thetorydiary

CCHQ fury at 'briefings against Steve Hilton'

CCHQ are happy with their flying start to 2010. Tory strategists believe they have got the best of the new year coverage. From the very start of New Year's Day their 'Year for Change' adverts were in newspapers and online. David Cameron's speech in Oxfordshire has featured across all news bulletins today. The campaign accelerates on Monday with the launch of the NHS chapter of the Tory manifesto and nearly every Tory MP will be visiting a marginal seat to deliver the party's talking points to local and regional media.

There is, however, something close to fury at what are seen as briefings against Steve Hilton, David Cameron's Director of Strategy.  In this morning's Times Francis Elliott alleges that Steve Hilton is blocking the appointment of James O'Shaughnessy (currently Head of the Conservative Research Department) to a top policy job in Downing Street, should the party be elected. Elliott quotes insider disdain for the irregular strategy briefings that Hilton produces. The Mail on Sunday has more on these briefings tomorrow.

The Spectator's James Forsyth appears to confirm The Times story. James blogs that O’Shaughnessy "has been the focus of negative briefing in recent months". He adds that "George Osborne and Hilton have also clashed" on election strategy:

"[Hilton] wants to run a campaign high on vision, presenting Cameron as both a unifying figure and the ‘change we need.’ (Yes, they really are intent on casting Cameron as Britain's Obama - more on that another time). While Osborne thinks that the Tories need to have more of a retail offer, things to sell on the doorstep."

At various times today I've been told by a senior source inside CCHQ that the stories about Hilton and O'Shaughnessy are "entirely crap" and "total tosh". This source has never lied to me. CCHQ think there are jealousies among some MPs and advisers at Steve Hilton's enormous influence. Some noses were also put out of joint by Hilton's return from America and his resumption of a full on role. Whatever the truth of these reports they are an unhelpful distraction from an election campaign that has otherwise got off to a promising start. A search for the source of the briefings is underway.

Tim Montgomerie

CCHQ strengthens team in run up to General Election with return of George Bridges

He resigned two-and-a-half years ago but it will be confirmed in the next 24 hours that George Bridges is returning to CCHQ to help with the General Election campaign. I understand he'll be reporting directly to George Osborne in the latter's capacity as General Election Co-ordinator.

I warmly welcome this appointment. George is a great operator and I included him on my recent list of twenty people who would make excellent MPs.

George has served three Tory leaders; John Major, Michael Howard and David Cameron. He knows how to run campaigns and learnt a great deal when he worked closely with Lynton Crosby in 2005.

I suspect that George will also be an important voice within the Cameron operation arguing for more robust positions on immigration, the trade unions and the economy. His writing for The Telegraph and Spectator since he left CCHQ has often been uncompromising. This on the National Union of Teachers was typical:

"The NUT cannot turn off the nation's lights, but it can certainly dim children's prospects. And just as Margaret Thatcher's defeat of the NUM decided our economy's future, David Cameron's battle against the NUT will decide the future of our children. It will not be a battle for the fainthearted, but for those who feel in their bones that they are doing the right thing. There will be naysayers, even on the Tory front bench, warning: "Remember, teachers are voters, too." Well, there are more parents than teachers."

Tim Montgomerie

PS I'll need to update my Wallchart of the Cameron operation!

Tories unveil new poster highlighting the growing debt we are all lumbered with by Labour

Remember this campaign at the beginning of the year?

Here's the poster which moves on the campaign in the wake of the PBR, highlighting the staggering debt we have been lumbered with by the Labour Government. (click to enlarge)

Jonathan Isaby

Labour are targeting families on £20,000, says new Tory poster

In a preview for ConHome readers, this is a new CCHQ poster, targeting the rise in National Insurance contributions announced earlier by Alistair Darling:

Click on the poster to enlarge.

It will appear on digital sites, online and in direct mail.

***

It's been a very good 24 hours for the CCHQ machine.

There was last night's Battersea Power Station stunt, highlighting the fact that debt is increasing by more than £5,000 per second.

There was George Osborne's well-received response to Darling's statement.

Then an internet operation - targeting people Googling "PBR" - won some praise from The Guardian.

Now this poster.

