ConservativeHome's ToryDiary

Hague and Osborne discuss Middle East strategy

At yesterday's Annual Business Lunch of Conservative Friends of Israel, Daniel Finkelstein (The Times' new Chief Leader Writer) interviewed two of the Conservative Party's top three figures; Shadow Foreign Secretary William Hague and Shadow Chancellor George Osborne.  You can watch the Q&A in the videos below but here are some of the key points to emerge from the discussion:

• CFI: The first organisation that William Hague joined as a Conservative was Conservative Friends of Israel.
• Zionism: William Hague said that he was a Zionist if Zionism means being a friend of Israel who believes in its right to exist and its right to defend itself.  This echoed David Cameron's reply of last year and William Hague joked that the new thing in the Conservative Party was that all MPs say the same things!
• Iraq: Both stated that they still support the Iraq war but too many mistakes were made.  William Hague said that note should be taken of substantial progress in recent months.  There is, he continued, another democracy in the Middle East alongside Israel; Iraq.  We must help that democracy to flourish.
• Democratisation: The best long-term guarantee of peace and stability is the emergence of more and more democracies, said George Osborne, in response to a question about the Sharansky doctrine.  William Hague said it takes time to create democracies.  'Would Israel be more secure if all Israel's neighbours became democracies?', he asked.  'Probably not,' he replied.  They would likely go in a direction more hostile to Israel.  In the long-run, however, we want to see Israel's neighbours becoming more open and democratic.
• Syria: William Hague said it was imperative that we avoid a so-called clash of civilisations by building much better links with moderate Islamic states, in particular.  He repeated his commitment to a dialogue with Syria.  He has previously spoken of an acquaintanceship with Syria.
• 2006's Lebanon war: The Shadow Foreign Secretary stood by his belief that Israel's behaviour in the Lebanon war had been "disproportionate" and militarily ineffective.  It was the only time, he said, that he'd ever criticised an Israeli military campaign but you have to look at Lebanon today and see Hezbollah so much stronger to realise that it was not a good campaign for Israel.
• Hamas: William Hague said that Hamas must renounce violence and recognise Israel and honour previous agreements before Israel should talk directly to them.
• George W Bush: Both George Osborne and William Hague avoided answering a question about whether George W Bush had been a good President.  George Osborne said noone should underestimate the difficulties that the Bush adminstration have faced in the post 9/11 world and their actions need to be judged in that context.  Mr Hague said that history would judge President Bush more kindly than today's commentators.  He continued, however, by saying that America had been insufficiently open to the differences between Middle Eastern states - Syria and Iran, for example.  There had been a tendency to see the Islamic world as monolithic when it is very complex and diverse.
• McCain v Obama: William Hague said that the Conservative Party would not choose between Barack Obama and John McCain although the Republicans were the sister party.  George Osborne said that in terms of campaign techniques the Obama campaign was the campaign to study because of its "phenomenal" use of the internet.
  

The lunch was attended by eighty Tory MPs and many parliamentary candidates.

The "nice decade" is over

Poor Gordon.  Today was his big relaunch but what does the main evening BBC news bulletin lead with?  Mervyn King's warning that the road ahead - on economic growth, inflation and house prices - is going to be rocky.  Mervyn is right, of course.

Headcases

We've just added Headcases' portrayal of Nick Clegg to the PlayPolitical website.  Click here to watch the portrayals of Clegg, Cameron and Brown.  In summary: Cameron is mocked as aloof, Clegg as childish and
Brown as very boring.

Headcases broadcasts on Sunday at 10pm on ITV1.

New Media: Guido's Gordon the bogeyman video

The winner of the new media award is Guido Fawkes' video of Gordon Brown, then still Chancellor, apparently picking his nose while sat next to Tony Blair at PMQs.  If you've never seen it - hundreds of thousands have - here it is:

The video beat the Conservatives Abroad website and its targeting of ex-pat voters and the Tax Pacman game launched by the Conservatives at last year's Party Conference.

