ConservativeHome

Wednesday 30th November 2005

Afternoon update: MICHAEL HOWARD'S LAST PMQs

conservatives.com: "While the PM proclaimed that his eight years in office had produced record job levels, record investment in hospitals and schools, and record police numbers, Mr Howard put the record straight. Pointing out that Labour's real legacy was higher taxes, more crime, dirty hospitals, more means testing, increased truancy, higher borrowing, plus reduced levels of savings, productivity growth, competitiveness, manufacturing employment, and crime clear up rates - plus a blocked reform programme."

Also see: Sky News | Daily Mail

BLOGS

Leadership blog: John Jenkins reports from the Welsh Hustings and Yorkshire Post endorses David Cameron.

TONY BLAIR PREPARES TO COMPROMISE ON BRITAIN'S EU REBATE

The Telegraph: Tony Blair is preparing to dismantle Britain's annual rebate from the European Union budget - secured by Margaret Thatcher in 1984 - in a move that will cost the taxpayer billions of pounds.  He is ready to split it into parts that he can defend as "fair" - including Britain's rebate from the Common Agricultural Policy - and others that are less easy to justify, including spending on enlargement, Whitehall sources said.

TURNER'S PENSIONS REPORT

ePolitix.com: "Lord Turner will today publish his key report on the future of UK pensions.  The peer will present the findings of his government commissioned review following three years of consideration.  However his expected conclusions, including detailed recommendations rather than just a range of options, have already come under fire from the Treasury which has warned that they may not be affordable.  According to leaked extracts, the Turner commission will recommend the restoration of the link between state pensions and earnings, ending the means tested pensions credit - a move the chancellor has repeatedly rejected."

CONSERVATIVE NEWS & COMMENTARY

Telegraph: "David Cameron will keep George Osborne as his shadow chancellor and offer William Hague the post of foreign affairs spokesman if, as now seems virtually certain, he becomes Conservative leader next week."

Daniel Finkelstein in The Times: "A Black Skies party is itself viewed as dark, threatening, likely to bring about precisely the problems it warns against. The public slays the messenger that brings it bad tidings.  It doesn’t have to be like this. My mother likes to describe pessimists as those who can only see the holes in the Emmenthal. It’s time for the Tory party to wake up and see the cheese."

Have I missed any important story?
Please use the 'comments' option to tell other visitors about interesting links...

Tuesday 29th November 2005

4.45PM UPDATE ON THE LEADERSHIP BLOG:
IDS DECLARES FOR DAVID CAMERON

"Canadian Prime Minister Paul Martin's government has been ousted in a no-confidence vote.  Canada's three opposition parties united against his Liberal Party, which has been mired in a corruption scandal." - BBCi

BLOGS

Leadership blog: Hague set to return as Shadow Foreign Secretary and Cameron is now 66-1 on favourite

CONSERVATIVE NEWS & COMMENTARY

Francis Maude calls for Tories to form a "broad alliance" with Blairite Labour MPs and Orange Book LibDems to push through public service reforms - Telegraph

David Cameron "is to hold talks with community groups, the Armed Forces and teacher unions about a programme that would bring young people together for a few months to do some form of service and help to prepare them for the responsibilities of adult life." - Times

IRAQ COMMENTARY

"Our Troops Must Stay" says Joe Lieberman in The Wall Street Journal - "America can't abandon 27 million Iraqis to 10,000 terrorists".

Lorie Byrd on TownHall.com: "This month, the president finally began to fight back against the Democrats’ claims that he lied about pre-war intelligence and misled the country into war in Iraq."

CONGESTION CHARGING

Times: "Congestion charging is to be extended to towns and cities across England under government plans for a fundamental change in the way drivers pay for using the roads.  Local authorities in seven areas were yesterday awarded £7 million to develop a model charging scheme that will be rolled out over the entire road network in the next 10-15 years."

Times leader: "Towns and cities such as Brighton and Oxford already restrict cars in the centre and provide generous park and ride services on the outskirts. Where feasible, these should be extended, as long as shuttle buses are frequent and cheap. Technology should be used to vary charges according to time, season and distances travelled. Integrated transport, a national joke under Labour, must be made a reality at local level. And the private sector — taxis, minibuses and company transport — must be included. Transport takes years to plan and billions to deliver. All the more reason, therefore, for politicians to give local authorities an incentive to begin the task now."

NUCLEAR ENERGY

The Independent's case for and against nuclear power.

Independent: "Tony Blair will today announce the terms of an energy review that he hopes will lead to the building of a new generation of nuclear power stations."

Have I missed any important story?
Please use the 'comments' option to tell other visitors about interesting links...

Monday 28th November 2005

3pm update on the Leadership blog: Is 'National Service' David Cameron's big idea?

---

A NEW YORK TIMES LEADER: "Who says George W. Bush and Bill Clinton have nothing in common? Just as President Clinton did on Rwanda, President Bush is doing precious little to try to stop a genocide in Darfur. Indeed, this entire generation of world leaders has a dismal record at intervening in this kind of wholesale murder, and now they are failing to stop the elimination of entire African tribes in the Sudan countryside."

Also see Nicholas Kristof on the Commentators Blog.

BLOGS

Platform blog: Alex Singleton on the intellectual revolution that is necessary for a Conservative agenda on international development.

Leadership blog: David Davis insists that he can still win leadership

JEFFREY ARCHER

The Guardian: Cameron rejects Archer as Tory peer but Alan Duncan thinks "the period of condemning him is over".

Max Hastings in The Guardian wonders why we welcome "crooks and bounders" back into public life: "I feel a worm of discomfort, believing that a society that tolerates Mandelson as the nation's representative in Brussels and still throngs Archer's Christmas parties has lost its compass."

CBI CONFERENCE

BBCi: "The CBI has called on the government to spend an extra £1bn on transport over the next two years, claiming delays are hitting output and stressing-out staff."

The Guardian: Speaking to the CBI today, "Mr Davis will allege that "Enron-style accounting" has become the "order of the day" in the Treasury, pointing to the way Network Rail's £20 billion of debt is kept off the national balance sheet, and what he will brand the "far bigger scam" of unfunded public sector pension liabilities. Mr Davis will cite estimates that at the end of last year they amounted to an off-balance-sheet liability of £500 billion."

OTHER CONSERVATIVE NEWS & COMMENTARY

The Times: "The Tory contest has exposed the two candidates’ personal qualities and voter appeal to endless media scrutiny and public exposure; their relative charm, charisma, rhetoric and “electability” have been tested, assessed and measured by every conceivable metric, through focus groups, hustings and opinion polls. But their ideas and policy proposals have hardly been considered..." Anatole Kaletsky goes on to to consider what the two Davids really stand for...

420 Tory donors pay £300 a head to say goodbye to Michael Howard - Independent

Brighton's The Argus: "Tories are taking full advantage of new longer drinking hours despite the Conservative Party warning that extended licences would result in mayhem.  Conservative clubs in Sussex, which provide meeting places for grass-roots Tories, have applied for late opening times just after the party they support vowed to "fight licensing laws to the end".  The Hove and Newhaven clubs have had their hours extended to 1am and midnight."

MONTREAL ENVIRONMENT CONFERENCE

BBCi: Montreal "is the first United Nations climate conference since the Kyoto agreement came into force earlier this year."

Times: Host Canadian government expected to fall in no-confidence vote.

OTHER NEWS

The Telegraph: "With the closure of most independent newspapers and magazines in Iran, blogging - publishing an online diary - has become a powerful tool in the dissidents' arsenal by providing individuals with a public voice."

Have I missed any important story?
Please use the 'comments' option to tell other visitors about interesting links...