Tim Montgomerie

CCHQ gets ready for March 25th election as Brown continues scorched earth policy

Speculation is growing that Gordon Brown might go to the country earlier than expected, on 25th March next year.

In this morning's Yorkshire Post Tom Richmond notes one of the key factors that may influence Gordon Brown's choice: "The reason is simple. It would mean Labour having to put off the Budget until after polling day."

"Almost 200 senior party officials have been ordered not to take holidays after January," says The Sun: "Leader David Cameron wants all his top advisers at the party HQ to be available at a minute's notice - including policy, research and campaign team staff. Shadow ministers will also step up talks with senior civil servants, who will brief them on what to expect if they win."

One thing is certain - as Peter Oborne sets out in today's Mail - Brown is still pursuing a scorched earth policy:

"Gordon Brown now finds himself in a similar position to John Major. He, too, faces election defeat. But there is no sign of the magnanimity and sense of public duty shown by either Jim Callaghan or John Major. Very much the opposite: it now looks very much as if he has launched what some Whitehall officials describe a 'scorched-earth policy'.

Rather than do the right thing by Britain, he seems to want to make sure that David Cameron will face the worst possible inheritance if he wins the election next spring. For instance, Brown has been appointing Labour cronies to key posts. Recently, the job of High Commissioner to Australia became vacant. Instead of choosing a highranking Foreign Office diplomat for the post, Brown rewarded a failed Labour politician, Baroness Amos. Similarly, Lady Ashton (Labour's former leader in the Lords and a figure of little consequence) has been appointed to the vital post of trade commissioner in Europe. Narrow considerations of Labour Party control of the levers of power dictated these appointments and certainly not the national interest.

But Gordon Brown's most palpable act of political selfishness concerns his economic policy. Next year the national deficit is set to rise towards £200billion, a figure without precedent in our history..."

Peter Oborne is at his best today. Read him here.

Tim Montgomerie

Eric Pickles pledges to sack any party workers involved in dirty tricks during the election campaign

Eric Pickles has said that whilst he expects Labour to run a dirty election campaign, he will not tolerate any Conservatives following suit in retaliation.

Speaking to Jonathan Sheppard of ToryRadio in Manchester, the party chairman said:

"Of course it's going to be a dirty [Labour Party] campaign, we've seen that a lot in all the by-elections... the dirtier it is, the more it will backfire on those who seem to spread the dirt."

"I'm giving out straight advice: anybody does any dirty tricks from our side, we will sack them. Anyone does any dirty tricks in constituencies, we'll take a very firm disciplinary line on that. You can't be an open and transparent party and engage in dirty tricks."

Can we expect a similar promise from our political opponents? I'm not holding my breath...

Jonathan Isaby

Totnes primary was Tories' biggest August media hit

During August we tracked the media hits of the Tory frontbench and then in the end-August survey we asked readers to rate which made the biggest impact. People could give the 'hit' a '1' if it was 'low impact' and a '5' if it had a 'high impact'. The list below is the average for each hit:

• 3.51: Result of the Totnes open primary ballot and the selection of local GP Sarah Wollaston (pictured)
  
• 3.36: Chris Grayling claims that parts of many British cities are drug-ridden and resemble scenes from The Wire
• 3.19: Michael Gove outlines Conservative plans to restore rigour to the system of exams and league tables, admitting there has been a "deterioration of standards"
• 3.17: Liam Fox shows how armoured, mine-proof trucks are not getting to troops in Afghanistan in a timely way
• 3.12: David Cameron sets out the reasons why NHS spending must continue to rise in real terms
• 2.85: Andrew Lansley exposes how many mothers are forced to give birth in hospital corridors, lifts etc.
• 2.76: George Osborne commends controls on bonuses in the non-nationalised banks
• 2.70: George Osborne makes speech to Demos claiming that Conservatives are now the true "progressive" party.
• 2.49: Theresa May calculates that the cost of worklessness since 1997 is £350bn
• 2.34: Michael Gove unveils proposal to put previous exam papers online as part of project to track declining standards
• 2.30: David Cameron calls for crackdown on availability and price of super-strength alcohol in visit to Hull
• 2.28: Andrew Lansley and Stephen O'Brien announce proposals to allow patients online access to their medical records
• 2.21: David Willetts exposes how the only building projects for further education colleges being given the go-ahead are in Labour constituencies
• 2.18: Nick Gibb exposes how many schools "have become "no-go" areas for pupils taking traditional A-level subjects such as maths, science, history, geography or languages
• 1.86: Grant Shapps publishes report into the postcode lottery that faces people seeking IVF treatments
• 1.86: Justine Greening highlights £100m tax hike for small businesses

Tim Montgomerie

[We only tracked intentional media hits rather than off-the-grid stories like Alan Duncan's 'rations' video].