More than 8,000 people took part in the vote to choose between the shortlisted entries in each category.  We've been announcing winners on an almost daily basis.  Yesterday's winner of the internationalist award was Ben Rogers of the Conservative Party's Human Rights Commission.

You're £110 worse off because of this Budget

George Osborne's video response to what he's calling Labour's Bad News Budget.

New Tory video

Click here to watch the Tory video that accompanies the You can get it if you really want campaign.

'Dale confronted'

Earlier this week Iain Dale chose not to join blogs like ConservativeHome in criticising Derek Conway.  That was an honourable decision because, as Iain said at the time, he is a friend of Derek Conway and "Anything I have to say about his conduct, I will say to his face."  In the 'Heffer confronted' video above Iain's position has migrated and he's now defending Derek Conway - dismissing the thrust of the disgraced MP's errors as "administrative".  Iain must be one of the few people in the country who do not believe that Mr Conway's errors are much more serious than that.

One MP told ConservativeHome (rather too colourfully) that Derek Conway was like a suicide bomber in the midst of the parliamentary Conservative Party.  He hadn't only wrecked his own career but had badly contaminated the reputation of all Tory MPs and had gifted Gordon Brown his biggest break since Bottler Saturday.  Iain Dale is a great blogger but Simon Heffer gets the better of him in the exchange above.

A video history of British Conservatism

This ten minute video emphasises the progressive character of conservatism.  It takes us right up to present day's Cameron-led party and the Built to Last values statement.  Thanks to Louise Bagshawe for alerting us to it.

Ambushed for YouTube

Radio 4's World This Weekend briefly mentioned this video.  Mitt Romney is left looking evasive and perhaps even rude after being asked if he'll arrest a wheelchair-bound man for using 'medical marijuana'.  Although the issue may be real it was clearly a set-up.  At the end of the interview the man videoing the encounter pursues the wheelchair guy's line of questioning.  We can only hope David Cameron is prepared for similar ambushes.  We guess someone, somewhere is planning something for Mr Brown.  This is the era we now live in.

You will never see anything like this on webcameron

Britain and America have so much in common and then, wham, you're reminded of some big differences... Here are two big reminders...

Exhibit A.  A video from Rudy Giuliani promising to give Americans "fiscal responsibility" and "strict constructionist judges" for Christmas...

Exhibit B.  More powerful evidence this one.  On the day that Nick Clegg 'confesses' to atheism, Mike Huckabee's very Christian video message...

They're both on PlayPolitical, as is this CBS news report on why John McCain is making a comeback.

YouTube doesn't get meaner than this

This editing together of Fred Thompson's umm-ing and err-ing is just the latest in a series of YouTube videos that are mercilessly magnifying American candidates' personal traits.

The nervous laugh of 'Rudy Giggliani' and, much more amusingly, Hillary Clinton's mechanical laugh have also been targeted.

For the funniest ever political videos visit the comedy section of PlayPolitical.

Seventeen years ago today Margaret Thatcher failed to win the first leadership ballot by enough votes

With apologies to our younger readers but can you believe it?  It's been seventeen years since Margaret Thatcher won the support of 204 MPs and Michael Heseltine won 152 votes.  In many ways it seems like yesterday to me.  The 52 majority wasn't enough to end the attempt to oust her and a few days later Margaret Thatcher resigned.  Watch the BBC News report her resignation here but the video below records John Sergeant's reflections on the Iron Lady - including that famous Paris scene where she reacts to her failure to win the first ballot decisively.

Ben Brogan's favourite website...

...is PlayPolitical.  The Daily Mail's Political Editor wrote about this very briefly on Friday.  Thanks Ben!

PlayPolitical.com is part of the ConservativeHome family of websites.  It aims to host the best political videos from around the world.  Most videos tend to be American but, over the last few weeks, we've been following Australia's elections closely and you can watch the latest Liberal and Labor ads here.