Sunday 27th November 2005

BLOGS

Leadership blog: Sunday Telegraph endorses David Cameron and calls for George Osborne, Liam Fox and David Davis to be his key colleagues.

Commentators blog: Nicholas Kristof - reporting from a worsening situation in Darfur - asks: How Much Genocide Is Too Much?

CONSERVATIVE NEWS & COMMENTARY

The Observer: "The Tory leadership front-runner David Cameron vowed yesterday to block any return to Conservative Party politics by Lord Archer... 'David Cameron's view is that Lord Archer's days as an active politician are over,' a spokesman for Cameron said. 'Therefore, there is no question of his taking the Conservative Party whip in the House of Lords.'"

Gerald Warner, Scotland on Sunday: "With Davis, what you see is what you get. He is about as ambiguous in his intentions as Margaret Thatcher. University tuition fees? Hand him a waste-paper basket. Patient opt-outs from the NHS? Right on! Tax cuts? You betcha - £38bn, to be precise: not £37bn or £39bn. Love him or loathe him, this man can hardly be accused of Blairite evasion.  It is interesting that one of the main attack points by his opponents is to accuse Davis of making wildly precise (if that concept is not too Irish) fiscal commitments at least four years before he could ever be in a position to honour them. That is one charge that certainly could not be levelled at Cameron. His policy declarations are crafted in terms of generality... The bottom line is, both the party membership and the media have gone overboard for Cameron on grounds that have nothing to do with his policies and everything to do with his looks, deportment and image. Yet are not these the same people who ruefully deplore how badly they were taken in by Tony Blair in 1997? Now they are on the same lemming stampede again, as groupies for a one-man boy band."

New Mori poll gives Labour a 10% lead over Tories - Observer.

LIBERAL BRITAIN AND ITS CONSEQUENCES

Shaun Bailey was born on the west London estates that have been linked to investigations into the murder of WPC Sharon Beshenivsky.  In today's Sunday Times he describes how pop culture and liberal politics have created a feral generation hooked on drugs, crime and violence: "The more liberal we’ve been, the more the poor have suffered.  Poor people don’t need all this liberalism. They need direction. Everybody talks about “my rights” — but there is some point when your behaviour needs to be balanced by your duty to your community.  The working class look to rules. The rules are important to them. Take away the rules and they are left in limbo. So they form their own: the kind that are driven by pop economics and lead to crime.  The liberal intelligentsia relax the rules for themselves, not for us.""

A leader in The Sunday Times welcomes Mr Bailey's intervention and calls on David Cameron to rethink his own relaxed view of drugs.

The Independent: "Teenagers are facing what medical experts warn is "a mental health time bomb" caused by the abuse of drugs and alcohol.  New figures show that the use of drink and drugs has become common among children as young as 13, with one expert saying alcohol, cocaine and marijuana are "as ubiquitous as traffic on the streets"."

NUCLEAR ENERGY

The Business: The case for going nuclear

Fraser Nelson, Scotland on Sunday: Blair needs to power on and go nuclear

OTHER NEWS & COMMENTARY

Wall Street Journal: James Q Wilson writes a speech President Bush should give about Iraq...

Britain breaks ranks with America on need for UN reform - Sunday Telegraph

Have I missed any important story?
Please use the 'comments' option to tell other visitors about interesting links...

Saturday 26th November 2005

BLOGS

Ferdinand Mount on the Commentators blog: The Tories and the LibDems Have Become Natural Allies

Leadership blog: Lord Archer's return set to give new leader his first headache

THE RETURN OF WILLIAM HAGUE

The Times: Hague set to return

Times leader: The former party leader should accept the post of Shadow Chancellor

Play Fantasy Shadow Cabinet...

GORDON BROWN'S PRE-EMPTIVE STRIKE ON THE TURNER REPORT REIGNITES TENSIONS WITH TONY BLAIR

ePolitix.com: "Chancellor Gordon Brown has requested an inquiry into the leaking of recommendations contained in Lord Turner's pensions report.  A Treasury-led inquiry will hope to uncover who leaked the details of the long-awaited commission report.  Earlier on Friday Downing Street was forced to deny claims it leaked parts of the much anticipated Pensions Commission report in order to undermine the chancellor."

Guardian leader: "The row over pensions this week strongly suggests that the [TB-GB] truce could collapse sooner rather than later. Even with the best will in the world, and granting that the Treasury is fully entitled to fight its corner on a big ticket issue like this, it is difficult to see Mr Brown's leaked letter to Lord Turner's pension commission as anything more than a deliberate attempt to wreck the Turner report before it is published next week."

Mail leader: "Sabotaged before he has even reported. Filleted like a kipper after all his crucially important work. Adair Turner of the Pensions Commission has reason to feel betrayed by the Government that set up his inquiry in the first place."

OTHER NEWS

Guardian: "The confidential £1.5m deal that will see Bob Kiley, London's transport commissioner, leave his job in January but remain a consultant to the mayor of London is to be subjected to official scrutiny."

Guardian: "BBC governors yesterday upheld a complaint of bias against Radio 4 reporter Barbara Plett for a description of her tearful response to dying Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat's final departure from the West Bank."

Have I missed any important story?
Please use the 'comments' option to tell other visitors about interesting links...

Friday 25th November 2005

GEORGE BEST IS DEAD

BBCi | Manchester United

3.30pm news updates:

• "This month’s YouGov poll has one of the first significant changes in the levels of party support - the topline figures are CON 35%(+3), LAB 37%(-3), LD 20%(+1)." - UK Polling Report
• "Gordon Brown's behaviour over Britain's pensions crisis should rule him out as a suitable successor to Tony Blair.  That was Michael Howard's message to the country just hours after the Labour Chancellor sabotaged landmark reforms of the state pensions system, drawn up by the Turner Commission at the request of the Prime Minister." - conservatives.com
• LibDems surge in three council by-elections - Guardian
• Tory Equality Spokeswoman Explains Party’s Gay Policies - RainbowNetwork.com

BLOGS

Leadership blog: Sun and Telegraph endorse David Cameron plus both contenders pledge to be Conservative Friends of Israel.

Platform blog: Nicholas Boys Smith describes how a Fair Conservatism can win the next election:

"The 1980s Conservative Ministries did not do enough. They liberated the market but they did not give enough Britons the tools to compete.  They freed the banks and the builders, but they did not liberate the people from a cloying, maliciously-coddling welfare system.  They did not set the people free from a glut of enterprise-stifling local councils and poor public services. They did not take on the dangerous politically correct mantras that marriage and a ‘proper education’ were mere Victorian vestiges. Above all, they did not liberate the poor from outrageously high levels of personal taxation.  Part of Britain was ‘Thatcherised.’ It is now rich and becoming richer. Part of Britain was not. It is not rich and not getting richer..."

Clive Davis: Drunks have rights, too.

CONSERVATIVE NEWS & COMMENTARY

Telegraph: "Voters' disillusionment with the Government coincides with public feeling that the Tories could be back in the running for the first time since they were swept from power by New Labour in 1997.  YouGov says that the Conservatives are now only two points behind Labour."

HAVE YOU VOTED IN CONSERVATIVEHOME'S EXCLUSIVE SURVEY OF TORY OPINION?

Ferdinand Mount in The Telegraph: "On issue after issue, the old abysses separating the Conservatives from the Liberal Democrats have narrowed or virtually disappeared. This week the two parties have joined in vigorously opposing the shameful let-off for IRA terrorists on the run. A couple of weeks ago, they made common cause to destroy the Government's attempt to introduce 90-day detention without charge for terrorist suspects."

