday invoked money-saving incentives, help with home insulation and those pesky lightbulbs. That sets off fewer alarm bells." - Michael White in the Guardian

BLAIR WORKS HIS CHARM

"Tony Blair has forged a special bond with the Rev Ian Paisley, the DUP leader who holds the future of the Northern Ireland peace process in his hands, by discussing their common interest in and commitment to Christianity. Spearheading a government charm offensive to win round the one time Presbyterian firebrand, the two men have been swapping religious textbooks over the past year." - Guardian

FACE-TO-FACE JUSTICE

"Cherie Booth will call today for a huge expansion of face-to-face justice, in which offenders meet their victims and apologise for their crimes. The wife of the Prime Minister will give warning that sending people to jail does not alter their long-term attitudes and behaviour. The jail system is facing an overcrowding crisis and courts in England and Wales are being put on standby to hold prisoners in cells overnight." - Times

ARGENTINA PUSHING FOR UN INVOLVEMENT IN FALKLANDS

"Argentina has been calling for Britain to return the Falklands for the past 174 years, and the subject has been symbolic of the very identity of the Argentines. Barely any has even a flicker of doubt that the Falkland Islands are rightfully theirs and part of their very identity. In a country deeply divided on nearly every other issue, waking up the so-called sentimiento Malvinas is a sure vote-winner. So, while avoiding glorifying the military, who have remained in disgrace since the Falklands fiasco, Argentina is likely to beat the drum heavily on the Malvinas in coming weeks." - Telegraph

ARMY JEWEL IN A POLITICALLY CORRECT PLASTIC CROWN

"The first thing to be said about David Cameron's sacking of Colonel Mercer is that it has removed from his Shadow Cabinet the one member with a record which clearly demonstrates a right - other than the gift of the gab - to be there. For commanding a battalion in the British Army today is about the best possible proof of leadership qualities and to drop this genuine jewel in an otherwise plastic crown, for misplaced reasons of political correctness, reveals a yellow streak in Mr Cameron which not only true blue Tories will despise." - Peregrine Worsthorne in the FirstPost

DO WE HAVE THE CAPABILITY TO REPLACE TRIDENT?

"Of the four practical options the Government considered to replace the present nuclear deterrent, they chose a submarine-based system similar to the present one, equipped with the Trident D5. For a number of reasons, the new submarines would be built in Britain, and it is here that the problems arise. In engineering terms, the construction of nuclear-powered submarines carrying ballistic missiles presents technological problems as complex and demanding as those involved in putting a man on the Moon." - Lord Chalfont in the Telegraph

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

Tuesday 13th March 2007

4:30pm CF Diary update: James Wharton writes about his experience of getting selected

4pm CF Diary update: Ten CF-aged candidates selected for winnable seats

3.30pm ToryDiary update: Samuel Coates is 'In Two Minds' about Trident

BLOGS

ToryDiary:

• Very green... at least on the surface
• Julian Lewis makes the case for Trident
• Hypocritical Brown attacks Tory air tax plans

CF Diary: Three Cheers for YBF's Television Training Workshop

YourPlatform: Michael Rutt explains what Conservatives Abroad does 

GREEN WAR OVER AIR TAX

"David Cameron and Gordon Brown yesterday engaged in an all-day battle to woo the increasingly critical green vote by outlining their rival programmes to tackle climate change and improve the environment. Labour challenged the Tories over their plans to take unilateral UK action on carbon emissions from aviation by introducing a system of personal air mile allowances for travellers." - Guardian

"Foreign tourists arriving in Britain this week must be more bewildered than usual. They will note that green issues are the overwhelming political theme. Today the Government publishes a draft Climate Change Bill. Yesterday, the two aspirant prime ministers, Gordon Brown and David Cameron, competed with a sweaty intensity to show they were best equipped to lead an environmental crusade. Welcome to Green Britain." - Steve Richards in the Independent

"David Cameron risks alienating more than 400,000 voters who own "a place in the sun" with plans for a tax on air travel, experts warned last night. The Tory leader plans a higher rate of aviation tax for anyone who makes more than one short-haul flight per year. But academics, property experts and MPs warned of a potential backlash as Mr Cameron seeks to establish his green credentials. About 400,000 voters own second homes abroad. On average, they make three visits per year to their properties, meaning they would be hit twice by the proposed tax." - Telegraph

"There are times when I wish Today would give us a "right to reply" on the spot. In this way, when David Cameron told Jim Naughtie yesterday morning that there was no need for 40 flights between Manchester and London because there was a "perfectly good train service", I could have replied: "With respect, Mr Cameron, when was the last time you travelled on a 'perfectly good' train?"" - Cristina Odone in the Telegraph

The Sun outlines how the tax would affect "ordinary households" - The Sun

TAXING THE BAD AND REWARDING THE GOOD                                        

"Money that a Conservative government would raise from taxing air travel will be used on schemes such as tax breaks for married couples, David Cameron has promised. His aim is to offer a double whammy to encourage people to behave in ways that the Tory leader thinks are good for society: by staying together to raise children, while avoiding environmentally damaging behaviour such as unnecessary flights. In a BBC interview yesterday he called it "taxing the bad and rewarding the good"." - Independent

"The Conservatives may be promising that any green taxes that they impose would be "replacements" for cuts in other forms of tax. But as yet we have heard only of the new taxes, and no detail at all of the balancing cuts. In a nation already taxed to the limits, it should be a guiding principle of fiscal policy that no new tax is introduced unless an existing one is removed - one in, one out." - Telegraph leader

