ConservativeHome

Monday 31st March 2008

11pm ToryDiary: Tories 7% ahead in ComRes poll for The Independent

4.30pm Seats and candidates: Most women in top MEP slots received fewer votes than male rivals

2.30pm Andrew Lilico on CentreRight: 'If there is a recession, how bad could it be?'

1pm LondonMayor: You can take a journalist out of The Mirror but you can't take The Mirror out of the journalist

Noon LondonMayor: Cameron backs Boris

11.30am CentreRight:

• Harry Phibbs reveals that Boris is still 10% ahead on first preferences
• Samuel Coates wonders if British conservatives are as charitable as their American counterparts
• Peter Franklin thinks we should regard increasing commentary about the conduct of Brits abroad as a wake-up call

Local Government: Cllr Nick Cuff on the lack of local accountability for local policing

"The modern political marketplace is a competitive, open environment for ideas where previously business, government and other groups occupied their own spheres. Political leaders need to see themselves as wider influencers and be porous enough to exploit the competence and skill that is embedded in the system, both within and outside Government."

Platform: Elizabeth Truss looks at how new media is already changing society

ToryDiary: How well will the BNP do in May's elections?

Seats and Candidates: Will CCHQ publish the full results of last week's MEP selections?

Conservatives to try forcing a vote on scrapping HIPs

"Home Information Packs are taking weeks to produce and costing far more than the Government predicted, according to a report from estate agents. Some of the packs are costing more than £500 and more than half are over the target price of £350. And only one in eight is being produced within the predicted time of four to five working days. Fifty-two per cent are taking 12 days, the report claims, while 31 per cent are taking longer than 15 working days." - Mail

Replacing the BBC Trust with a Public Service Broadcasting Commission

"The BBC will lose millions of pounds under a broadcasting shake-up planned by the Tories, it emerged last night. Rival TV companies will be able to bid for licence fee cash to provide quality programmes. David Cameron wants to end the Beeb’s monopoly of the £3.2billion paid annually." - Sun

"The BBC would be forced to share the £3.2billion proceeds of the licence fee and scale back its dominant presence on the Internet under radical proposals by the Tories. The party also said commercial broadcasters which did not receive public money should no longer have to be politically impartial." - Mail

Yesterday's ToryDiary: Tory consultation paper proposes ending BBC's monopoly.

Conway faces inquiry into use of housing allowance

"Derek Conway, the disgraced Tory MP, faces a second Parliamentary inquiry into his use of expenses after it was disclosed that he pocketed a six-figure windfall from the sale of a property, understood to have been subsidised by the taxpayer. He is believed to have remortgaged his "second home" - a central London flat partly funded by the taxpayer - which was used to buy another semi-detached house in Kent." - Telegraph

Bureaucrats fining businesses

"A proposed law giving unelected officials powers to punish people for offences without going to court was attacked by Conservatives last night. Senior Tories said the legislation, which will give civil servants the power to issue fines, was “unjust and oppressive” and could cause “untold misery” for businesses." - Express

Party denies electoral strategy that ignores North

"Conservative Central Office last night rejected claims that the Tories have given up on the North of England. Reports yesterday suggested that the Conservative Party has drawn up plans to snub voters in the region - focusing instead on winnable seats in the South and the Midlands." - Northern Echo (See yesterday's Sunday Mirror for more)

Public mood has changed on tax

"Whatever happened to all those people who used to say that they would be Happy To Pay More Tax? Remember them? They were a notable feature of virtually every opinion poll for a good 10 years. Mr Brown has, I suspect, been relying heavily on the HTPMT brigade to sustain him through his years as PM just as he believed he could rely on them as Chancellor. Now, 67 per cent of people are telling the pollsters they believe they are paying too much tax. The rest of them are presumably lying, or else they are living on benefits." - Janet Daley in the Telegraph

Brown to steady nerves at PLP meeting

"The prime minister will use an appearance at the weekly meeting of the parliamentary Labour party to assure MPs that the government remains on course for what he has described as the "tough decisions" of 2008." - Guardian

Cabinet considers snap referendum on the Union

"Senior members of Gordon Brown’s Cabinet have discussed the idea of holding an immediate referendum on Scottish independence, but have ruled it out on the ground that such a move would only play into the hands of the SNP." - Times

Owen Paterson MP writes a diary of his week as Shadow Secretary of State for Northern Ireland.

Who is winning the left vs right battles?

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

Sunday 30th March 2008

11.30am ToryDiary: Who is winning the left v right battles?

ToryDiary: Tory consultation paper proposes ending the BBC monopoly

Owen Paterson MP on Platform describes a Week In His Life As Shadow Northern Ireland Secretary

Nile Gardiner on CentreRight: Des Browne appeases the Taliban

ConservativeHome continues to ask for more information about the gerrymandered MEP selection process.  Although difficult to confirm, we have already been told that Vicky Ford and Marina Yannakoudakis were given higher rankings by CCHQ than men who received more votes than them.

PlayPolitical: CNN report on Hillary Clinton's refusal to quit the race for the Democratic nomination

TWO MUST READ ARTICLES IN TODAY'S NEWSPAPERS:

(1) Government minister Ivan Lewis sets out manifesto for Labour recovery...

• "Policies on crime and poverty ahead of global warming.
• Ten years in prison for people carrying guns and knives.
• Foreign criminals to be deported immediately.
• A government that fights for people's rights if they are ripped off.
• Equal rights for white men at work"

Read the full article in the News of the World.

(2) Michael Portillo warns of big trouble ahead for MPs when their expenses are revealed...

"The House of Commons is headed for catastrophe. When the details of members’ expense claims are published, as they are bound to be under freedom of information laws, the public will be appalled. They will see that MPs help themselves to allowances as thinly disguised bonuses."

Read the full article in The Sunday Times.