The Independent: "Dodgy-sounding cocktails and illegal student substances have already been extensively debated by the Davids Cameron and Davis, but yesterday alcohol provided another flashpoint for the leadership campaigners.  Mr Davis, on the party's traditional wing, complained that binge drinkers upset respectable Conservative voters. He wanted their drinking habits curbed. But in the new-look Conservative Party that David Cameron wants to create, young revellers are seen instead as possible Tory voters."

The Telegraph reports David Cameron's view that leading the Tory Party might be a "nightmare job".

"Fox urges Blair to pressure Uganda over arrest of opposition leader" - conservatives.com

OTHER COMMENTARY

Leo McKinstry, The Times, calls for council tax cuts for people undertaking extensive voluntary work.

OTHER NEWS

Independent: "Sexually transmitted diseases among young people are soaring, with record numbers of new infections diagnosed last year."

Have I missed any important story?
Please use the 'comments' option to tell other visitors about interesting links...

Thursday 24th November 2005

Leadership blog: Report on Sky News' TV debate

HAVE YOU VOTED IN CONSERVATIVEHOME'S EXCLUSIVE SURVEY OF TORY OPINION?

BLOGS

Leadership blog: Cameron more popular than Blair according to YouGov poll plus Sam Coates' report of last night's London Hustings.

Events Report: Ruth Lea Comes Out On EU Membership And Comes Out Fighting

LABOUR'S IRA SURRENDER

Ann Treneman, The Times: "Peter Hain attempted to defend the indefensible yesterday but, try as he might, he could not hide the fact that he was holding a dead and stinking rat in his hand. The offending object was the Northern Ireland “On the Run” Bill."

Telegraph: "Tony Blair and Peter Hain, the Northern Ireland Secretary, faced a fierce and emotional backlash from MPs yesterday over legislation to allow fugitive terrorists to return without having to serve prison sentences.  The Bill will allow those wanted by police for some of the most heinous atrocities during the IRA's 30-year campaign to have their slate effectively wiped clean."

Telegraph leader: "The Government's general attitude to terrorism is now so twisted as to be preposterous. Mr Blair cannot, with moral logic, seek to jail those who plot or encourage such murder and mayhem as seen in London on July 7, but then let off those who engaged in identical activities only a few years earlier."

CONSERVATIVE NEWS & COMMENTARY

BBCi: "Tory leadership hopeful David Davis has warned against "nip-and-tuck" politics in a dig against rival David Cameron."

Telegraph: "David Cameron was accused last night of watering down his Eurosceptic credentials as the Conservative leadership contest with David Davis reached a climax.  On the day of the two biggest hustings of the campaign and with almost 60 per cent of members having voted, the hot favourite faced accusations from the Davis camp of backtracking over his pledge to pull Tory Euro-MPs out of a pro-federal group in Strasbourg."

New Start magazine: "David Davis has detailed a new approach to social justice in his campaign to become the next leader of the Conservative Party.  Speaking at the Centre for Social Justice, the shadow home secretary outlined the need for greater rewards for successful voluntary groups, additional prison capacity and a new emphasis on drug rehabilitation to help transform Britain’s most marginalised communities."

The Guardian: "Senior Conservatives have put the party under pressure to address its lack of women MPs by backing a campaign for radical changes to selection procedures."

OTHER NEWS

Rupert Murdoch "points to the launch of the Sun, which introduced competition in the popular press, the Wapping revolution, the modernisation of the Times and the development of satellite TV business BSkyB as his top achievements in the UK." - Guardian

ePolitix.com: Brown calls for 2% pay restraint from two million public sector workers because of inflationary pressures.

New York Times: "Russia moved Wednesday to impose greater government control over charities and other private organizations, including some of the world's most prominent, in a move aimed at restricting foreign support for political activity in the country."

AND FINALLY...

"What choc bars and other goods say about your politics"  The Western Mail finds that Tetley's tea and Galaxy chocolate are for LibDems, not Tories...

Have I missed any important story?
Please use the 'comments' option to tell other visitors about interesting links...

Wednesday 23rd November

BLOGS

Paul Goodman MP on the Platform blog wonders if this leadership election is pushing the party back towards the establishment...

Leadership blog: Matthew d'Ancona on why Crime-fighting must be part of David Cameron's modernisation

CONSERVATIVE NEWS & COMMENTARY

Matthew d'Ancona in The Daily Telegraph: "Conservative members have until December 5 to return their ballot papers in this leadership contest, and a surprisingly high number of them have yet to do so. There is still time for Mr Cameron to show that, when it comes to crime, he has iron in his soul."

Scotsman interviews with the two contenders note David Davis' raw sex appeal and David Cameron's disabled son.

Survey finds Tories like Davis' policies but Cameron's style - PublicTechnology.net 

Western Mail: "The latest attempt to hold Prime Minister Tony Blair to account over the Iraq war has gained the backing of Tory big-hitter Ken Clarke and a senior Labour backbencher.  The campaign, led by Plaid Cymru MP Adam Price, has grown from his earlier bid to have Mr Blair impeached over the invasion.  Today Mr Price is tabling an "early day motion" in the Commons calling for a cross-party committee to investigate the way Britain was taken to war. The names on the motion include Mr Clarke, recently defeated in the Tory leadership contest, and deputy leader of the Liberal Democrats Sir Menzies Campbell. Other backers include Labour MP Alan Simpson and leader of the SNP Alex Salmond."

OTHER COMMENTARY

Simon Heffer makes the case for capital punishment.

"No party should outline their plans for coalition until the situation arises, warns Simon Hughes." - ePolitix.com

Tony Halpin in The Times: "Real choice means giving parents the money and letting schools explain how they would spend it to best serve their child. Concerns for social justice could be met by giving disadvantaged children additional value, so that schools had an incentive to address their problems rather than turn them away."

The Independent: "The licensing laws change at midnight, but is the glass half-full or half-empty?"

OTHER NEWS

The Times: "Gordon Brown will support plans for a new generation of nuclear power stations provided the Government’s forthcoming review provides a convincing case that can command public support."

Have I missed any important story?
Please use the 'comments' option to tell other visitors about interesting links...

Tuesday 22nd November 2005

If you are interested in keeping up-to-date with the run-up to elections in Israel a new section has been added in the right hand column.  It will be updated regularly - like our other margin topics - and you need to scroll down to reach it.

BLOGS

Leadership blog - Cameron under fire for EPP promise and Freddie Forsyth endorses David Davis (with gusto).

CONSERVATIVE NEWS & COMMENTARY

The Herald: "The Tory leadership battle opened up on a new front yesterday after a U-turn by David Cameron, the front runner, that would mean Conservatives accepting the abolition of Scotland's six infantry regiments.  David Davis, his rival, quickly retorted that it was essential to reverse the Army merger and keep traditional regiments."

Leader in The Herald: "The party must learn to love devolution and be heart-and-soul Scottish. Being so does not concern Mr Cameron. Indeed, he encourages it. He has been an MP for a shorter time than the Scottish Parliament has existed. Consequently, he does not have the constitutional baggage of Mr Davis's generation of Conservatives. Although he will not commit himself on fiscal autonomy, he insists it would be up to the Scottish party if it wanted to fight a Holyrood election with a distinctive tax-cutting agenda.  There will be a huge opportunity to exploit if Mr Cameron wins and the UK party adopts a less strident voice that makes the Scottish party more electable."

Alice Thomson says that the Tories are the new party of hope.  The Telegraph: "David Cameron and George Osborne have all the energy, charm, enthusiasm and moderation that Mr Blair and Mr Brown once had. Boris Johnson has Mo Mowlam's charisma and blonde mop. David Davis is as good at collecting scalps as Robin Cook. They are a new phenomenon."

Andrew Billen profiles David Cameron - The Times.