OSBORNE CHAMPIONS PRIVATE EQUITY

"George Osborne has warned the private equity industry not to give in to attacks from the "narrow minded" Left and instead to stand up to its critics. The shadow chancellor, who would be ultimately responsible for regulating the sector were the Conservatives to be elected at the next General Election, issued a rallying cry to the industry, telling it to explain how it is a beacon of British excellence. His comments came in direct response to those of trade unions such as GMB and various Labour politicians who have criticised the industry for asset stripping, axing jobs and abusing tax loopholes." - Telegraph

MUNDELL WAS KNOCKED BACK BY LIB DEMS

"Top Tory David Mundell was rejected as a candidate for the Lib Dems because he was clueless about their party policy. The Record can reveal the shadow Scots secretary once hoped to represent the Lib Dems in a general election. But he was knocked back because he hadn't done his homework." - Daily Record

BROWN THE MASTER SNATCHER

"Relief is in sight. The members of the anti-Gordon Brown fan club who began to think they were doomed from here to eternity to watch the Chancellor present Budgets to the Commons can take heart: only one more to go. The Chancellor has been a master at snatching from an unaware middle class enough of its money to permit him to distribute goodies to groups he deems worthier. And despite warnings from the likes of me, the economy has nevertheless performed reasonably well in the past decade." - Telegraph

NHS "STOP SMOKING" BUDGET CUTS

"Many primary care trusts in England have cut their budget for stop smoking services, according to figures from the Conservative Party. A survey found that 44 of the 115 PCTs surveyed had cut or frozen funding during this financial year. A further 12 PCTs had raised their budgets by such a small amount that it amounted to a real terms cut." - BBC

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

Monday 12th March 2007

4:30pm Seats and Candidates update: James Wharton selected for Stockton South

1pm ToryDiary update: The trio of problems facing Labour today

12:30pm Seats and Candidates update: Last six for Hammersmith

11am: Text of David Cameron's environment speech (conservatives.com)

10.30am ToryDiary update: The Independent's green hypocrisy and nuclear confusion

BLOGS

ToryDiary: David Cameron wakes up to a second day of bad headlines

YourPlatform: Charles Elphicke - A little knowledge is a dangerous thing, a lot will make your rich

TOUR OF THE NEW CCHQ

"Dominating the HQ is a central hub, with four television screens tuned to the 24-hour news channels, where officials, including Steve Hilton, Mr Cameron's chief image adviser, George Bridges, campaign director, George Eustice, press secretary, and Henry Macrory, head of media, direct the party's response to day-to-day events. The computers store millions of words, facts and figures about policies of the Tories and their opponents. The team of press officers - whose average age is 28 - can usually respond to an opposition attack and get out a rebuttal within the hour." - Telegraph

BROWN VERSUS CAMERON ON CLIMATE CHANGE

"The competition over which party can devise the most ambitious policy for protecting the environment is encouraging in the sense that it shows that the environment has become part of the mainstream political battleground. But it is also misleading. This is because the Liberal Democrats - and now the Conservatives - have a far more serious strategy than the Government." - Independent leader

"Chancellor Gordon Brown and Conservative leader David Cameron will battle for leadership of the green agenda as they outline rival visions. The two men are delivering keynote speeches on climate change in a bid to seize the lead on the environment. Mr Brown will dismiss the Tories' ability to tackle green issues in the European Union because of the party's euro scepticism." - BBC

"The Tories are on about airfares yet again. This week, David Cameron and Gordon Brown will conduct a Dutch auction in how much to penalise you for environmental crimes. There is something oddly familiar about all this. Perhaps I am sceptical about the climate change campaign because its exponents remind me so much of the people I knew years ago on the Marxist Left: repressive, self-righteous, and inherently totalitarian." - Janet Daley in the Telegraph

LABOUR AND SNP's MUNDELL-LIKE PROBLEMS

"Scotland's party leaders don't have far to look for their troubles as the Holyrood elections loom ever nearer because all their difficulties are virtually home grown. First to have to come to terms with trouble in her own ranks was Annabel Goldie, the Tory leader, whose weekend and annual conference were all but wrecked by a particularly vicious memo from David Mundell, her supposed close colleague who is the main spokesman on Scotland in the shadow cabinet." - Alan Cochrane in the Telegraph

PC HAS NO PLACE IN THE ARMY

"Last week, Pat Mercer tried to make an important point, which was lost in the furore. Political correctness should have as little to do with military training as with military humour. Not long ago, 18-year-old boys were patrolling the Falls Road and South Armagh. Some of them were black. When the inhabitants saw them, they were not inclined to remark that although the British Army had no business in occupied Ireland, it should at least be praised for embracing diversity. It was more likely those lads would be told that if they did not get back to the trees, they would be going home in a box. So it was important that the soldiers had already learned self-control." - Bruce Anderson in the Independent

"The British Army could draw up an indictment against the British Government... The indictment would be that the Government failed to back the troops with adequate funding." - William Rees-Mogg in the Times

TRIDENT VOTE THIS WEDNESDAY

"Labour MPs opposed to early modernisation of Britain's Trident fleet will this week force Tony Blair to rely on Conservative support to push the policy through a divided House of Commons. Anti-Trident rebels will join forces with Liberal Democrats, most Nationalist MPs and a few Tories in voting either to delay a decision to build three or four new submarines until after 2014 or to abandon the UK's nuclear arm completely." - Guardian

BORIS THE DOG DETECTIVE

"Boris Johnson has enjoyed several jobs during his varied career but the Conservative MP has now turned detective to help his constituents to be reunited with their stolen dogs." - Times

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