Michael Gove condemns Labour's approval of sale of 19 schools' playing fields last year

"It is ironic that the government is selling off school playing fields on the eve of a campaign to get children to lead more active lives. The planning rules need to be changed to make it easier to set up schools and use them for education and recreation. At the moment, the government's whole approach doesn't protect what we have, or allow for expansion where it's needed." - Quoted in The Observer

Nick Herbert pledges to stop releasing terrorists early - Observer

John Rentoul: Labour is winning all of the big arguments

"Labour has won the intellectual argument on education, in that the Tories no longer want to go back to selection. It has won the argument about poverty, because the Tories want to abolish child poverty too, instead of dismissing it as a utopian dream. And the argument about tax cuts versus public spending has been resolved in Labour's favour." - Independent on Sunday

Alan Johnson to announce 'voucher system' for patients with acute medical conditions - Sunday Telegraph

Positive reaction from The Sunday Telegraph's leader writers: "Mr Johnson's plan to give patients the power to choose which hospital will treat them has the potential to end that dismal situation for good. But it will do so only if patients are properly informed. We hope and expect the Government to provide all of the necessary information."

"The Army's most hard-pressed fighting units are losing more than 1,000 troops a year through drug abuse and desertion"

"Patrick Mercer, the Tory MP and a former infantry commander, said: "Only one in 10 who walk into an Army recruiting office actually make it into the infantry.  They are a highly valuable resource and to lose this number when they are facing the brunt of the fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan is a terribly serious blow to the Army."" - Sunday Telegraph

Infighting within 10 Downing Street intensifies - The Sunday Times

Christian charity funds twelve interns for MPs including Caroline Spelman - The Independent on Sunday

Mark Thatcher, the son of former prime minister Margaret Thatcher, has married again in a secret ceremony in Gibraltar - Reuters

On this day in 1978 the Tories recruited Saatchi & Saatchi to be their advertisers - BBC

"Widespread" evidence of illegal immigrants working in care homes - Sky

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

Saturday 29th March 2008

2pm ToryDiary: LibDems are to the left of Labour

Platform: Tom Mludzinski on nuclear disarmament

Seats and Candidates: The story of MEP candidate selection

PlayPolitical: Barack Obama denies Democrat contest has got dirty

Have you voted in the March survey yet?

The prospect of Boris beating Livingstone

"The race is far from over but in Downing Street there is a weary anticipation that the incumbent will lose. Some will claim that Mr Brown’s allies are seeking to depress expectations and rally opposition to the Tory candidate in talking up the threat to Mr Livingstone." - Times

"The symbolic effect would be huge. Not since 1979 would there have been such a big gain by the Tories from Labour - and a gain at the heart of world-famous territory that Labour believes it owns. Mayor Boris would represent generational change in favour of the Tories more strikingly than anyone since Margaret Thatcher misquoted Francis of Assisi on the steps of Number 10 nearly 30 years ago." - Charles Moore in the Telegraph

Cameron's speech on the economy

"Britain is heading for tougher economic times, yet Gordon Brown has failed to prepare for the downturn, David Cameron has warned." - Telegraph

"Tory leader David Cameron yesterday promised a new era of “economic dynamism” in his efforts to woo business leaders." - Express

Brown stressing over polls

"Equally worrying to ministers and Labour MPs is the state of mind of the messenger himself. Desperate to improve Labour's fortunes, Mr Brown is hardly sleeping. His fingernails bitten to the quick, he barks down the phone at callers and most mornings has fired off dozens of bad-tempered emails to officials before 5am. Anecdotes abound of Mr Brown roaming Number 10 in the middle of the night grumbling about why the doors to the Cabinet room are locked." - Toby Helm in the Telegraph

How Harlow's 'GMTV families' are deserting Brown - Telegraph

The ditherer tag hurts Brown

"Every week Mr Cameron plugs away with his “dither and delay” strategy and it is beginning to stick. For, like all the best slurs, there is truth in it. Just as alarmingly for No 10, there also seems to be an almost uncanny growing resemblance between Mr Brown and Mr Bean." - Ann Treneman in the Times

The increasingly bearable lightness of being George Osborne

"The japes and one-liners, along with his age, at first made him seem mischievously slight. They also called into question the key quality that any shadow chancellor needs to project, especially if he wants to lure voters from the known quantity of an incumbent government at a time of economic gloom: sober judgment. Yet even some of his opponents concede that Mr Osborne has matured since taking on the job in 2005." - Economist

Cameron having a couple of pints of bitter

"On the face of it, re-opening a pub wouldn't appear too onerous task for a self-styled "man of the people". But somehow Tory leader David Cameron managed to make having a mid-afternoon pint look more uncomfortable than a grilling in the House of Commons" - Mail

The Church and politics

"Atheists and believers do not have to be locked in destructive political combat. Politicians listen to scientists, to the military, even to economists. If politics is to play its role in overcoming evil, then it must also listen to the Church. For 2,000 years the Church has grown as an “expert in humanity”, notably thanks to her patient listening in the confessional, in her apostolate with the sick and the poor, and in her experience of persecution." - Former PPC James Mawdsley in the Times

The Speaker must go

"It is not his misinterpretation of procedure that disqualifies him, nor his touchiness, nor his partisanship - though, taken cumulatively, all these have served to undermine his position. Nor should he resign over rows concerning his wife's use of his allowances. Such rows are undignified and distracting, but not hanging offences.No, the reason Mr Martin should step down is that he is meant to be the representative and agent of parliamentary supremacy." - Telegraph leader

Terrorists released to ease overcrowding

"Urgent changes were made to the Government’s early-release scheme for prisoners last night after the disclosure that two terrorists had been freed before the end of their sentences. The two releases are embarrassing for ministers. Next week Parliament is to debate giving police powers to detain terrorist suspects for up to 42 days." - Times

