ConservativeHome's ToryDiary

Prime Minister Cameron's early decisions

Over at Coffee House, Daniel Korski looks at how Prime Minister Cameron might operate (should he be elected!). He suggests that Mr Cameron might appoint a new Cabinet-level Secretary of State for Veteran Affairs (entirely consistent with the Cameron-Fox emphasis on these issues) and also a Secretary of State for Climate Affairs.  We like the first idea and hope the second idea is unfounded.

Prime Minister Cameron is rumoured to be considering restoring Ken Clarke to the Cabinet.  He will also decide if he wants to restore other big beasts to the frontbench.  David Davis, Iain Duncan Smith and John Redwood are some of the party's biggest hitters.

Prime Minister Cameron's first one hundred days is the focus of the final part of Andrew Grice's five-part series on Project Cameron this morning.

Mr Grice notes the importance of the Implementation Unit under Francis Maude and the Tories' determination to hit the ground running from day one. Although Labour carried out big changes in their early days in power - like Bank of England independence - their more difficult reforms on schools and hospitals, for example, were delayed.  David Cameron doesn't want to repeat that mistake and centrepiece reforms on schools and welfare will come early so that the benefits also come early.  There must be a risk, however, that Labour will leave the economy and public finances in a mess.  George Osborne's first budget could define the early Cameron years in the same way Geoffrey Howe's budgets defined the Thatcher years.

Mr Cameron won't rush to reverse the Hunting Ban (via a free vote). This will probably be a second year action.  The Conservatives will want to appear focused on the bread and butter issues facing the nation.

Philip Dunne MP reveals Labour's latest insult to rural Britain

Research for the Centre for Policy Studies by Conservative MP Philip Dunne has revealed how Gordon Brown has used his control of the nation's purse strings to tilt the growth of funding towards urban Britain - much of it Labour's heartlands.

Commenting to The Telegraph, Mr Dunne said:

"Gordon Brown has a simple strategy to win the next election: to bribe his areas of traditional strength with money pinched from Tory-voting shires. Central government grants of all kinds to councils and other public bodies have increased far faster in cities and big towns than they have in country area.  We have witnessed a deliberate policy of switching taxpayers' money from the country to the city. It has been done in secret, with no announcement, no public debate, no explanation and no justification."

The leader-writers at The Telegraph agree that politics explains the change:

"Country people have made the mistake of refusing to return Labour councils. Indeed, in the southern counties, Labour has virtually disappeared as a political force - an eviction far more dramatic, though less remarked, than the paucity of Tories in Liverpool and Manchester.  Put bluntly, spending more in an area makes its inhabitants likelier to look to the state for their livelihood, which in turn makes them likelier to vote for the high-tax party."

The rural-to-urban drift of funding - previously highlighted by Owen Paterson MP - is only one manifestation of Gordon Brown's use of the highest and stealthiest tax burden in British history to buy votes.

There is the subsidy of Scotland and Wales and the transfer of money from south to north generally.  The massive growth in public sector employment and the quangocracy.   And, of course, the subsidy of the trade unions in return for them paying 90%+ of the Labour Party's bills.

Cameron highlights need for food security

David Cameron gave a big speech to the National Farmers Union today, which is celebrating its centenary this year. Here are the key points:

Cameron's personal interest: "I’m a member [of the NFU] myself. I care passionately about the countryside. I was brought up in it. I’ve spent much of my life in it. And now, I represent a rural constituency in Parliament."

British farming has a future: "I want to see a living, working countryside - not a museum. For me, there is no more vital an industry than the production of our food. It’s vital for our health, our culture and our economy. Our country depends on a strong agricultural industry to provide rural jobs, to look after the land and produce our food … so I say enough of the pessimism, enough of the idea that British farming has had its time."

The vital issue of food security: "This issue is barely on the national radar... Some analysts are beginning to make some very worrying, very stark predictions... And these analysts say that politicians should start to rank the issue of food security along side energy security and even national security... The current Government has said that domestic production is neither a necessary nor sufficient condition for food security."

Meat and biofuels replacing wheat: "These three factors – diet change, climate change, crop change – are contributing right now to global food crunch. Grain stocks are at their lowest level for thirty years with food prices actually rising by six percent in the UK last year. And these factors will continue to make that global food crunch worse in the years to come."

EU market needs to be free: "We must complete the decoupling of production from central agricultural subsidies right across the EU. Production subsidies have – rightly – ended for British farmers. They must now be ended for those in the whole of Europe.

Proof that the Hunting with Dogs legislation was a complete waste of parliamentary time

Interesting answers to a parliamentary question put down by Tory MP David Ruffley.

Mr Ruffley asked the Home Office "how many (a) charges, (b) prosecutions, (c) convictions, (d) cautions and (e) fines there have been for breaches of the Hunting Act 2004 in each police force area since its enactment?".

The reply came yesterday.

Apparently there were three prosecutions by three constabularies in 2005.  There were three fines and one caution in total.

In 2006 there were eleven prosecutions by four different police forces.  There were five guilty verdicts.  Five fines.  No cautions.