Telegraph: "A new pressure group, Women2Win group, backed by Theresa May and other senior party figures, will outline plans to ensure that at least 30 of the party's 100 top target parliamentary seats fields female candidates at the next General Election.  The group, also supported by Peter Lilley, the former Cabinet minister, will stop short of endorsing all-women shortlists in individual constituencies, which both David Cameron and David Davis, the two leadership contenders, have also ruled out."

IRAQ COMMENTARY

Cal Thomas, TownHall.com: "We now have a legitimate comparison between the Vietnam War and what is taking place in Iraq. That comparison was summed up nicely in a Wall Street Journal editorial last Friday about the untimely call by Rep. John Murtha, Pennsylvania Democrat and decorated Vietnam veteran, for the withdrawal of American forces from Iraq. The Journal recalled a comment made to historian Stanley Karnow in a 1990 interview by North Vietnamese General Vo Nguyen Giap:

"We were not strong enough to drive out a half-million American troops, but that wasn't our aim. Our intention was to break the will of the American government to continue the war."

Mort Kondracke: "Somehow, last week, The New York Times and The Washington Post decided to give top-of-Page 1 treatment to Democratic Rep. John Murtha's (Pa.) call for immediate troop withdrawals. Yet when McCain, normally a hero of the media (myself included), advocated increasing U.S. troop strength by 10,000 in a Washington, D.C., speech on Nov. 10, it got played on Page 21 of the Times and Page 16 of the Post. McCain, though, has it right."

Click here for a Ten Point Briefing on McCain's How We Can Win In Iraq speech.

MALARIA

A recent post on the Commentators blog argued that fighting malaria should be a higher priority than climate change.  A New York Times leader notes the issue's importance today: "There is no mystery and no enormous expense to fighting malaria. Everyone knows what is effective - providing insecticide-treated nets for people to sleep under, spraying the insides of houses with insecticide, giving drugs prophylactically to pregnant women, and replacing ineffective medicines with new ones that cure the disease. These things work, and they are cheap."

Have I missed any important story?
Please use the 'comments' option to tell other visitors about interesting links...

Monday 21st November 2005

9.30pm update: Hustings Report from Perth

SHARON QUITS LIKUD TO SET UP NEW POLITICAL MOVEMENT
New York Times | BBC | Telegraph | Jerusalem Post

BLOGS

Ten point briefing: How to Win the War in Iraq

Platform blog: Brian Jenner suggests that it's time to put the 'party' back into the Conservative Party

Leadership blog: William Rees-Mogg urges adoption of all-women shortlists.

Commentators blog: Michael Ashcroft says voters should decide who is an acceptable donor to political parties: "We should allow political parties to accept financial support — cash, benefits in kind and credit — from whomsoever they choose and without financial limit. We should require them only to make public the identity of the true donor and the detail of the donation."

CONSERVATIVE NEWS & COMMENTARY

The Telegraph concludes that yesterday's Dimbleby Debate was the most personal and confrontational.

The Times: David Cameron is "heart and soul" behind Scottish devolution and supports Scottish Tories' freedom to cut income tax.  And did you know that "The name Cameron is derived from the Scottish Gaelic for “crooked nose”?

The Times: Only 44 per cent of the 260,000 eligible voters have sent back their ballot papers.

Labour proposals to scrap the two-tier structure of district and county councils threatens the future of hundreds of mainly Tory councillors - Telegraph

NUCLEAR POWER

The Times: Britain will start building new civil nuclear power stations under plans backed by Tony Blair, The Times has learnt.  This might be another initiative where he'll need Tory votes... The plans are backed in a Times leader.

OTHER COMMENTARY

The Guardian: The neconservative temptation beckoning Britain's bitter liberals.

OTHER NEWS

The Times: The President uses a pulpit in Beijing to speak up for the persecuted Christian minority in China.

Have I missed any important story?
Please use the 'comments' option to tell other visitors about interesting links...

Sunday 20th November 2005

8pm Commentators blog update: Police killers deserve the death penalty

1.45pm Leadership blog update: There are four summarising posts on the Jonathan Dimbleby Debate between the two contenders.

BLOGS

Leadership blog: Labour's Treasury say they hold sensitive security information on David Cameron plus Ann Widdecombe backs streetfighter Davis.

CONSERVATIVE NEWS & COMMENTARY

The Sunday Times: "In an interview with GMTV’s Sunday programme today, Davis takes issue with Cameron’s decision to support Blair’s reforms of the public services. It could mean the government is propped up by Tory votes, because as many as 100 Labour MPs could rebel over the schools white paper.  “We would have an argument in the shadow cabinet undoubtedly and we will have to come to a conclusion on that,” Davis said."

Nicholas Boys Smith previews his Demos publication, 'True Blue: How Fair Conservatism Can Win the Next Election', in The Sunday Times: "The Conservatives can speak to Generation Gap’s concerns not by abandoning support for the free market (which Generation Gap share), nor by retreating from the need for radical public sector or welfare state reform (which is also accepted), but by clearly, consistently and passionately making the case for a fairer Britain.  Unless the Tory party can convince Generation Gap that they are like them, hard-working, fair people, interested in others and not out to get the weak, it can pack up and go home."

The Independent on Sunday profiles William Hague and reports: "David Davis was chairman of the Public Accounts Committee during Hague's leadership. "Frankly, the person who did everything to undermine him day to day was David Davis; now his scheming and manoeuvring has come back to haunt him because everyone knows this," says an MP friend of Hague's."

The Sunday Herald profiles Annabel Goldie, new Scottish Tory leader.

The Sunday Times: "The Conservative party has accepted a £93,000 donation from a fund run by one of Britain’s most senior freemasons.  The donation was paid by the Midlands-based Leamington Fund. No public records exist for the fund, which is an “unincorporated association”. However, The Sunday Times has established that the fund’s chairman is Michael Price, the provincial grandmaster of Warwickshire freemasons."

OTHER COMMENTARY

Michael Portillo: "I fear that the prime minister has become unhinged. He has always tended towards being messianic. Now he is more convinced than ever that he is right and everyone else wrong. Neither the views of parliament nor the home secretary count for anything. He courts unpopularity, outrages his supporters and has lost his instinct for survival. Logic plays little part in his calculations and economics none."

The Business: "The OECD estimates that general government receipts (largely tax) as a share of gross domestic product (GDP) have risen in the UK from 38.8% in 1996 to 41.6% in 2005. In stark contrast, government receipts in the euro zone have fallen from 47.5% to 45.7% of GDP. The gap in government receipts between Britain and the euro zone has fallen from 8.7 percentage points to 4.1 points. UK public spending has surged even more significantly, and is set to reach 44.8% of GDP next year, according to the OECD.  Said added: “As the UK moves towards a more European tax environment, it may not be surprising that our relative growth performance is falling back.”"

David Brooks, The New York Times (subscription required): "while the American presence is a catalyst for violence in Iraq, it is not the main catalyst. The main source of violence in Iraq is the sectarian war between the Sunnis and the Shiites. The main source of violence is that the Sunnis think they are the majority and can't accept the possibility that the Shiites, whom they consider as almost subhuman, should be allowed to run their own affairs.  And what also drives violence in Iraq is that the Shiites have responded to Sunni supremacy by turning ultrachauvinist themselves. In the vacuum of security caused by the botched American occupation, these ethnic tensions have turned into a low-grade civil war."

Have I missed any important story?
Please use the 'comments' option to tell other visitors about interesting links...

Saturday 19th November 2005

BBCi afternoon update: "The Liberal Democrats are abandoning a policy of calling for higher taxation, leader Charles Kennedy has revealed.  The party, which sought higher taxes at the last three elections, still wants wealthy people to pay more but would match this with cuts for poorer people."

