Sunday 17th September 2006
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9.45pm: Just noticed this excellent article by Nick Cohen in The Observer on corruption in aid budgets...
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3pm ToryDiary update: Action is unlikely to follow global demonstrations for Darfur
BLOGS
- Labour leadership woes fail to lift Tories
- Only one-third of Associations respond to membership enquiries
- Mr Green Tie
SCOTLAND
"The man who aspires to spearhead a Conservative revival throughout the United Kingdom discoursed on such topics as the Highland Clearances, the poll tax, the way Scots banknotes are treated south of the Border and the "insult" to Scottish sensibilities posed by comedians like Russ Abbott. In short, he trotted out every cliché in the book in a speech so laden with couthiness it could have been written by the members of a blue-rinse sewing bee." - Scotland on Sunday leader
"Cameron's speech on Friday, in which he apologised for Conservative opposition to devolution, for the introduction in Scotland of the poll tax, and even for supposed insensitivity towards Scots on English-based TV shows (oh, come on!), has already been much derided by the political commentariat. Undoubtedly, the speech was one of the worst examples of Cameron's tendency to simply tell an audience what he thinks they want to hear." - Eddie Barnes, Scotland on Sunday who nonetheless concludes that the Scottish Tories have much to learn from their English leader.
>>> Debate the speech on ToryDiary
Iain MacWhirter (Sunday Herald) believes that the Scottish Tories are out-of-step with the Notting Hill set: "The “Dave” revolution has left the Scottish Tories cold – in deep freeze even. There’s no way they are going to start going around sympathising with single mothers, gays and greens. They want to get back to the old virtues of tax cuts, family values and law and order, which they see being ripped off them by Labour. Indeed, I suspect a lot of Tory MSPs secretly yearn to be on Jack McConnell’s side of the Scottish parliament these days rather than their own touchy-feely compassionate Conservative benches. If they were Labour they could still do macho things like cheer asbos, war on drugs, war on neds, war in Iraq."
Simon Jenkins, in The Sunday Times, believes that 'We'd be a more united kingdom with an independent Scotland'
BLAIR REFUSES TO BACK BROWN
"Tony Blair is still refusing to endorse Gordon Brown as his successor amid hopes in Downing Street that other candidates for the prime minister’s job will emerge to force a full leadership contest." - Sunday Times
In The Sunday Telegraph Matthew d'Ancona describes a speech by Alan Milburn as one of the best political speeches he had heard for years. The speech (also welcomed by the Taxpayers' Alliance of their blog) promised a major devolution of power to individual citizens including steps towards education vouchers and tax breaks to encourage share and home ownership.
LIBDEMS IN BRIGHTON
"Sir Menzies Campbell has insisted his position would not be undermined if he lost a vote on tax at his first party conference as Liberal Democrat leader." - BBC
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