Sunday 10th September 2006

8.30pm update on the ToryDiary:
CONSERVATIVE POLICY IN THE AGE OF TERROR 

2pm ToryDiary update: Conservatives to vote against WW1 pardons?

BLOGS

100policies.com: 'Double the number of prison places' says Alan Drew

ToryDiary: LibDems fail to benefit from Labour woes

CF Diary: London hustings report

A bit of fun for every ConservativeHome reader... click here and turn up the volume on your computer...

THE BATTLE TO SUCCEED TONY BLAIR

"Gordon Brown has challenged his political opponents by declaring he would welcome a Labour leadership contest after Tony Blair stands down.  In an interview for the BBC's Sunday AM programme the chancellor also denied he was involved in an attempt to unseat the prime minister." - BBC

Andrew Rawnsley in The Observer: The vicious war for Labour's bloodied crown will get uglier... "Though few are likely to match the public savagery of Charles Clarke, the former Home Secretary was speaking for more than himself when he described the Chancellor as a 'control freak' who 'can't work with people'. He was not put up to this by Number 10, but there's little that Charles Clarke said about Gordon Brown that Tony Blair does not secretly agree with."

The Sunday Telegraph and The Business urge Tony Blair to go now.

NEWSWEEK ON DAVID MILIBAND

"He's the only member of the British cabinet with enough 21st-century savvy to post a blog. His good humor and optimism attract almost as much praise as his brainpower. And in the snake pit of Labour Party politics, he's a rarity—a loyal protégé of Tony Blair who's somehow stayed on good terms with his impatient successor-in-waiting, Gordon Brown..." - Newsweek

PLOTTING BROWN

"Gordon Brown met one of the key Labour rebels demanding Tony Blair’s resignation just a day before the plotters’ letter was delivered to Downing Street.  The chancellor was visited at his home in Scotland on Monday by Tom Watson, the junior defence minister who resigned last week over the failed coup to unseat Blair." - Sunday Times

THE LABOUR PARTY'S FLAWED VOTING SYSTEM

There's a must-read post on Political Betting this morning that catalogues the inadequacies of the voting system that Labour will use to choose Tony Blair's successor:

• Disrespect for ordinary members: "For in terms of electoral power an ordinary Labour member has just one third the impact of a Lib Dem, Tory or other UK party member. And an individual Labour MP’s vote is equivalent to the views of just about 500 ordinary party members."
• Trades union power: "33.3% of the electoral college that makes the decision that goes to the trade unions. Although this is now decided by balloting individual union members expect an effort to link this to the current party funding row."
• Multiple voting: "Then there is multiple voting which might take a bit of explaining and looks anti-democratic. Thus an MP who is in a union and is a member of the Fabian Society will be able to vote four times - all giving more ammunition for opposition attack dogs."
• In summary: "1 MP = 500 members = 2,777 trade unionists"

WIDDECOMBE TAKES AIM AT THE HOWARDS (AGAIN)

"The wife of former Tory leader Michael Howard has come under fire from her husband's nemesis Ann Widdecombe after writing a bonkbuster novel featuring explicit sex scenes and obscene language." - Mail on Sunday 

OTHER NEWSLINKS

Questions over Tory property deal - Sunday Telegraph

"Members of Parliament spent nearly £1 million more on computers, stationery and paperclips in the last financial year than officially approved, the National Audit Office has revealed.  So serious is the overspend that Sir John Bourne, the auditor-general, has taken the unprecedented step of "qualifying" the Commons accounts — refusing to sign them off and forcing Parliament to vote through the additional costs." - Sunday Telegraph

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