Margaret Thatcher's "the lady's not for turning" could be your ringtone

Great minds think alike! On the day Frank Field MP writes for ConservativeHome about the need to reform the teaching of history in British schools CCHQ has begun its own week of online features dedicated to the party's history. Click here to explore the various features and stay tuned to the Blue Blog for entries throughout the week from the likes of Andrew Roberts, Douglas Hurd, Malcolm Rifkind and yours truly.

You can download quotes from Winston Churchill and Margaret Thatcher as ringtones for your mobile phone.

That video recording Tory history has also been reworked. It's well worth watching again:

Tim Montgomerie

Design a T-shirt for the Conservative Party...

Eric Pickles is asking for your help in designing a T-shirt for sale at the Manchester Conservative Party Conference.  He draws our attention to this idea that the folk at CCHQ devised...

Can you do better?  More information here.

For inspiration you might want to try this American site...

Tim Montgomerie

No room for complacency but plenty of grounds for optimism

Somewhere, deep inside CCHQ is a room called complacency.  It is full of champagne, balloons and party hats but it's a room that is under strict lock and key until George Osborne decides otherwise.

Professor John Curtice and many other commentators are pouring cold water on the Conservative Party's electoral performance of recent days.  'Not quite good enough' is the conclusion of talking heads across the media.  Tory strategists don't mind.  They don't like any complacent talk of victory.  They want every Conservative activist and donor to strain every sinew until the last polls have closed on General Election day.  This caution comes from two decades of losing elections.  Most of the people who advise David Cameron have tasted defeat too many times in the years since 1987 to quite believe that victory is sure.  Over recent days their attention has turned to the Norwich North by-election.  They are conscious that they are now battling against inflated expectations as much as Labour.

All this aside, Thursday's elections do give the Conservative Party many grounds for optimism.

In the wake of expenses-gate they were relieved that the Conservative Party's share of the vote actually went up in the European Elections.  [Pictured on the right is David Cameron in Wales earlier today where the Conservatives topped the poll. Mr Cameron is photographed (by Mark Jones) with Welsh Tory leader Nick Bourne and new MEP, Kay Swinburne].

But if the European Elections were a little messy but Cameron and George Osborne are determined not to be spooked by UKIP.  They saw Michael Howard knocked off course by UKIP's success in 2004 but they also saw that it did not translate into anything at the following year's General Election. 

What gives the Tory leadership most confidence is the county council results.  CCHQ believes that the county council contests are a more accurate indicator of the outcome of the next General Election. Unlike the European Elections they were first-past-the-post contests fought largely between the three established parties.  In Bedfordshire, Lancashire, Nottinghamshire, Staffordshire and Derbyshire the Conservatives fought Labour head on and won convincingly.  Even more encouraging were the head-to-head victories against the Liberal Democrats across the west country.  CCHQ believes that it now has the campaign machinery and moderation of message to significantly erode the Liberal Democrats' parliamentary representation.  The decline of the Liberal Democrats was hugely under-reported at the weekend.  Even their 'victory' in Bristol masked a decline in the percentage of Bristolians voting for Nick Clegg's party.

Tory strategists also know that Labour has ceased to exist as a meaningful campaigning force in large parts of the country.  Eric Pickles has a two to one rule.  Every lost councillor actually means the loss of that councillor's husband/ wife/ friend too as a party activist.  Labour finished fifth in many parts of the country on Thursday, it's poisonously divided at Westminster, up to its neck in debt, and without a policy vision.  The Conservatives have a year to go but they have good reason to be cheerful.

Tim Montgomerie

CCHQ

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