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...

The Tory Poll

ConservativeHome.com helped to lead the recent campaign for party democracy and over the coming years we aim to continue to champion the views and interests of grassroots members and Tory supporters.

To that end we are launching regular opinion surveys of Conservative supporters and the first one begins today.

Click HERE to take the first survey and to become a member of what we hope will become a very influential group.