BLOGS

Leadership blog: How many Tories have voted?

Commentators blog: Growth and technology - not Kyoto - will answer the developing world's economic and environmental challenges

Platform blog: Oberon Houston urges Conservatives to oppose Labour's Education White Paper

CONSERVATIVE NEWS & COMMENTARY

Telegraph: "Around half of the 253,689 eligible party members are now estimated to have voted in the leadership contest, even though the deadline is Dec 5."

William Hill: Cameron is now the shortest odds favourite he has been since the contest to find a new leader began.

Yorkshire Post: "A survey of Yorkshire's constituency association chairmen has put Mr Davis on 40 per cent, four points ahead of Mr Cameron, reflecting the acknowledged underdog's added support in the region and a recent upturn in his campaign performance.  The Cameron team has claimed that a four point lead among 50 local party chiefs in Yorkshire – where Mr Davis was born and holds his parliamentary seat – actually spells disaster for his campaign."

The Guardian: "Mr Paxman's treatment of William Hague during the 2001 election stays in the memory as being cruelly demeaning to both of them. A Tony Blair, a Michael Howard or a John Reid can usually look after themselves. Mr Cameron has now joined their small club."

Liam Fox calls for EU policy to avoid totems and to become part of a Conservative policy dedicated to the national interest - conservatives.com

OTHER COMMENTARY

Matthew Parris, The Times: I have been in Mr Kennedy’s Highlands and Islands constituency as I write this. A brisk, November swing through the Inner and Outer Hebrides finds a still and glowing world, becalmed and basking in the late autumn sunshine, breathless before winter. But winter will come; and if, by his party’s spring conference next year, Charles Kennedy has not used those long Skye nights to plot something that looks like a serious course through the next four years, I think he may be in trouble, and deserve to be."

Times leader: "The House of Commons is spending £442,000 on an awning to keep our Members dry. Such is the cost of canvassing over a 40-yard stretch of pavement in Star Chamber Court."

Peter Wilby says that The Telegraph is unsure of itself - Guardian

The French riots revive rabble-rouser Jean-Marie Le Pen - Wall Street Journal

OTHER NEWS

Sir Bill Morris says that Tory votes for Labour's education reforms are "unacceptable" - Times

Have I missed any important story?
Please use the 'comments' option to tell other visitors about interesting links...

Friday 18th November 2005

7pm leadership blog updates:

• Was Tory leadership row last straw for Telegraph Editor?
• Four more MPs back Cameron

Police officer shot dead in Bradford - BBCi and Dan Paterson's blog

BLOGS

Leadership blog:

• After Paxman encounter Tory newspapers focus on David Cameron's pub hours policy
• Caption competition
• Vote in our online Leadership Ballot
• Editorial: DC gets the better of Paxo.

CONSERVATIVE NEWS & COMMENTARY

The Scotsman: "David Cameron last night found the question of drugs coming back to haunt him as he appeared to confess to the BBC that he had used them before being elected.  In his long-awaited confrontation with Jeremy Paxman, the anchorman of BBC Newsnight, Mr Cameron again tripped up over his self-imposed rule of not saying anything which would confirm or deny allegations that he had used cocaine while a student."

BBCi: "David Davis says previous Conservative policies have been too "timid" with too little time given to making them clear.  The Tory leadership contender pledged if he won the contest he would explain and announce policies straight away.  "I'm not willing to spend three years in a policy vacuum," he said, speaking at the Centre for Social Justice."

The Economist: "Despite eight and a half years in power, the prime minister is still a realist. If he has to choose between some Götterdämmerung in which he stages one last battle with his party and preserving New Labour for his successor, there's no serious doubt about which it will be. Mr Blair may have said last week that sometimes it is better to lose and be right, but that's far removed from his normal approach to politics.  Mr Blair cares about his legacy. However, the bit he cares about most is Labour's ability to keep on winning elections. Labour could still self-destruct, but if Mr Cameron is wise he will prepare himself and his party for the long haul."

OTHER COMMENTARY

The Spectator: "In a month’s time members of the World Trade Organisation will gather in Hong Kong to continue the so-called ‘Doha round’ of negotiations over the liberalisation of world trade. The leaders of developed nations have a choice: either they elect to dismantle the system of agricultural subsidies and food import tariffs which have supported their farmers since 1945, thereby allowing developing nations to compete on equal terms in our food markets. Or Western leaders concoct some kind of sickly fudge, which allows them all to enjoy a good lunch, beam at the cameras, then go home and reassure their farming lobbies that nothing will really change."

Wall Street Journal: "It's been a bad week for the American war effort, not in Iraq or anywhere else in the field but in Washington, D.C. The American Congress is sending increasingly loud signals of irresolution in Iraq, including panicky calls for withdrawal."

FRAUD AT THE TOP AND AT THE BOTTOM

Conrad Black faces eight counts of fraud - Telegraph

BBCi: "The UK benefits system is open to fraud and overly complex, says the government's spending watchdog.  Sir John Bourn, head of the National Audit Office (NAO), said years of legislation change had left the benefits system overly complex."

Have I missed any important story?
Please use the 'comments' option to tell other visitors about interesting links...

Thursday 17th November 2005

BLOGS

Leadership blog: "Yesterday DD was warning of a "swift and savage" offensive from Labour as soon as the new Tory leader is installed.  Few people can offer more of an insight into the likely nature of that onslaught than Alastair Campbell.  It is interesting, therefore, to study AC's public utterances.  He has picked up his pen again for today's Times and aimed it at David Cameron..."

The Guardian on blogs: "A new wave of political bloggers is challenging Britain's old media pundits. But who are they, and which ones matter? Oliver Burkeman reports..."

CONSERVATIVE NEWS & COMMENTARY

The Independent: "David Davis has warned that his rival for the Tory leadership David Cameron could be destroyed within 100 days by a Labour offensive if he becomes party leader."

Yorkshire Post: "Conservative leadership contender David Cameron has vowed to put his family before politics and to take paternity leave when his new baby is born even if he wins the party crown."

The Scotsman on the Child Support Agency: "Paul Goodman, a spokesman for the Conservative Party, said: "Desperate families are waiting for government action on the CSA.  "It's time for clarity, not more spin from Mr Blair.""

POLITICIANS AND MONEY

The Guardian: "The size of the divide between the two Davids in their contest to lead the Tories was revealed yesterday by the disclosure of the big-name donors backing them in the register of members' interests.  Many of the backers of David Davis are ruthless entrepreneurs, scions of gamblers and shipping magnates, or nightclub owners - and one is a popular thriller writer, Frederick Forsyth.  But the backers of David Cameron are more often wealthy philanthropists, stockbrokers, private bankers and media moguls including the former Carlton boss Michael Green, who now runs Tangent Industries. Mr Cameron's campaign is likely to exceed the £100,000 spending limit, because some of his backers donated money before the starting date of the leadership election was declared."

Telegraph: "Tony Blair acknowledged publicly for the first time yesterday that his wife Cherie is making money from her Downing Street role.  He sought to head off growing demands for curbs on her money-spinning activities by declaring earnings from her book about life in Downing Street and a series of speeches in the latest Register of MPs' Interests."

Sky News lists some MPs and their outside earnings.

OTHER COMMENTARY

Senator Rick Santorum on Compassion as THE Conservative Future, TownHall.com

Val McQueen on TechCentralStation.com: "There was no danger that the police would seize the 90-day extension to imprison ordinary British citizens the government found inconvenient -- as many MPS said in grandstanding contributions. The bill had the built-in safeguard of the Met being required to go before a High Court judge every seven days, and justify being allowed to detain the suspect for a further seven days. To further their political futures, British MPs voted down a bill that would have provided the police with the tools to do their complex task of protecting the British public from Muslim terrorists in the pointless cause of protecting the British people from the British police."