"The decision to award early release to a man jailed for a terrorist offence was attacked by the Conservatives yesterday. The Ministry of Justice confirmed Yassin Nassari, who was arrested at Luton Airport with blueprints for a rocket in his luggage, was freed 17 days early." - Herald

Cameron calls for inquiry into humiliating T5 opening - Guardian

Meet the single mum who is the BBC's new Economics Editor - Mail

British planes strafe Basra - Times

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

Friday 28th March 2008

6.30pm PlayPolitical: David Cameron discusses Labour's failure to "reassure" on the economy

4.45pm CentreRight: Douglas Murray on Geert Wilders' 'Fitna'

4.45pm Seats and candidates: Request for full transparency of MEP selection ballot

3.45pm ToryDiary: Conservative support is broader but not much deeper

2.15pm ToryDiary: Our March survey is now live

12.45pm Seats and candidates: MEP rankings announced today

12pm LondonMayor: Bookies backing away from Livingstone

10am CentreRight: Charlie Elphicke highlights the importance of today's speech from David Cameron on the economy

10am: We thought the Mirror story was petty but this is quite funny.... MouseBreaker.com has created Dangerous Dave's Run The Red Light Cycling Game

ToryDiary: Will McCain learn from Cameron's social justice agenda? and Tories maintain large lead in latest YouGov poll

John Leonard on Platform: Reducing the number of MPs would be bad for democracy

Parliament: Nigel Evans and Peter Bottomley sign EDM opposing gay Iranian's extradition

MUST WATCH >>>
PlayPolitical video: Hillary Clinton seen shooting snipers in new video mocking her "dangerous" visit to Bosnia

David Cameron: Tax relief is third priority after higher spending and reduced borrowing

"Mr Cameron said that he wanted to cut the size of the state but that reducing borrowing would come before tax cuts.  “Using the tax burden is never a good idea because you can reduce or increase the tax burden depending on what you do with government borrowing,” he said. “It is not a good measure of our success.”" - FT

"Conservative leader David Cameron is to call for "a new economic strategy" to help the UK's companies create jobs as well as opportunities to succeed.  He is expected to demand better infrastructure for firms in areas such as transport, to move goods around, and education, to nurture new talent." - BBC

Greg Clark MP: Tax credits do not cure poverty, they disguise it

"Tax credits may be the real achilles heal for Labour because people get stuck in low paid jobs without the prospect of financial or skills progress. You get into this undesirable equilibrium where people are in work but need income support. That is not poverty cured, that is poverty disguised." - Greg Clark MP quoted in The Guardian

The new target political group: The GMTV family

"They do not want a government to interfere in their lives. They want to send their children to a school without the risk that they will be knifed. They want reassurance that they will not lose their job to India. They want protection from terrorists. They are worried about immigration levels." - Identified in The Telegraph

Scottish Labour's Wendy Alexander gives game away for 2010 election - Telegraph

Tories should not oppose electoral reform for the House of Lords and local government - Iain Dale in The Telegraph

Preferential votes give Tories cause to consider poll reform - Peter Riddell in The Times

Could the LibDems win Henley if Boris becomes Mayor? - Andrew Sparrow in The Guardian

"Of [business people] polled, 62 per cent would prefer the Tory candidate to win, with 24 per cent opting for Mr Livingstone and 15 per cent for Brian Paddick, the Liberal Democrat candidate." - Independent

Sarkozy visit: The Europhilia and the questionable troops promise

Sarkozy embarrasses Brown by praising his 'great job on the EU Treaty' - Daily Mail

Con Coughlin pours cold water on the French President's offer of more troops for Afghanistan: "At present, the 1,500 French troops in Afghanistan are nowhere near the main area of action, where the thankless task of trying to subjugate the Taliban has been left to the British, American, Canadian, Dutch and Danish troops in the south of the country.  But then, those who have dealt with Mr Sarkozy before on these issues have found that the headline-grabbing promises he makes during high-profile meetings with foreign leaders in reality don't amount to very much." - Telegraph

Church and science don't have to be at war - Mark Pritchard MP in The Telegraph

White working-class teenagers perform worse than their black and Asian classmates at GCSEs - Guardian

Mark Thatcher faces new extradition threat to Equatorial Guinea - Telegraph

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

Thursday 27th March 2008

10.15pm: "THE POST-BUREAUCRATIC AGE"
Louise Bagshawe reviews today's conference exploring David Cameron's big idea

5.15pm ToryDiary: What questions should be posed in the next ConservativeHome survey?

4.15pm: Getting rid of Early Day Motions would pay for 32 more nurses. Dan Hamilton wants them scrapped. Do you agree?

Three LondonMayor stories:

• Boris launches environment manifesto
• Electoral Commission clears Livingstone on donations BUT...
• Boris wins a landslide in "Facebook election"

+ Over at CentreRight, Greg Hands MP discovers more fiction from Ken Livingstone.

CentreRight on John McCain's foreign policy speech

ToryDiary: As the SNP schemes a way to independence, could scrapping the Barnett formula be George Osborne's next electrifying move?

Local government: Shadow cabinet pledge 340 campaigning days to May 1st's elections

Ben Rogers on Platform reviews the book Benazir Bhutto finished before her untimely death: A manifesto for freedom from beyond the grave

PlayPolitical: Watch Cameron and Brown clash on economy during yesterday's PMQs - providing commentary, Sky's Adam Boulton considers it significant that the Tory leader now feels able to challenge the PM on economic issues.  Also read The Times' Peter Riddell on this issue.