Sam Coates and I aim to add new videos everyday.  Today there's a two minute 'Who would Jesus vote for?' ad and a five minute recording of Mitt Romney's defence of his Mormon faith.

And if you want to see our favourite political videos of all time please visit PlayPolitical's Hall of Fame.  It includes Ronald Reagan's Morning in America ad, John Redwood 'singing' the Welsh national anthem, Gordon Brown picking his nose at PMQs, the hilarious JibJab Kerry Vs Bush video from the 2004 campaign, the SwiftBoats ad, Child's Pay - a clever attack on Bush's borrowing, and A World Without America.  Watch them all here.

And please add PlayPolitical.com to your favourites!

Don't risk it, Australia

This is the latest election video from downunder.  It warns that a vote for Labor's Kevin Rudd will endanger all of the economic achievements of the Howard years.  Ahead of the 1997 election we attempted to frighten voters in to not voting for Tony Blair by painting him as a red-eyed monster.  It wasn't credible (at least not then!).  It wouldn't have saved the election but I thought that we would have been more sensible to make the reasonable suggestion that Blair was a risk.  On the 1997 campaign trail I didn't meet a voter who thought Blair was devilish.  I met many who thought him untried and inexperienced.  Our devil eyes posters said more about us at the time than Labour.

The best part of this well-made video is the bit where the Australian voter eats his ear wax - a not-too-subtle reminder of the Labour leader's disgusting personal habit.

Watch PlayPolitical's collection of other Australian election ads.

New Tory broadcast presents the team that will deliver real change for Britain

An excellent Tory broadcast will air tonight on BBC2 (5.55pm), BBC1 (6.55pm) and ITV1 (6.55pm).  Try and cajole a family member to watch it!

You can watch it now:

It does all of the right things: (1) It shows that there's a good team behind David Cameron (George Osborne, William Hague, Caroline Spelman, David Davis, Sayeeda Warsi and Liam Fox are all featured); (2) that the party is developing a real policy alternative; and (3) Cameron identifies incompetence as the Government's defining characteristic.

Tony Benn: MPs are only lent powers and they must return them undiminished

A few big points from this must-watch ten minute video (not verbatim) produced by UKIP TV:

• You cannot only be in favour of holding referendums when you think you can win them!
• Members of Parliament are lent powers by the electorate, the former Labour minister says, and they must return them undiminished. It is not for MPs to give away powers. Those powers do not belong to them.
• Power in Europe is increasingly concentrated in the hands of unelected people we can't get rid of.
• Peter Mandelson is a powerful figure - he wasn't even elected by the Commons but appointed by Tony Blair.  He doesn't have to listen to anyone.
• We're told that this EU Treaty is a tidying up exercise.  It's a funny form of tidying up that involves tearing up the British Constitution!
• We don't even vote for MEPs directly - we have to vote for a party.  It is the party which decides the candidates.
• If all this goes through Gordon Brown won't be Prime Minister of Britain.  He'll be the Mayor of the Greater British Authority - like Ken Livingstone.  There's a destruction of British democracy taking place - not just a creation of an undemocratic Europe.

The video gets a bit socialistic at the end but otherwise great stuff.

'Change required' video

This video was shown to Party Conference before yesterday's speech by William Hague.  It's a great summary of some of the changes that a Conservative Government would deliver. Click on the little black box to the left of the volume button to watch it in full screen mode.

David Cameron in Rwanda

Yesterday Stephen Crabb MP wrote about why David Cameron was right to press ahead with his visit to Rwanda. In this video, posted on WebCameron, David Cameron explains why it was important for him to go:

Cameron as a classroom assistant

David Cameron spent Monday and Tuesday working as a classroom assistant at a school in Hull. It did not get off to a good start:

"The day starts badly, for me at least. Helping register a class of 13 year olds, no-one – and I mean literally no one – has even heard of the Conservative Party. Using “hangman” on the smart new interactive whiteboard we get to “Conser_ati_e party” before any one gets it."