There two plausible explanations for these staggering low levels of prosecution:

1. The hunting community is almost entirely law-abiding and is no longer chasing foxes with dogs.
2. The law was incredibly badly drafted, almost unenforceable and perhaps the biggest ever waste of parliamentary time.

Peter Ainsworth questions Labour over Foot and Mouth incompetence

Shadow Environment Secretary Peter Ainsworth has set out a list of questions that the Government needs to answer following the findings that leaky pipes at the Institute of Animal Health at Pirbright were probably responsible for the recent Foot and Mouth outbreak:

• "When did Ministers first know that the effluent pipes and manholes were deficient?
• Why was funding not made available to replace the pipes?
• Why was this work not prioritised under the investment programme which is now underway?
• Why has Defra refused to accept Professor Spratt's recommendation that "if identifying the source of the virus is considered a priority, an independent group" of experts should be convened? Is it because the answer might be inconvenient?
• When were Ministers first made aware that funding was inadequate "to ensure the highest standards of safety?
• In the light of the BBSRC 2002 report on the dilapidation of the site, why was the budget of the IAH reduced in subsequent years?
• When will the Government issue an unreserved apology for the stress and economic losses caused by their shocking failure to regulate the site effectively?"

All very good questions.

A leader in today's Daily Mail won't make comfortable reading for the Government.  It describes a "sheer depth of official incompetence" that "raises the question of whether the public sector can ever run anything properly".  The leader concludes: "Can we have any confidence for the future, with this bunch of politicians in charge?"  The Mail may be giving Brown a fairer wind than he deserves but it appears more than ready to roast him when the occasion demands.

David Cameron's statement on Foot and mouth

"I spoke to the Prime Minister this morning and have been meeting with farmers here in Oxfordshire. We fully support imposing a ban on the movement of farm animals - this was one of the vital lessons learnt in 2001.  Livestock farmers face real difficulties with higher feed prices, the dislocation caused by floods and TB in cattle. We must do everything possible to make sure this is not a further blow to farming.  The other great lesson from 2001 is that it was not just farmers that suffered but also shops, holiday cottages, pubs and hotels. People who are planning to go on holiday in the countryside must go ahead. Farmers and rural communities should know that the whole country is on their side."

10.45pm: According to BBC Online the strain of Foot and mouth "is one not normally found in animals and is linked to vaccines.  It is identical to the strain used at the Institute for Animal Health at Pirbright, three miles from the farm."  Warmwell is suggesting that the outbreak may not be sourced at the Government laboratory of Pirbright but Merial, "the pharmaceutical company whose research work into FMD etc also requires biocontainment facilities, [and] is very close."

"Deer stalker Dave can fell two stags with one shot"

That's a headline from tomorrow's Mail on Sunday. Simon Walters opens by saying:

"David Cameron risks offending animal rights campaigners after details of his secret passion for stag shooting, one of the bloodiest field sports, were revealed."

I'm actually quite impressed.  As the article continues: "[Cameron] is one of the few marksmen skilled enough to shoot two stags in one go."

Sunday morning (8.45am) update: "The disclosure about Mr Cameron's involvement in deer stalking comes after the Independent on Sunday revealed that he was disciplined at Eton for smoking cannabis and also published details of Mr Cameron's membership of the elite Oxford drinking society, the Bullingdon Club.  The exclusive, all-male dining society was notorious for drinking and high jinks. Mr Cameron was photographed in 1987 with other members of the society wearing a royal blue tail coat with ivory lapels. Labour intends to use the group photograph in its general election literature."

6.45pm Sunday update: USES FOR DAVID CAMERON'S SHOOTING SKILLS...

Hat-tip: Curly.

David Cameron champions green eating in speech to farmers

David Cameron (and David Miliband) has spoken to the Oxford Farming Conference today.  Here are the key themes from the Tory leader's wide-ranging speech:

Britain's beautiful countryside depends upon farmers: "It cannot be said too often that the fact that our countryside is one of our most precious national assets is not in spite of farming but because of farming.   I live on the edge of the Cotswolds where both the landscape and the architecture reflect centuries of successful agriculture.  Farming continues to be one of our hardest working industries and no one who cares about the future of this country can afford to ignore the countryside."

Margaret Beckett should have been held account for the RPA farce: "The Government has been guilty of rank inefficiency. The saga of the Rural Payments Agency and late payments was a complete disgrace.  In any other walk of life the person ultimately in charge would have to take responsibility. In politics, in this country, under this government, they get made foreign secretary."

Food security: "In this dangerous world, where we talk about the importance of energy security, we cannot afford to dismiss the importance of food security.  No one is suggesting that we operate a war economy, but a country like Britain that is blessed with so much fertile land would be foolish not to have the capacity to produce a significant percentage of its food.  Farming is about food production and, in an increasingly unsettled and dangerous world, this fact alone should ensure a proper recognition of the importance of agriculture."

Today listeners vote for repeal of Hunting Act

52.8% of listeners voted for repeal of the Hunting Act.  29.7% agreed with Dan Hannan's recommendation of repealing the European Communities Act.  The full result is here.

This vote continues the excellent tradition of Today listeners upsetting the Today programme's editors.  However many times the Today programme changes the nature of its New Year competition the listeners keep voting in a small 'c' conservative way.

Today dropped its long-standing Personality of the Year contest after John Major won the award - even after having 4,000 votes subtracted from the then PM's tally and during one of the trough periods for Tory popularity.  Today then enlisted Labour MP Stephen Pound to champion a listener's law but the idea had to be abandoned when the "bastard" listeners voted for 'Tony Martin's law' - a law that would allow householders to defend their property with any means.

Widdecombe supports Mark Harper's campaign to Save Harriet (The Cow)

This from the Western Daily Press: "Tory stalwart Ann Widdecombe has joined the battle to prevent the slaughter of a West pet cow suspected of being contaminated with BSE.The Conservative MP for Maidstone has become the second MP to join the campaign to save Jersey cow Harriet from slaughter.  Harriet, whose cause is also backed by Tory MP for the Forest of Dean Mark Harper, allegedly shared feed with an animal that went on to contract Mad Cow Disease.  But straight-talking Miss Widdecombe said that was not a good enough reason to cull her. She said: "I am not silly and sentimental - if an animal is contaminated then it should be prevented from entering the food chain.  But it seems to me that there has been quite a lot of conflict of interest.  If she will never enter the food chain then it seems reasonable to keep her alive."

See more on Mark Harper's website.

LabourDoNotDo.com: The mishandling of Foot and Mouth

The age of micro-campaigns is coming

At the weekend Tony Blair called upon "the silent majority to act against animal rights protesters who hinder medical research".

News reaches ConservativeHome today that David Cameron has signed Early Day Motion 2110 which has, according to Compassion in World Farming, "called for the overturning of new powers that would allow diseased poultry flocks to be suffocated by ‘ventilation shutdown'".  CIWF explains their campaign:

"An amendment to the national welfare at slaughter law rushed through Parliament over the May Bank Holiday gives the Government power to authorise the culling of poultry in the event of an avian influenza outbreak by closing the air vents in the sheds and shutting off the ventilation system.  CIWF has since drawn the major welfare concerns to the attention of Animal Welfare Minister, Ben Bradshaw. In a meeting with the Minister, CIWF 's Chief Executive, Philip Lymbery pointed out that ‘ventilation shutdown is likely to be little better than simply burying birds alive and is totally unacceptable on welfare grounds'."

British politics is going to see much more of this 'micro-campaigning' over coming years.  Small groups of people who, in the eyes of the majority, have a niche concern, are no longer dependent upon the national media for the oxygen of publicity.  They are only a good website away from joining up with others who are like-minded in their anger at an animal welfare issue... or at the persecution of the Burmese... or at the unreliability of a railway service.

Letter-writing campaigns to national newspapers and the lobbying of a national charity to take up your cause are no longer going to be the only starting points of a successful campaign.  A good blog and a high Google ranking are going to be the more common beginnings of campaign activism.

Political parties will need the capacity to respond to this new phenomenon.  The difference between winning and losing a tight General Election might lie in whether a party interacted with the campaigns of the netroots or not.

Winning parties will proactively run micro-campaigns, too.  In the mass media age the manifesto of a political party only needed to major on messages of mass appeal.  Those macro messages still count most, of course, but narrowcast media mean that micro messages now matter, too.

Promise of "rapid" return of foxhunting is made to reassure Tory traditionalists

The Observer reports that an unnamed industrialist has cancelled a £250,000 pledge to the Tory party over concern at "downgrading of the party's commitment to reduce taxes and the abandonment of long-held Tory positions, including support of business."  It also notes that Robin Harris, former Thatcher speechwriter, will use an article for Prospect magazine to tell Mr Cameron that he "should be having sleepless nights about what he is doing to bedrock Conservative support in the country."

Amid signs of this right-wing discontent the Tory leadership has attempted to shore up core support with renewal of its commitment to a "rapid" free vote on reversing the Hunting Act.  One "Tory insider" told The Sunday Telegraph:

"The bottom line for traditionalists is hunting and Europe. So long as Cameron stays sound on those two issues, Right-wingers will follow him anywhere and swallow pretty much every other U-turn he makes."

I don't believe that the Tory insider quite understands the modern Conservative Party but there is little doubt that the hunting lobby is a powerful member of the Tory coalition.  The Telegraph article notes that it can marshall 8,000 volunteer campaigners to help the activist-poor  Tory party get out its leaflets.  Hunting enthusiasts were certainly actively involved in the successful Tory campaigns in Enfield Southgate, Guildford and Newbury at the last election.

What the pledge does show, however, is that David Cameron is determined not to pursue outright confrontation with the right of the 'blood-on-the-carpet' variety recommended by Michael Portillo.  This pledge, coming on top of his (albeit difficult) dinner with the No Turning Back group, indicates Mr Cameron's first serious attempts to reassure the increasingly anxious right.