Speaker Martin under fire for silencing MP who questioned his attempts to hide expenses information

"The authority of Michael Martin, the Commons Speaker, was challenged again yesterday after he barred MPs from discussing the High Court action to block the disclosure of their expenses.  Mr Martin astonished MPs by telling those who disagreed with the Commons authorities' decision to fight a Freedom of Information tribunal ruling to attend the court hearing if they wanted to find out the grounds for the appeal." - Independent

"The Liberal Democrats feel 'furious' and 'let down' over the Commons' High Court appeal on MPs' expenses.  According to Sky sources, the Lib Dem chief whip has written to Commons Speaker Michael Martin demanding clarification on when the 14 MPs' additional expenses are to be released." - Sky

Scotland's First Minister Alex Salmond cost Commons £130,000 in expenses and visited Parliament just six times - Times

Has Brown written off Ken Livingstone?

"Gordon Brown has all but written off Ken Livingstone’s chances of winning the London mayoral election, according to close allies." - Times

RMT say they will never sign the no-strike + compulsory arbitration deal proposed by Boris Johnson - Guardian

MPs' Defence Cttee recommends cancellation of aircraft carriers to meet procurement needs - Guardian

Labour MPs attack Harriet Harman's 'black shortlists' plan

"Black and Asian Labour MPs have attacked plans by the Government to bring in "all-black" shortlists to boost the number of MPs from ethnic minorities.  Some MPs have warned that the idea by the Commons leader, Harriet Harman, would create "political apartheid" and set back the search for a "British Barack Obama". Their intervention could help to kill off the proposal." - Independent

Greg Clark warns that charities could become covert party fundraisers if political campaigning becomes their "dominant" activity - ePolitix

David Davis on attack as marriage rates fall to lowest ever level

"Marriage rates in England and Wales have fallen to their lowest level since records began, fuelling accusations from family campaigners that Labour is "killing marriage off"." - Telegraph

The Shadow Home Secretary: "“This is a sad indictment of the Government’s policies which have penalised families and fueled family breakdown. Stable families are the best formula for bringing up children and preventing delinquency, anti-social behaviour and crime. So a failed family policy is itself a major cause of crime.  Across the board Gordon Brown’s policies have let down Britain and caused more problems.  Conservative policies will support the family by shifting the tax burden away from families and giving 1.8m families an extra £2,000 a year.”

Andrew Tyrie MP: "Parliament should kick out the Climate Change Bill"

"Politicians of all parties are engaged in an auction of ever larger promises on the scale of carbon reduction... The Bill would impose at least a 60 per cent reduction on 1990 levels. Opposition parties have been advocating 80 per cent. Recently Tony Blair suggested that emissions of the richer nations should fall “close to zero”.  Such drastic reductions in the use of fossil fuels and therefore huge increases in the cost of energy - in industry, for heating our homes and in our cars - would leave us all worse off. It would hit the poor hardest, for whom energy is a larger proportion of their income." - The Times

Don't rush into re-regulating the financial sector - John Gapper in the FT

President Bush welcomes crackdown in Basra

"In an interview with The Times, [President Bush] backed the Iraqi Government’s decision to “respond forcefully” to the spiralling violence by “criminal elements” and Shia extremists in Basra. “It was a very positive moment in the development of a sovereign nation that is willing to take on elements that believe they are beyond the law,” the President said."

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

Wednesday 26th March 2008

4.30pm CentreRight:

• Peter Whittle on the disgraceful NUT debate about military recruitment
• Martin Parsons on the odd NUT policy document against faith schools
• Harry Phibbs thinks Alan Milburn should join the Tories
• Andrew Lilico makes a case for a different kind of Iraq inquiry
• Alex Deane on the right to represent oneself in court

3.30pm LondonMayor: New Evening Standard blog focuses on Ken Livingstone's efforts to win the war of second preferences

ToryDiary: Live PMQs blog from noon

11.15am Local government: Defector savages LibDems as lacking "common belief, idea or value system"

"Servicemen and women of all faith groups and none already swear an Oath of Alligence to the Queen on joining the Armed Forces, and so do MPs when entering the Commons, but in each circumstance, swearing the Oath is a condition of employment and membership - not a pre-requisite for acquiring basic legal rights. Today, it is less clear, whether a new generation of young adults, many from other faiths, will be willing to swear alligence to the Defender of the Faith – a Christian faith?"

Mark Pritchard MP on Platform: Should all new citizens swear an oath to the Queen?

ToryDiary: Sins of omission

Parliament: William Hague makes the case for an inquiry into the Iraq war

Robert Halfon on CentreRight welcomes the sweeping away of restrictions on demonstrating close to parliament

Speaker Martin set to waste £100,000 fighting futile case to keep MPs' expense claims secret

"Shameless MPs yesterday launched a High Court bid to keep their expenses secret — and the fight will cost taxpayers a fortune.  The last-ditch legal stand follows a three-year battle to force the release of claims made by 14 leading MPs, including Gordon Brown and David Cameron.  The Commons has already blown more than £50,000 of taxpayers’ cash trying to fend off freedom of information campaigners. The High Court action will cost at least £100,000." - The Sun

"Michael Martin will cost the tax-payer at least £100,000 trying to prevent publication of details of how MPs spend the £23,000 additional costs allowance, in the face of a tribunal announcement last month that they should be released." - Times

Michael Fallon MP calls on Financial Services Authority to apologise for its supervision of Northern Rock

"“They failed in their duty,” he said. “There were too few people regulating a very large bank and they didn't pay enough attention to liquidity issues.”  Mr Fallon also questioned whether the FSA should have been allowed by the Treasury to conduct its own internal investigation. “I'm surprised that they've been allowed to investigate their own failure,” he said. “The police wouldn't be allowed to do that.”" - Times

Tory councillor in sterilisation row suspended - Sky

"A Conservative Central Office spokesman said: "These remarks are abhorrent and the Conservative Party disassociates itself from them."" - Herald

All London mayoral candidates attacked by businessleaders for "dogmatic" opposition to Heathrow expansion - FT