I know we have been in opposition for ten years but it is a bit worrying when a class of 13 year olds can't name the Conservative party when "Conser_ati_e party" is written in front of them!

During his time at the school David helped with the English and history classes as well as supervising lunch and playground duty. He says his visit was to observe and learn rather than the usual “here's a visiting politician” thing but unfortunately when you watch the videos (see below) it does look like the usual "visiting politician" thing: asking questions of the children and the teachers, being interviewed by students. Not the life of your everyday classroom assistant!

However the visit did impress on him the problems that teachers face when attempting to maintain order. He spoke to teachers and pupils who talked of the impact that behavioural problems in a small number of children can have on the whole school. Two of the teachers he spoke to favoured a zero tolerance approach to poor behaviour and bad language. He dismisses the current system which means that schools are fined if they exclude pupils and says:

"Change in our society – big, long term, substantial cultural change - is needed. And we should start by making every school head the absolute captain of their ship, able to maintain discipline and exclude poorly behaving pupils without being second-guessed or penalised for doing it."

When David Cameron so clearly recognises the urgency of combating growing behavioural problems in schools, something supported by the vast majority of teachers, parents and pupils it's a shame our education policy seems dominated by opposition to grammar schools.

Andrew Burkinshaw

I want to join Eastbourne's Tories

This is a great video from Eastbourne's Conservatives fronted by the charismatic leader of the council, Ian Lucas.  All of the candidates appear energised and the kind of people you'd be happy to enjoy a drink with.  CCHQ will also be pleased that they're also all on message with commitments to recycling, building community and tackling anti-social behaviour.  When I see videos like this I feel very optimistic about the Conservative Party.  It's not just the party at HQ that is 'in touch' but at the grassroots level we're attracting quality candidates with a passion for their communities.

Related link: South Norfolk Tories launch their green manifesto on YouTube

Labour opens a YouTube channel

An uncomfortable-looking Tony Blair kicks off Labour's YouTube channel.  The clips I'm looking forward to seeing are the 'video responses' posted by YouTubers. The LibDems' channel is more established, as is WebCameron's which is used more than the Conservative Party's.

South Norfolk Tories launch their green manifesto on YouTube

Congratulations to South Norfolk Conservatives for this YouTube video about their hopes to turn their council into one of the greenest in the country.

Cllr John Fuller, Leader of the Conservative group in South Norfolk issued the following statement:

"South Norfolk Conservatives have three candidates in their twenties and nine under forty. Our radical program will put our environment first in everything we do. With better planning, a focus on cleaner streets, boosting recycling and reducing energy use we’ll put our environment first for today and tomorrow.  We want to clean-up South Norfolk so we'll be tough on grime, tough on the causes of grime with our new environmental crimes team that tackles fly-tipping, grafitti and abandoned cars.  With our YouTube manifesto launch and the emphasis on new campaign media, we're bringing local politics to the MySpace generation whilst holding true to traditional Conservative principles of value for money and professionalism."

A World Without America

As already featured on Fox News' flagship political programme and produced in association with BritainAndAmerica.com, 18 Doughty Street has launched its fourth internet-based advert.  It discusses a world without the USA.  Tune into 18DoughtyStreet.com at 7.45pm tonight for a 45 minute discussion of the ideas behind the ad.

Interview with Alan Duncan

Michael Ehioze-Ediae of 18DoughtyStreet.com talks to Shadow Secretary of State for Trade and Industry Alan Duncan about whether he's enjoying his politics; whether Catholic adoption charities should be able to turn away gay couples who want to adopt children; trust in politics; and 18DoughtyStreet's attack ad against Ken Livingstone.

You can download a pdf of Alan Duncan's speech to the CPS here.

Ken Livingstone under fire: 18DoughtyStreet.com launches a gloves off attack ad against London's Mayor

18DoughtyStreet.com has launched its third weekly attack ad this morning and it's the hardest-hitting so far.  Watch it here and then please forward the link to friends.

4pm update from today's London Evening Standard: