Tuesday 21st November 2006

11.30am ToryDiary update: 'Hello, it's David Cameron calling from Sudan'

BLOGS

ToryDiary: Now, can we please stop stereotyping the Tory grassroots?

John Hayes MP on YourPlatform: Thoughts on the Further Education Bill

Seats and Candidates: East Thurrock & South Basildon shortlist and Bob Blackman selected for Harrow East

See an updated CF Diary for the start of a series looking at what we can learn from America's Leadership Institute, and for updates on the progress of CF.

FRUSTRATION IN KHARTOUM

"David Cameron will come face to face today with survivors of the conflict which has claimed more than 200,000 lives in Darfur. The Conservative leader will end his two-day trip to Sudan by visiting two of the sprawling refugee camps that have sprung up across the region to house the two million people forced to flee their homes." - Telegraph

"David Cameron demanded action from Sudanese leaders to end the crisis in Darfur after speaking last night of the “depressing” signs of continued government involvement in militia attacks at the weekend." - Times

>>> ToryDiary: David Cameron is in Darfur

SEARCH FOR CENTRE GROUND CAUSING CYNICISM

"The Conservatives must embrace their traditional ideology and abandon the search for the centre ground, Lord Saatchi said last night, in a thinly veiled attack on David Cameron's strategy. The former Tory co-chairman said that politicians were in thrall to the "dinner party myth" that elections could be won only from the centre - and failed to realise that the result was a "super-cynical electorate". He urged conservatives on both sides of the Atlantic to "man the ideological barricades"." - Guardian

TACKLING THE DEBT EPIDEMIC

"Children as young as 11 should be taught to manage money, calculate rates of interest and balance a budget to prevent levels of debt from worsening, the Conservatives said yesterday. George Osborne, the Shadow Chancellor, told an industry conference on debt hosted by the party that action was needed urgently to address spiralling rates of personal indebtedness." - Times

STELZER: DON'T LOOK TO THE TORIES FOR TAX-CUTS OR INCREASED INDIVIDUAL FREEDOM

"In the end, the nothing that is Tory policy is really a policy-by-default. It assumes it is politically impossible to rein in spending. It assumes that unlimited consumer choice is unacceptable, which means that the public sector monopoly can operate free of threat to its inefficiency. It guarantees the further enlargement of the public sector [...] You might prefer broad-based tax cuts and the increased individual freedom that the late Milton Friedman argued they bring, but don't look to the Tories for that alternative. All they have to offer is plenty of nuthin'." - Irwin Stelzer in The Telegraph

>>> Click here for a brief audio interview with Irwin about this article

CAMERON CRITICISED FOR SURROUNDING HIMSELF WITH OLD ETONIANS

"Labour revived the language of class warfare yesterday as the party’s chairman initiated a ferocious attack on David Cameron based on his privileged background. Hazel Blears cast doubt on the Tory leader’s credentials by asking why he felt the need to surround himself with so many Old Etonians, and attacked him as out of touch with ordinary people" - Times

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