Monday 17th July 2006

8pm ToryDiary update: Shadow Ministers adopt cities

NEW CONSERVATIVE HOME SITE LAUNCHED TO FOLLOW DEVELOPMENTS IN RACE TO BECOME TORY CANDIDATE FOR LONDON MAYOR

• Victoria Borwick launches her campaign with a promise to deliver zero tolerance policing for London;
• Warwick Lightfoot is the first candidate to launch a campaign with an emphasis on crime-fighting and a promise of "an advisory senate of London Boroughs Leaders."
• A record of archived links to the story so far in the Mayoral race.

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Lunchtime ToryDiary updates:

• Review of the rail industry to be launched
• Gordon Brown swapped prudence for promiscuity, says George Osborne in a major speech on Labour's public spending record
  

BLOGS

ToryDiary: The Inner City Challenge

Interviews: Challenge the Chairman

Platform: William Graham - A birds-eye view of the Welsh Assembly

GRAYLING TO ADVOCATE RAILWAY REINTEGRATION

"The Conservatives have admitted their decision to divide the track and train components of the rail network in 1996 was a mistake which increased costs." - BBC

"David Cameron, the Tory leader, and Chris Grayling, the Shadow Transport Secretary, will visit Clapham Junction in South London to announce a review of the rail industry that will focus on reuniting wheel and rail." - The Times

A LIST GAINS TWO WOMEN

"David Cameron's search for more women MPs scored a success at the weekend with the selection of female candidates in two highly winnable seats." - Telegraph

>>> The Seats and Candidates section reported on both Harriett Baldwin and Karen Bradley

THE TORIES CANNOT BE A NICE PARTY

"Support for the Conservatives is the equivalent of a positional good - desirable not because of its intrinsic value but because of what it demonstrates about the owner's place in society." - Roy Hattersley in The Guardian

CONSERVATIVES QUESTION OLYMPIC LEGACY

"The government is in danger of squandering the opportunity to create a sporting legacy from the London 2012 Olympics because of a drastic reduction in lottery funding for sport at the grassroots, it was claimed yesterday." - Guardian

DEMOCRACY NEEDS TO BE CLEANED UP

"Labour will undoubtedly use its own transgressions to make the case for public funding. This would effectively introduce the state licensing of political parties, and bring an end to the spontaneous responsiveness of our system to changes in public opinion." - Janet Daley in The Telegraph

POP POLITICS

"Cameron's attempts at pop politics can only end in tears. Voters will see the glaring inconsistency of trying to appeal to the needs of Middle England voters and those trendy young things he's attempting to get on side." - Amina Taylor in The Guardian

WHENWILLBLAIRGO?

"The greatest mistake Mr Blair can make now is to cling to office and watch opprobrium turn to open derision, and yet that seems to be all that is left of his strategy." - Telegraph leader

"This is not merely the yapping of the dogs of the media. My impression is that the majority of the Cabinet accept privately that there will be no recovery under Mr Blair." - William Rees-Mogg in The Times

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