OTHER NEWS

Telegraph: Conservative Anglican Primates accuse Rowan Williams of a failure of leadership over homosexuality.

ePolitix.com: "Measures such as all-women shortlists are the only way for political parties to increase their female representation in parliament, a new report has claimed.  Published on Thursday, the Hansard Society's 'Women at the top 2005' report said that "equality guarantees" are needed to ensure a fairer balance of MPs."

BBCi: "The case for identity cards has been branded "bogus" after an ex-MI5 chief said they might not help fight terror.  Dame Stella Rimington has said most documents could be forged and this would render ID cards "useless"."

Have I missed any important story?
Please use the 'comments' option to tell other visitors about interesting links...

Wednesday 16th November 2005

4pm update: Theresa May warns: "Every Member of Parliament that voted for the new drinking hours did so knowing that they will now be held accountable by their constituents for these reckless changes, which will fuel even more violence and anti-social behaviour in the streets of Britain." (BBCi)

4pm update: "Ex-Tory leader William Hague has earned at least £685,000 on top of his MP's salary during the last year, the register of members' interests shows." (BBCi)

David Davis insists that he is strong enough to withstand Labour's attacks (see the updated Leadership blog).

BLOGS

Platform blog: Francis Maude MP offers 'Further thoughts on a more open party'.

Leadership blog: Lord Tebbit takes on Radio 4's Today programme... and loses.

Commentators blog: Melanie Phillips on Christopher Meyer and The Whitehall Free-For-All

UK Polling Report: How not to analyse an opinion poll (from Monday).

Visit the new events site - latest entries include invitations to a Demos launch on 'Fair Conservatism' and to the TRG's Christmas Party.

THE LOOMING END OF TONY BLAIR

Michael Howard writes that Tony Blair's "pre-announced retirement is alien to the spirit of our constitution": "Most Labour members of parliament will be accountable to the people at the next general election. They will have to justify to their electors the performance of the government that they supported and the policies that they voted for. And it is increasingly beginning to dawn on them that there are considerable advantages in being led by someone who will share that duty of accountability with them." (The Guardian).

Matthew d'Ancona in The Daily Telegraph: "The future belongs to the leader who learns the lessons of the Blair era, acknowledges its successes and failures, and promises to deliver where he did not. It belongs, in other words, not to Blair, or to Anti-Blair, but to Blair-Plus."

CONSERVATIVE NEWS & COMMENTARY

Labour receives nearly four times as much in donations as Tories (Guardian).

Labour MPs foil Tory bid to halt 24-hour drinking (Guardian).

The Guardian on the Doreen Davis interview: "The patently lovely, mumsy (and redheaded) Mrs Davis talks about how they lead essentially separate lives - he in the political thick of it in London, she, on her own, rattling around a remote farmhouse in rural Yorkshire. He will go for days without calling her, and when he is at home, at weekends, he spends all his time at one end of the house either on the phone or watching "a film with a lot of shooting in it", while she gets on with the ironing at the other end."

"Peter Oborne, the magazine’s Cambridge-educated political editor; Matthew d’Ancona, 37, the deputy editor of The Sunday Telegraph and a Fellow of All Souls College, Oxford; and Quentin Letts, 42, the parliamentary sketchwriter for the Daily Mail." are mentioned by The Times as possible successors to Boris Johnson at The Spectator.

Daniel Hannan MEP, The Telegraph: "It doesn't even make the newspapers any more: that's the shocking thing. We are so blasé about Brussels fraud that we no longer notice it. Yesterday, for the eleventh year in a row, the European Court of Auditors refused to approve the EU's accounts..."

THE QUEEN EXTOLS THE UNIQUE POWER OF CHRISTIANITY

The Telegraph quotes Her Majesty as saying: "When so much is in flux, when limitless amounts of information, much of it ephemeral, are instantly accessible on demand, there is a renewed hunger for that which endures and gives meaning... The Christian Church can speak uniquely to that need, for at the heart of our faith stands the conviction that all people, irrespective of race, background or circumstances, can find lasting significance and purpose in the Gospel of Jesus Christ."

The Telegraph has written a leader on the subject and on the Church's "worthy Supreme Governor".

AND FINALLY...

A spoof BBC news report: "'We cannot risk changing course now', Tony Blair said today, as the government published proposals to cancel parliamentary elections.  Speaking at a Downing Street press conference, the Prime Minister said that "even the chance of a change of government would be a victory for the terrorists..."

Have I missed any important story?
Please use the 'comments' option to tell other visitors about interesting links...

Tuesday 15th November 2005

BLOGS

The Leadership blog has the first two Hustings Reports... from Leicester and Solihull.

There are new speaker meetings advertised on the new events site.

CONSERVATIVE NEWS & COMMENTARY

Reviews of the Leicester hustings: Guardian, Times, Independent and The Daily Telegraph.  The balance of the reviews gives Mr Cameron the advantage.

Times: "William Hague is seriously considering making a full return to frontline politics after the Tory leadership contest."

BBCi: "The Conservatives are to seek another Commons vote on extended pub opening hours in a bid to scupper the plans.  They are due to table a Commons motion to annul the order bringing the Licensing Act, which will enable 24-hour opening, into full effect.  The Tories want to force Labour MPs to go on the record and vote either for or against the new regime."

TONY BLAIR'S GUILDHALL SPEECH

Telegraph: "The world's richer countries face a growing threat from terrorism and climate change unless they agree a trade deal to help millions of people in the developing world escape poverty, Tony Blair said last night.  Warning that "we will reap what we sow", he called on the EU and the United States to agree to take bold steps to reduce agricultural subsidies and unblock an agreement that could give hope to one in five people in the world living on less than one dollar a day."

Guardian leader: "The single thing rich countries could do that would most help developing ones would be to dismantle subsidies for agriculture. Such a move would allow poor countries to compete fairly in areas they are good at while releasing well over $380bn a year, currently wasted on subsidies, for the west to spend on other things. It is the nearest thing to a free lunch that politicians will encounter in their lifetimes - which makes it all the more disgraceful that progress has not been made in the Doha round of trade talks..."

TERROR IN AUSTRALIA

Leader in The Australian: "If any reasonable person remained in doubt about the seriousness of the terror threat on Australian soil, events of the past week would likely have settled those doubts. Those arrested in police raids in Melbourne and Sydney are due their day in court, and may be exonerated there. But the details that have emerged via Operation Pendennis have been, quite simply, alarming. The police fact sheet, released to the media yesterday, includes details of alleged training camps, chemical and detonator stockpiles, and a close interest by some of the charged men in the nuclear research reactor at Lucas Heights in Sydney. Meanwhile, reports in The Australian have drawn a disturbing picture of interlocking networks involving local radical cells and overseas groups such as Jemaah Islamiah, Lashkar-e-Toiba and al-Qa'ida."

OTHER NEWS

Telegraph: "The health service is facing its biggest deficit of nearly £1 billion at the end of the financial year despite record investment of £74.5 billion."

Independent: "Tony Blair came under concerted attack from leading environmental groups yesterday as he was accused of appearing "indistinguishable" from George Bush on green issues."

Canada's Conservatives (FT): "While many Canadians would not be sorry to see a change in government after 12 years of Liberal rule, Mr Harper has struggled to widen Conservative support, especially in vote-rich southern Ontario, including Toronto.  With virtually no chance of winning any seats in Quebec, the Conservatives need to score substantial gains in Ontario and the four Atlantic provinces if they are to form the next government.  The Conservative party was formed in late 2003 through a merger between the Canadian Alliance, based in western Canada, and the more moderate Progressive Conservatives.  But Mr Harper’s wooden style, his Canadian Alliance roots and a dearth of new ideas have counted against him in the rest of the country."

Wired: "After weeks of criticism, Sony has finally agreed to temporarily stand down on an abusive and likely illegal copy restriction practice. Hold the applause.  On Friday, the world's second-biggest record label pledged to temporarily stop making CDs that leave computers vulnerable to security breaches. This is a step in the right direction, but it does not go nearly far enough toward correcting a serious ethical lapse. In fact, it is proof positive that Sony is unworthy of our trust or our business."

AND FINALLY...

ARE YOU A METROSPIRITUAL...?  BeliefNet: "Do you go out of your way to buy organic food? Have you thought about the wu wei in your home? Have you tried yoga, belly-dancing, or surfing recently? Are you attracted to traditional crafts from other cultures or have you started knitting? Do you own a Prius or have you thought about buying a hybrid car? Are you a tea connoisseur or an organic wine- and beer-drinker? Is there a certain aromatherapy scent that brings you comfort, especially in candle form? If most of your answers are yes, then count yourself among the growing numbers of metrospirituals—the kinder, gentler post-Yuppies who want to treat the earth and native cultures with respect, connect with their inner source and inspiration, test their bodies and expand their minds with ancient physical practices—and do it all with serious style."

Have I missed any important story?
Please use the 'comments' option to tell other visitors about interesting links...

Monday 14th November 2005

3pm update on BBCi and Sky News: "A thief stole the outline for David Cameron's Conservative leadership bid after breaking into an MP's car but threw the documents away after deciding they were "worthless".  Bournemouth East MP Tobias Ellwood had the documents stolen by a crook who smashed the window of his Mercedes while he was in a meeting in Dorset..."

BLOGS

Platform: Michael Gove MP on Cameron-Blair comparisons.

Leadership blog: Hustings begin today plus Davis beats Cameron in Today programme focus group

Visit the new Events listings service.

CONSERVATIVE NEWS & COMMENTARY

The Guardian: "David Cameron will open up a new front in the battle for the Tory leadership as he attempts to consolidate his position as frontrunner at the first of a series of hustings today.  Buoyed by pledges of support yesterday from the former leader William Hague and the defeated candidate Liam Fox - who are both backing him despite sharing David Davis's position on the right of the party - he will stress to members that 109 of the party's 198 MPs now want to see him as leader.  "What he is really focusing on is uniting the party behind his agenda of change," said an aide to Mr Cameron."

A Telegraph leader suggests that David Cameron's willingness to offer qualified support to Mr Blair's reforms "is the best way to convince the country of the Tories' seriousness and so, paradoxically, to hasten his departure."  Writing in The Times, William Rees-Mogg addresses similar possibilities: "Blair has recommitted himself to modernising the social services, including health, education and welfare. Since the Labour Party has won three elections with this promise, there is plainly strong public support. Yet Blair cannot deliver, Brown will not deliver, but Cameron could deliver. Cameron will not oppose those measures of Blair’s reforms that the country wants. But Blair cannot afford to depend on Conservative votes in the House of Commons. David Cameron needs a landslide to reach Downing Street; that is not impossible."

David Cameron records a 'podcast' about the Treaty of Versailles - Telegraph.

The Guardian: "The Tories' share of the female vote slumped to a 30-year low in May because their election campaign was lacklustre, male-dominated, negative and unappealing to women, according to a damning party report.  The document, compiled by the Conservative Women's Organisation (CWO) and obtained by the Guardian, says the party has ignored the views of female members, who warn that it is out of touch with modern Britain. Only 2% of the respondents to a survey felt its policies were women-friendly."

OTHER NEWS

The Independent: "At May's general election it took only 26,858 votes to elect a Labour MP, 44,241 to elect a Tory and 98,484 to vote in a Liberal Democrat. Nearly two thirds (65 per cent) of the population did not vote for the present Government and on the results for just England, 60,000 more people voted for the Conservative Party than the Labour Party yet Labour won 92 more seats and was chosen to represent the people."

Times: "Almost one in ten of the life peers created by Tony Blair since he became Prime Minister is a Labour party donor. Between them, the donors have contributed close to £25 million."

BBCi: "Environmental charity WWF UK has severely criticised the government for what it says is a lack of action on climate change and the environment... And despite differences in rhetoric, there is little to choose between Tony Blair and US President George W Bush."

Have I missed any important story?
Please use the 'comments' option to tell other visitors about interesting links...

Sunday 13th November 2005

"They shall not grow old as we who are left grow old.  Age shall not weary them, nor the years condemn.  At the going down of the sun and in the morning, WE WILL REMEMBER THEM."

BLOGS

ConservativeHome launches its new EVENTS SITE today.  First listings include a David Davis speech to the Centre for Social Justice and a Bruges Group conference on alternatives to the EU.  Visit the site to find out about speaker meetings, receptions and conferences.  The Events blog is a free listings service and you can submit your own organisation's events to be listed...

Leadership: Fox endorses Cameron

Platform: Jonathan Sheppard on the need for the Tories to focus on crime

CONSERVATIVE NEWS & COMMENTARY

David Cameron, Sunday Telegraph: "The last thing Britain - or the Conservative Party - needs is more Blairism. I believe we need a new style of politics: thoughtful, measured and moderate. I believe we need serious long-term policy thinking to tackle the challenges we face. And I believe that if you give people more freedom and opportunity, they and society will grow stronger. That's the kind of leadership I offer, and I'm confident it will return our Party to government."

Sunday Times: "David Cameron's bid for the leadership of the Conservative Party has received a twin endorsement from former Tory leader William Hague and former rival and defeated leadership contender Liam Fox."

The Observer: "Conservative leadership contender David Cameron will claim this week that only he can win the support of enough women voters, young people, professionals and Liberal Democrats to take his party back to power.  This claim is at the core of a message he plans to take to countrywide hustings starting tomorrow against his rival David Davis, a senior campaign official told The Observer last night."

P J O'Rourke, Sunday Telegraph: "Cameron appeared on Today and answered the usual question about what he was going to do about some terrible social problem with: "We're going to bring the best minds to solve this one." That was the moment when he lost me. The guy obviously doesn't understand the fundamental truth about politics, which is that the best minds only produce disasters. Scientists, for example, are famously idiots when it comes to politics. I agree with Friedrich Hayek, who said in The Road to Serfdom that the "worst imaginable world would be one in which the leading expert in each field had total control over it"."

OTHER COMMENTARY

The Business on 'France in flames': "France is culturally incapable of learning lessons because it cannot bring itself to admit that its social model is the problem not the solution. But what is happening in France today should at least serve as a warning to those in Britain and America who want yet bigger government and more taxes that the social model which has failed the poor of France so spectacularly is one to avoid rather than emulate."

OTHER NEWS

Independent on Sunday: "Gordon Brown has urged the Labour government to "listen and learn" after its dramatic defeat on the terror Bill last week.  In an exclusive interview with The Independent on Sunday, the Chancellor of the Exchequer has admitted the Cabinet will have to "work at it" to get its programme of public service reforms.  He said the Government and Labour MPs now had a "duty" to work together to avoid future Commons defeats."

Have I missed any important story?
Please use the 'comments' option to tell other visitors about interesting links...

Saturday 12th November 2005

7.30pm: WILLIAM HAGUE DECLARES FOR DAVID CAMERON

Update on the Commentators Blog: The Wall Street Journal on America's 'Aggressive Interrogation' techniques

BLOGS

Leadership blog: YouGov survey puts David Cameron (Frodo?) on course to be next Tory leader plus "Hopeful" Mail endorses X-factor Cameron "with some trepidation".