Gordon Brown launches campaign for "extremely tough" set of local elections - Guardian

Gordon Brown to tell US to re-engage in world on his second Washington visit as PM - Telegraph

Skilled migrants come to UK in record numbers - Telegraph

MPs will get final say on going to war and ban on parliamentary demonstrations will be lifted - Independent

Reform of the Lords should be at the heart of Labour's constitutional plans - FT leader

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

Tuesday 25th March 2008

5.30pm Parliament: Labour MPs campaign for boycott of Total Politics, magazine part-funded by Lord Ashcroft

5.15pm PlayPolitical: Watch David Cameron speak in favour of theyworkforyou's Free Our Bills campaign

4.15pm ToryDiary: Vindication for David Cameron as Brown retreats on Embryology Bill

3pm CentreRight selections:

• Apartheid may have gone, but animosity lives on in South Africa says Robert Halfon
• Charlie Elphicke blames Labour for stagnant incomes and rising prices
• Tim Montgomerie applauds Con Coughlin's fact checking of the BBC on Iraq
• Matthew Parris needs to pay more attention to the Tory hares writes Peter Franklin.

Noon ToryDiary: Putting human rights at the heart of foreign policy

10am ToryDiary: Fox condemns NUT for considering banning armed forces going into schools

ToryDiary: Commitment to rescue failing schools from local authority control underlines new centrality of education in Tory strategy

Stephen Crabb MP on Platform: A Conservative agenda for UN reform

Local government: Flagship Tory councils under fire for working with fringe Muslim groups and Eric Pickles accuses Labour of favouring urban north in local government funding

Andrew Lilico on CentreRight: Political parties need whips to exist - and that will sometimes include whipping "conscience" matters

Andrew Mitchell wants overseas aid civil servants to immerse themselves in the poverty of their destination countries

"Under the new Tory policy, all officials with the ministry will be required to live with the locals in poor villages - at least for the first few weeks of their posting - so they can experience first-hand the poverty of the people they have been sent to help.  The move comes after the National Audit Office and the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development criticised the Government for failing to encourage ministry staff to leave the comfort of capital cities to engage with the poor in rural areas." - Telegraph

Labour's plans for voting reform

"The Conservatives on Monday accused Labour of wanting to move the electoral goalposts to rig the next general election, after it emerged ministers are considering a change to the UK’s first-past-the-post voting system." - FT

Electoral reform could be just what Brown needs - Steve Richards in The Independent

Yesterday's ToryDiary: Has Labour's revived interest in voting reform got anything to do with the Conservatives' 16% poll lead?

Tory report on the cost of living

"David Cameron yesterday challenged the government's official inflation figures, claiming that the cost of living is running at a far higher rate." - Scotsman

Yesterday's ToryDiary: The double whammy has landed

Embryo Bill

Individual Conservatives and LibDem MPs will ensure that Brown gets the Bill passed - Telegraph

"Mr Cameron said that the Catholic Church was entitled to express its opinion, but added: “There is a danger that people can overstate what is in this Bill and that is all the greater need for it to be debated calmly and reasonably in Parliament. My own view, and I think [that of] many people in the Conservative Party, is we need to update the legislation. This sort of research is important. We all want to see diseases reduced and problems that children have, birth defects, dealt with.”" - Times

Cameron gives "cautious welcome" to new measures to curb smoking - FT

William Hague doubles fundraising in north - Times

Boris "in secret talks" with executives to help run London - FT

65,000 Poles eligible to vote in Mayoral election - Sky

Medway Tory councillor facing calls to resign after urging sterilisation for parents on state aid 

"There is an increasingly strong case for compulsory sterilisation of all those who have had a second child - or third, or whatever - while living off state benefits.  It would clearly take a lot of social pressures off all concerned, thus protecting the youngsters themselves to some degree, and remove the incentive to breed for greed, ie for more public subsidy." - Cllr John Ward writing on his personal website, quoted in The Telegraph

Tories calculate that Labour Government clocked up 300 million air miles last year - Independent

Gordon Brown writes in defence of the United Kingdom - Telegraph

"Detailed expenses of 14 prominent MPs and former MPs, including the prime minister, David Cameron and Tony Blair, are expected to be published later today" - BBC

George W Bush under fire for attending traditional White House Easter Egg roll as 4,000th US soldier dies in Iraq

More at WhiteHouse.gov.

"The timing was, to say the least, unfortunate.  As President Bush frolicked with a 6ft bunny at the Easter egg-rolling celebrations on the White House lawns yesterday, news was reaching the American public that the U.S. death toll in Iraq had reached 4,000.  For the presidential image-makers, it could hardly have been a worse juxtaposition of events, and they were quick to try to limit the damage.  Aides said that it was a "sober moment" when Mr Bush was told the 4,000th American life had been lost just days after the fifth anniversary of the Iraqi invasion." - Daily Mail

PlayPolitical video: After 4,000th US soldier dies Bush says it will not have been in vain

William Hague: Iraq inquiry – if not now, when? - conservatives.com notes today's Opposition Day debate calling for an inquiry into the Iraq war.

New Liberal Democrat website aims to hold Tory and Labour MPs to account for Iraq war votes.

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

Easter Monday 2008

8.30pm PlayPolitical:  Home made video suggests Hillary Clinton misled over "dangerous" visit to Bosnia

1.15pm ToryDiary: Has Labour's revived interest in voting reform got anything to do with the Conservatives' 16% poll lead?

12.15pm CentreRight: Samuel Coates asks what a vote of conscience actually is

11.30am ToryDiary: The double whammy has landed - David Cameron launches campaign against the rising cost of living under Gordon Brown

***

"Whilst anxious to have the money Labour is no longer the party of the working class let alone the Unions. The Unions have had very poor picking from Labour's feast and this is reflected regularly in the Trades Union journals, where there are constant complaints of being ignored and/or overlooked by Labour Ministers and policymakers. Conservatives may have come late to this party but we are bringing a nice bottle of wine!"

