St George's Day 2006

5.45pm ToryDiary update: Nomination Categories for the Inaugural Conservative Movement Awards.

BLOGS

Priscilla Cullen makes the case for an English Parliament on YourPlatform.

ToryDiary: Dave The Chameleon ad backfires on the snakes, leeches and pot-bellied pigs of New Labour.

EVER GREENER BLUES

ToryDiary: DAVID CAMERON: I'M FOR GREENER CARS, I'M NOT ANTI-CAR

"David Cameron has committed a future Conservative government to cutting car emissions by more than a third." - Sunday Telegraph

"As part of a big launch ahead of the local elections on May 4, the Tories are to publish their ideas for a “new generation” transport strategy. The paper will spell out proposals for better parking, improved cycle lanes and more use of 20mph speed limits." - Sunday Times

"The politician who is really serious about saving the planet is not the one who promises that you won't have to make any sacrifices. The politician who means it is the one who tells you where and how much it is going to hurt. David Cameron and Gordon Brown are both still suggesting that we can have our planet and eat it." - Andrew Rawnsley, The Observer

BNP SURGE

"A Tory MP has presented David Cameron with the first real test of his pledge to create a more tolerant Conservative party. Philip Davies claimed voters were turning to the BNP because political correctness had left white Britons afraid of being 'sacked or locked up' for expressing their feelings on race... Davies, the MP for Shipley, North Yorkshire, said he would 'obviously' like his own party to talk more about the issue, but added that he believed Cameron agreed with him that tough immigration policies were crucial to good race relations." - Observer

Iain Dale: "Tomorrow's Sunday Mirror carries a very depressing poll. An unbelievable 45.5% of the voters of Barking are set to vote for the BNP in the council elections on May 4th."

LOCAL ELECTIONS

"The best measure of Tory success could well be the four boroughs that got away in 2002. In Bexley and in Hammersmith and Fulham, a swing of just 2% would give the Tories control; in Croydon a swing of less than 3% is needed. Merton is a more difficult target, requiring a swing of 5%. If the Tories won three of these, and kept the eight London boroughs they currently control, they would probably emerge from the elections with control of more boroughs than Labour..." - Colin Rallings and Michael Thrasher, Sunday Times

BETSYGATE RESURFACES

"The Sunday Telegraph has learnt that, for the past four months, the party has been re-investigating the saga surrounding payments made by the former leader, Iain Duncan Smith, to his wife, Betsy, for secretarial work in 2003... Although cleared of any wrongdoing at the time, Mr Duncan Smith privately still blames two former Tory officials - Vanessa Gearson and Mark MacGregor - for sparking the row and ending his career as leader." - Sunday Telegraph

NO TO STATE FUNDING

"There is a growing division in this country between what the French call the pays légal (the governing elites) and the pays réel (everyone else). The rise of the BNP is only the latest manifestation of the phenomenon. That unlovely party is benefiting from a reaction against the established parties, which strike many voters as a remote and self-interested cartel. The fall in turnout is a symptom of the same malady. If the established parties agreed on a system of state funding, explicitly designed to protect them from new challengers, public disenchantment would grow - as has happened on the Continent, where parties are already subsidised by the taxpayer." - Sunday Telegraph leader

The Sunday Mirror has a letter that reveals "the Shadow Chancellor's Club" - a network that facilitates rich backers having private meals with George Osborne.

OTHER NEWS & COMMENTARY

"Will Moray revert to its true Tory colours?" - Observer

Lord Onslow "tells David Cameron that he should be restoring the party's traditional values on liberties" - Observer

Sunday Times discovers that Paddy Ashdown was a surprise supporter of the Iraq war.

"Republicans are urging President George W Bush to dump Dick Cheney as vice-president and replace him with Condoleezza Rice if he is serious about presenting a new face to the jaded American public.  They believe that only the sacrifice of one or more of the big beasts of the jungle, such as Cheney or Donald Rumsfeld, the defence secretary, will convince voters that Bush understands the need for a fresh start." - Sunday Times

"The eurozone is heading for inevitable collapse because it cannot function without full political union, a senior economic adviser to the European Commission has warned.  Paul De Grauwe, a leading economist whose work was used to make the case for European monetary union in the 1990s, says the signs point to a slow death for the euro project over as long as two decades." - The Business

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