CONSERVATIVE NEWS & COMMENTARY

The Times: "Conservative leadership contender David Davis is setting out plans to put real power back in the hands of local councils. And this will include the freedom for local education authorities to set up grammar schools in their areas. In a speech to leaders of Conservative groups on councils, Mr Davis will argue that politicians of all colours have paid lip service to the idea of "localism" without spelling out practical measures to bring it about. He will propose a cull of Labour's regional government structures and central controls to give decision-making power back to counties, cities and boroughs."

The Guardian: "The choice for the Tory faithful is between two ambitious men whose lives have been devoted to the single end of becoming prime minister. But familiar footholds to political advance no longer exist. On uncharted terrain, Mr Davis is fumbling for the first step. Nor, though, does his younger rival yet seem to be innovative enough to find a fresh path that will lead him and his party to power."

The Independent: "As a diversion from the stress and angst of the Tory leadership campaign, the so-called Notting Hill set of thirtysomething Conservatives surrounding David Cameron have created a game, in which they imagine themselves as characters conducting a political revolution in Middle Earth."

EU Referendum Blog: "Following meetings with both candidates, Owen Paterson MP – a leading member of the Cornerstone Group failed to get any assurances from Cameron that the current Conservative Party commitment on repatriating the EU's Common Fisheries Policy would be honoured.  On the other hand, David Davis has decided, unequivocally, to support the existing policy and, in particular, to back the terms of the letter offered by Michael Howard on 10 June last year, addressed to John Whittingdale, OBE MP, then shadow agriculture and fisheries minister, after a meeting between Mr Howard and Messrs Whittingdale and Owen Paterson MP."

McCAIN 2008

Telegraph: "Senator John McCain has all but launched a campaign to succeed President George W Bush, calling for a new approach to the war in Iraq and savaging the Pentagon's record there... In a hard-hitting speech, reminiscent of his 2000 bid for the White House when he ran as a candidate of candour and integrity, he criticised the administration for its trademark "happy talk" about Iraq. He also called on the Bush administration to level with the nation about the war's difficulties.  It was a terrible mistake to repeat the error of the Vietnam War, when officials kept saying there was "light at the end of the tunnel" when, in fact, "there was a train"."

OTHER COMMENTARY

Wall Street Journal: "A ban on aggressive interrogation would amount to unilateral disarmament in the war on terror."

OTHER NEWS

The Times: "There will be a quarter of a million new gamblers within a year, after the abolition of strict rules on casino entry caused a surge in first-time visitors, The Times has learnt."

The Times: "Sir Christopher Meyer’s position as the head of the Press Complaints Commission was called into question last night as he faced a torrent of attacks over his book on the build-up to the Iraq war.  Lord Butler of Brockwell, the former Cabinet secretary, and Jonathan Baume, a Civil Service union leader, were among those condemning the former Washington Ambassador for his revelations and reflections about his dealings with ministers in his book DC Confidential. The most vehement assault came from Jack Straw, the Foreign Secretary, who condemned the memoirs as an unacceptable breach of trust and wondered whether Sir Christopher could stay on as chairman of the Press Complaints Commission, a job to which he was reappointed last week."

Have I missed any important story?
Please use the 'comments' option to tell other visitors about interesting links...

Friday 11th November 2005

BLOGS

Leadership blog: Jeremy Paxman takes on David Davis and more cross-party support for David Cameron.

Platform blog: Oberon Houston on 'Scotland needs Conservatives'

CONSERVATIVE NEWS & COMMENTARY

The Independent: Cameron tells party - Choose me or lose another general election

"Economists scorn Davis pledge to borrow if slump hits his tax cuts" - Times.  I wonder if any of them were among the 364 dismal scientists who wrongly monstered Mrs Thatcher in 1981?

The Independent: "Critics of David Cameron accuse the Tory party's great white hope of being all style and no substance. What, then, are we to make of his dealings with the development charity Christian Aid?  This week, Cameron gave a speech on economic policy in which he claimed the charity's posters were fostering a "cultural hostility to capitalism" and helping to turn "profit" and "free trade" into dirty words.  Christian Aid promptly hit the roof, condemning Cameron's comments - part of a speech that was supposed to prove he can grasp weighty topics - as an "ill-advised gibe", and saying that he'd completely missed the point of its Trade Justice campaign.  But that is only the start of it. For yesterday, Christian Aid discovered, on Cameron's personal internet site, a photograph, above, of their supposed critic actively endorsing Trade Justice."  Also see Globalisation Institute Blog.

BBCi: "Scottish, Welsh and Northern Irish MPs will be barred from voting on English laws if Conservative leadership hopeful David Davis becomes prime minister.  He pledged England-only votes in the House of Commons - but ruled out a separate English Parliament.  "Only English MPs could vote, let's say, on English education policies or English health policies," he said.  The government has been criticised for relying on votes of Scottish MPs to get controversial English laws through."

Danny Kruger in The Telegraph: "'Husting (Old English: hiesting): an assembly of the household (i.e. personal followers or retainers) of a king, earl or chief; contrasted with the 'folkmoot', the assembly of the whole people."  On Monday the Conservative Party embarks on a series of national hustings, at which the "household" will choose the next "chief". The party does, at least, have internal democracy, thanks to a campaign by ordinary members against the plan to stitch up the leadership election among MPs. But that small victory acknowledged, the party needs to go far, far further. In short, it needs a folkmoot, not a husting."

Tory Jeremy Balfour wins Edinburgh ny-election - Edinburgh Evening News

The Guardian's guide to boxers and briefs.

TERROR LAWS

Times: "Senior opposition MPs accused the Government yesterday of dragging the police into politics over the 90-day clause in the Terrorism Bill.  Chief constables across the country launched an unprecedented lobbying campaign for the clause last week after Ken Jones, the Chief Constable of Sussex and the chairman of a national committee, asked them to contact their MPs."

IAIN DUNCAN SMITH'S BIG CHARITIES SPEECH

Third Sector: "The voluntary sector is threatened by "Tescoisation" as a small group of big charities consume an ever-greater piece of the pie, Iain Duncan Smith MP told charity chief executives last week.  Speaking at Third Sector's annual Britain's Most Admired Charities awards, sponsored by the Royal Bank of Scotland Group, the former Tory leader suggested so-called 'big charity' was edging out smaller, more innovative organisations."

Third Sector Editorial: "Duncan Smith's central thrust was that there is "an increasingly close relationship between big charity and government" and "a striking uniformity of world view in big charity". His challenge was that larger charities should learn from the experience of other countries and from successful smaller charities that think outside the box.  With public funds now providing 37 per cent of the voluntary sector's income, the question of independence from government is bound to weigh heavily on its collective mind. Some fear charities could become agents of the state, while others insist they can work for the state without compromising themselves."

OTHER COMMENTARY

New York Times: "Brazil's foreign minister, Celso Amorim, put it bluntly after the collapse of the latest round of trade talks in London and Geneva this week: unless the European Union finally stops dithering and cuts farm subsidies to help farmers in poor countries, the negotiations to open up trade in manufactured goods and services - to help big companies in Europe and America - would take "not one month, two months, one year or two years." The talks, he said, "just won't move.""

OTHER NEWS

AP: "Once the flames, if not the anger, recede in France's riot-hit suburbs, a next big challenge for the weakened middle ground of French politics will be beating back far-right leader Jean-Marie Le Pen, for whom the violence could prove an electoral gift.  Already, the anti-immigration zealot who gave France and Europe a fright by making it through to the second and final round of presidential elections in 2002 thinks that the rioting has revived his hopes for the next polls in 2007."

Have I missed any important story?
Please use the 'comments' option to tell other visitors about interesting links...