Platform: Richard Balfe on the Conservatives' relationship with the unions

Cost of living campaign

"David Cameron will on Monday seek to put the economy centre stage in May’s crucial local elections, accusing Gordon Brown of presiding over a massive increase in the “real” cost of living. The Conservative leader will use a campaign visit in London to highlight recent increases in commodity prices. The opposition party will seek to reinforce the message by publishing an analysis of how the rising cost of living is affecting families." - FT

"Labour has become "out of touch" with the lives of working people and Alistair Darling's Budget will only make matters worse, the Conservative leader will argue." - Telegraph

"Value significant features"

"Millions of homes could face higher council tax bills after being put on registers detailing whether they have nice views or car parking, the Tories claimed last night." - Sun

SNP a wolf in sheep's clothing

"Scots Tory leader Annabel Goldie yesterday launched an attack on the SNP government, claiming the Nationalists' "left-wing agenda" was beginning to be revealed. Miss Goldie accused ministers of "living in the past" when it came to public services and she claimed: "The SNP's left-wing agenda for Scotland's public services is starting to emerge. They may have succeeded in keeping it under wraps during the election and its immediate aftermath, but there is only so long you can hide your true colours."" - Herald

Brown losing the South

"Deborah Mattinson, his pollster, warned party workers at a private meeting this month that the Tories have overtaken Labour in the crucial C1 and C2 social groups - the swing voters in Britain's most populous and sensitive electoral region. The sense that the south is slipping away underlies a fierce debate in the Labour party. Labour modernisers want Mr Brown to speed up public service reform and to address the perception his government is uneasy with wealth and aspiration." - FT

Government to look at radical voting reform

"A significant overhaul of electoral legislation to give voters a second vote, open polling stations at weekends and make it compulsory to participate is being proposed by the government to increase turnout and improve the legitimacy of the Commons." - Guardian

Growing pressure on HFE bill

"The health secretary, Alan Johnson, who is responsible for piloting the bill through the Commons, said no MPs would be forced to vote against their conscience, but stopped short of a commitment that MPs would be entitled to vote against parts of the bill... Cardinal Cormac Murphy-O'Connor, the Archbishop of Westminster, yesterday became the most senior Catholic clergyman to call publicly for Labour MPs to be granted a free vote." - Guardian

"The British believe in secular science but have ceased to have faith in their religious instincts. In 1990 it was not just the hereditary peers who found the idea of animal-human hybrids simply too disgusting to be tolerated. It was the common response, the “yuk” factor as a test of the limits of scientific experimentation." - William Rees-Mogg in the Times

"That is the thing about the individual conscience - it is not for the majority, the government or the chief whip to decide when it applies. The only people who can decide on an issue of conscience are individuals themselves." - Guardian leader

"It is right that the United Kingdom should be at the forefront of this scientific endeavour. It would be wrong, nevertheless, for the question not to be debated openly, and ultimately approved because of the sincere will of the majority in the House of Commons rather than the dead hand of the Whip’s office." - Times leader

"The suggestion from Downing Street yesterday that a free vote would be offered to those MPs who feel strongly about the issue, but only on condition that it does not jeopardise the legislation, will appear to many to be both panicky and cynical." - Telegraph leader

Rowan Williams on wealth

"The Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr Rowan Williams, has issued an outspoken attack on the "greed" consuming the world’s civilised nations, warning against the rush for oil, power and territory. In his Easter Sunday sermon, Dr Williams said the "comforts and luxuries" people took for granted could not be sustained forever and forecast that civilisation would one day collapse." - Telegraph

"We have our differences with the Archbishop of Canterbury, but we have always admired his intelligence and piety. These are never more sublimely on display than when he eschews politics and sticks to theology, as he did in his sermon yesterday" - Telegraph leader

Postwar influence-peddling

"Conservative MPs who won seats in the years after the second world war, when the Commons was lightly regulated, died twice as rich as similar Tory candidates who failed to get elected - largely thanks to "influence-peddling" for outside interests, research suggests. In sharp contrast, Labour MPs of the 1950-70 period whose wills and personal background were studied by two Harvard PhD students received no discernible financial benefit as a result of being elected, the study, MPs for Sale?, concluded." - Guardian

Leaders' housing improvements

"Mandrake hears that the Tory leader has refused to be cowed by local panjandrums who ordered him to remove the wind turbine from the roof of his house last year after it was disclosed that he did not have the correct planning permission. Cameron has now submitted an application to re-erect the turbine, in the face of furious complaints from one well-connected neighbour." - Telegraph

"Conservatives have accused Gordon Brown of sending thousands of pounds of taxpayers' money up in smoke after it emerged that a "cigarette break" shelter is being constructed within a few dozen yards of Number 10." - PA

Teachers union want return to liberal 80s education - Guardian

Victoria Crosses recovered following bounty from Ashcroft - Telegraph

Cigarettes to be sold under the counter - Times

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

Easter Sunday 2008

ToryDiary: Tories appoint former MEP as envoy to Britain's union movement

Anthony Makara on Platform: Britain imports too much

The Events guide has been updated.

PlayPolitical: Bill Clinton hopes for Hillary-McCain general election

Tim Montgomerie on CentreRight: A God that never gives up on us

Godless Britain?

"Look at the paintings of the Crucifixion by the great Flemish Masters such as Hieronymus Bosch and you will see, baying or sneering at Golgotha, exactly the same snarling, contorted, heedless faces you find on the drunken streets of our country. These artists were trying to tell us that, if we reject the idea of absolute unchanging goodness, we will become like that mob, and part of it." - Peter Hitchens in the Mail on Sunday

George Osborne: America's superior response to the credit crisis

"The contrast between the responses of the US authorities and the British Government could not be starker. In America, the attitude is: we will do whatever it takes. Here, our hapless Chancellor boasts about his "do nothing" Budget.  The activity and leadership being shown on the other side of the Atlantic is the exact opposite of the lack of leadership and dithering being shown by Gordon Brown's Government.  Look at the decisive way the Bear Stearns crisis was dealt with, compared with the chronic delay and indecision displayed over Northern Rock. Bear Stearns was a huge investment bank with $10 trillion of outstanding commitments with other institutions." - The Shadow Chancellor in The Sunday Telegraph

Charles Clarke MP: Labour's majority will disappear if 7,417 Britons vote differently next time

"A former cabinet minister has circulated a “doomsday list” of Labour MPs at risk of losing their seats if fewer than 7,500 voters switch sides.  Charles Clarke, the former home secretary, warns that because of boundary changes the party needs to lose only 24 seats, predominantly in London and the southeast, to be stripped of its overall majority." - The Sunday Times

A PDF of the Clarke memo.

"Scottish Labour is facing a major split amid fresh demands that it swing to the left in order to prevent future electoral disaster.  A coordinated campaign will be staged at this week's party conference in Aviemore, with left-wingers demanding that Gordon Brown and Scottish party leader Wendy Alexander ditch the Blairite policies of New Labour and return to old-fashioned Socialism." - Scotland on Sunday

Boris V Livingstone: All Tory MPs ordered to campaign

The Sunday Times overviews the mayoral race: "One activist said the “Back Boris” campaign is now being run so rigidly that workers must fill in time sheets listing their time spent electioneering each day.  “The mood has changed dramatically,” he said. “Before, it was: ‘We can win this’. But with the polls so strong, now it is felt we’ll look like incompetent idiots if we don’t win.”  Caroline Spelman, the Tory chairman, has written to all 194 MPs and prospective candidates telling them to spend five days campaigning for Johnson."

Gordon Brown is scared of losing London - Matthew d'Ancona in The Sunday Telegraph

Eric Pickles condemns secret council tax revaluation

"Millions of homes face higher council tax bills after being logged as having off-street parking or a pleasant view, The Sunday Telegraph can disclose.  Ministers have admitted that Government inspectors are building a secret database that will eventually cover all 23 million homes in England...  Last night, Eric Pickles, the Conservative local government spokesman, said: "This is new evidence of the Government's great council tax cover-up. Ministers' claims that the revaluation in England was postponed have been completely shredded. "Every home is being sized up, and every home improvement or sign of a nice neighbourhood is slowly being photographed, catalogued and taxed by Gordon Brown's inspectors. Families face soaring bills for the crime of living in a nice neighbourhood. Only Labour would think of taxing people for looking out of their windows." - Sunday Telegraph

Tories want driving ban to begin after offenders have served any related prison sentence - BBC

Cormac Murphy O'Connor joins calls for free vote on Embryology vote - BBC | Sky Video

Blair had a Jesus complex, says his former chief of staff - Independent on Sunday

Gordon Brown urged to curtail "moonlighting" by part-time MPs - Independent on Sunday

On this day in 1991 John Major launched the Citizens Charter - BBC

General Petraeus on progress in Iraq

"Violence overall is down about 60 per cent on last year. Al-Qa'eda is on the run, its former allies among Iraq's Sunni Muslims having turned against it. Iran-backed Shia Muslim militias are on a voluntary ceasefire, thanks to the cowing of their al-Qa'eda enemies. And most importantly, many ordinary Iraqis finally feel like things might be turning the corner." - Sunday Telegraph

Watch Telegraph interview.

John Howard's successor looks to emulate David Cameron - The Australian

And finally...

David Cameron thwarts Hazel Blears' attempts to stop him being photographed outside the Salford Lads Club, immortalised by The Smiths - Sunday Times

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

Saturday 22nd March 2008

3.15pm ToryDiary: Too many straw men, too few bold political voices

Dr Teck Khong on Platform: Where are the Chinese Britons in politics?

CentreRight: It's time for charities to do more and campaign less says Robert Halfon and Tim Montgomerie posts: Nick Robinson attacks Jeremy Paxman's handling of the news

Police to give Conservative leader David Cameron cycling safety advice - Mirror

PlayPolitical: Watch David Cameron break the rules of the road (Yesterday's ToryDiary)

Churchleaders attack Brown's crushing of Catholic objections to 'Frankenstein Bill'

"Cardinal Keith O'Brien will use his Easter Sunday sermon to censure the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Bill, which will allow scientists to create part-human, part-animal embryos for use in stem cell experiments... Cardinal O'Brien said yesterday he hoped that Catholic ministers would be prepared to resign rather than accept orders to back the legislation but, ultimately, it was a matter of individual conscience." - Telegraph

Yesterday's CentreRight: 'Are Catholics welcome in Labour?' asks Louise Bagshawe

Francis Maude: "There's absolutely no reason why a third of permanent secretaries shouldn't be women."

In a wide-ranging issue with The Telegraph, Francis Maude, trendily wearing Abercrombie & Fitch, proposes more equality across Whitehall and warns: "There are those who think that if you commit to massive tax cuts then people will automatically vote for us, but people are not impressed these days with politicians promising tax cuts that look like us serving our electoral self interest by appealing to their self interest."

The Guardian talks to Nick Clegg about his ambition to make "taxes fairer, greener and - if possible - lower."

Simon Heffer: Derek Conway should resign

"Dave has chucked him out of the Tory party, which was the least he could do. But Mr Conway, who has owned up to certain misdemeanours and who it seems is going to get away with many more, can only stop being an MP if he chooses to resign. What is stopping him? Has he no shame? Don't these people ever know when the game is up?" - Telegraph

"Senior MPs have promised sweeping changes to their system of expenses following the Metropolitan Police's decision not to investigate the Conservative MP who paid his son for work he did not carry out." - Independent

"Tories say Labour MPs in marginal seats are spending a £10,000 communications grant as a “save our seats” subsidy." - The Sun

Matthew Parris: Where is political leadership?

Returning to a theme he wrote about last week, Matthew Parris today: "Where today is the bold advocacy, the impatience to persuade, the urgency of argument? Where are the shouts of “Here's how!”? ...Where are the leading actors, the big voices, the great thoughts?  Pictures of David Cameron in his kitchen, a family scene sweetly contrived to frame his thoughts on paternity leave, or whatever, and images of the passionless figure cut by Alistair Darling at the dispatch box, his grey stare charged with all the philosophical depth of a shop-window mannequin, stick in my mind. Are these the spirits of the political age?" - Times

Peter Oborne also thinks that Britain is entering very tough times that demand more of our political leaders: "New Labour loved to talk about 'tough choices' at a time when they did not exist. Now that those tough choices are just round the corner, the country will soon discover just how able it is to make them." - Daily Mail

Andrew Grice: Only the LibDems were right on Iraq

"On Tuesday, the Conservative Party will propose an inquiry into the conflict to ensure all lessons are learnt. It, too, is trying to rewrite history. Without its support, Mr Blair would have lost the crucial Commons vote and Britain would not have gone to war. The only party that doesn't want to rewind the tape is the Liberal Democrats, whose opposition to the war has been totally vindicated." - The Independent

Sir Edward Heath's Salisbury home, Arundells, now open to the public

"On his death in July 2005, the unmarried Heath left almost all his £5.4 million estate, largely made up of Arundells and its contents, to a charitable foundation to open the house as a museum. Arundells is almost as Heath left it when he died in his bedroom." - Telegraph

Click here to see more and book a tour.

Former Tory sports minister Colin Moynihan argues that an Olympics boycott won't work - Times

Teachers' union wants help for parents to say 'no' to spoilt kids - BBC

My Society want parliamentary Bills published in a way that is compatible with the internet age - Telegraph | Sign up to the campaign

And finally...

"The price of providing tap water around the House of Commons would be five times that of bottled water, according to “bizarre” estimates from parliament’s administration committee." - FT

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

Good Friday 2008

Midnight CentreRight: Nick Robinson attacks Jeremy Paxman's handling of the news

3.15pm ToryDiary: Cameron apologises for cycling offences

1pm Louise Bagshawe on CentreRight: Are Catholics welcome in Labour?

ToryDiary: The shadow cabinet versus the cabinet in parliament

"The ‘Curse Of The Favourite’ has struck several times in recent years.  When you are out in front and people know who you are, all eyes are focussed on you, every move you make is analysed then re-analysed, every speech you make is carefully picked through by your opponents, and - most importantly - every mistake you make is magnified a hundred times."

Tom Richmond on Platform: The curse of the favourite

LondonMayor: All fourteen candidates for London Mayor

Robert Halfon at CentreRight: Nelson Mandila collected me from the airport

ePolitix readers think hung parliament is most likely outcome of next election - ePolitix.com

Derek Conway will not be prosecuted because of arcane Commons' expenses system

"The Metropolitan Police has said it could not investigate the affair because Westminster did not have a system to account for MPs' expenses properly.  It said the Crown Prosecution Service advised such a situation would "undermine the viability of any criminal investigation leading to a prosecution"." - BBC

Sinn Fein newspaper columnist attacks Gerry Adams for allowing parts of his constituency to become no-go areas - Guardian

Brown praises Livingstone as "inspirational" mayor - BBC

Beckham would be a better PM than Brown says survey of Britishness - Sky

Tom Watson MP tells Commons that Downing Street needs "urgent" overhaul - Independent

Britain's first car-sharing motorway lane is opened - Independent

"Britain's first motorway car-sharing lane opened yesterday ... only to be promptly abused by lone drivers.  As vehicles crawled along in congestion, frustrated motorists broke ranks to sail along the free-flowing passenger-only lane linking the M606 and M62." - Daily Mail

Freedom of religious belief

"Who would have thought we would live to see the Bishop of Hereford fined £47,000 and made to attend a re-education course because he refused to employ a practising homosexual in his diocese's youth services? How long before I am carted from the pulpit to the nick for preaching that sodomy is not morally equivalent to Christian marriage?" - Rev Peter Mullen in The Telegraph

How McCain would be different

"Apart from adopting a more practical, less ideological approach to the war on terror, Mr McCain has indicated he would be prepared to be more conciliatory on other key international issues, such as the threat posed by global warming. After meeting Mr Brown, Mr McCain declared that he was confident "we can reach a global agreement that would include China and India. It's a compelling issue for the world's environment and I am committed to it.  Mr McCain has also made reassuring noises about another source of disquiet between the US and Europe, namely Guantanamo, which he insists must be closed and an international understanding reached on "the disposition of dangerous detainees under our control" - Con Coughlin in The Telegraph

In an interview with The Sun John McCain praises Prince Harry.

Yesterday's CentreRight on McCain's meetings with Cameron and Brown.

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

Thursday 20th March 2008

CentreRight selections:

• Peter Franklin notes Mike Huckabee's defence of Barack Obama.
• Tim Montgomerie defends his support for the Iraq war. He's now hiding in a bunker awaiting your comments.
• Robert Halfon begins a diary from South Africa.

3.45pm PlayPolitical: Gordon Brown meets John McCain

12.45pm ToryDiary: Fox on defence procurement

11.30am CentreRight: McCain visits Brown and Cameron

Maria Miller MP on Platform sets out the Conservative ambition to make Britain the most family-friendly nation in the world.

Parliament: David Cameron responds to the Prime Minister's strategy on national security

Seats and candidates: The four Tory held seats needing a candidate