Sunday 26th November 2006

8.30pm seats and candidates update: Nick King adopted for Mid Dorset and North Poole

NEWS UPDATE: Cameron cancels CBI speech for factfinding trip to Iraq (Ben Brogan's blog)

8pm update: 100policies.com returns this coming week

3pm Platform update: Peter Noordhoek reflects on the Dutch election results

1pm ToryDiary update: 'Doing the right thing' is getting harder and harder under Labour

BLOGS

ToryDiary: Bad news for Brown and Ming in survey of leadership qualities

Seats and candidates: 'Breath of fresh air' Priti Patel's right-wing views contrasted with 'slick' James Brokenshire and Final three for Carlisle

DEFENCE AND TERRORISM, IMMIGRATION AND CRIME NOW TOP PUBLIC'S AGENDA

Traditional Tory issues move up the public's list of priorities according to a MORI poll identified in The Observer.

>>> PoliticalBetting.com analyses the MORI findings.

TORIES CONSIDER 35-HOUR WORKING WEEK

"A controversial 35-hour working week is under consideration by a group of David Cameron's key advisers.  The Quality of Life policy group has been consulting on whether the Conservatives should bring in European-style working hours for the "general wellbeing" of the population.  John Gummer, chairman of the panel, said: "It is a pretty peculiar situation that we work many more hours than many other countries but our productivity is not very high.  We have got to ask what are the things that cause that. I am not myself an enthusiast for shorter working weeks but we have got to know what people think about it. It is one of the issues we are trying to tease out."" - Sunday Telegraph

>>> Words have failed Iain Dale in his response to this story.  Well, nearly.

PRO-POLLY POLICIES

"How far will Mr Cameron dare to go in search of inspiration? Are tours of Venezuela, Cuba and North Korea being contemplated? Is he scouring Das Kapital for new ideas? Might he advocate ever-closer union with the EU? Or the wholesale nationalisation of the London Stock Exchange?  He could also consider a wealth tax of 80 per cent, to be redistributed to social workers. On defence, the scrapping of Britain's nuclear deterrent could be followed by the abolition of all three armed services. Whether it would be enough to make Polly Toynbee vote for him is, of course, another matter." - Sunday Telegraph leader

"Whatever doubts there are about Cameron, there should be none about his determination to place himself at the compassionate centre of British politics. His embrace of Toynbee, a Brown cheerleader, should convince the likely next prime minister that the threat to him at the next election is very real." - John Rentoul in The Independent on Sunday

"Cameron has already helped to legitimise environmentalism; now he is doing the same for concern about inequality. For that alone he deserves credit." - Will Hutton in The Observer

"When the former Tory leader met a woman whose son had died of drug abuse, it was his Damascus moment. Lorna Martin finds out why" in The Observer

DAVID CAMERON ON DARFUR

"If the Sudanese fail to comply, we should be ready to freeze their Swiss bank accounts, extend travel bans and make it clear to the generals and politicians that the International Criminal Court will pursue them vigorously for the crimes being committed in their name." - the Tory leader writing in The Independent on Sunday

POISONING OF LITVINENKO

"The Conservatives are to call for a Commons statement on the death of the Russian ex-spy Alexander Litvinenko.  The shadow home secretary, David Davis, intends to raise the matter when MPs return to Westminster on Monday." - BBC

WILLIAM HAGUE'S FOREIGN POLICY PRIORITIES

"Unless we have a more representative Security Council, a more dynamic EU, a more cohesive Nato and a strengthened international effort against nuclear proliferation, the crises of coming years might well be impossible to resolve.  Such goals should be at the top of the list of the objectives of British ministers. Otherwise, there is a grave danger that international institutions will not be able to find solutions to 21st-century challenges." - The Shadow Foreign Secretary writing in The Sunday Telegraph

NEW TORY ADVERTISING AGENCY

"Something remarkable is happening in the world of political advertising - Saatchi isn't working. The guru of right-wing communication has been replaced by a "Tosser".  When David Cameron dumped a subsidiary of M&C Saatchi in favour of the tiny, if very trendy, Karmarama agency it made front-page news." - Independent on Sunday

BROWN WILL SACK JOWELL

"Tessa Jowell will be sacked from her job of running the Olympics when Gordon Brown becomes Prime Minister, according to senior Labour sources.  The Chancellor is said to regard Miss Jowell, heavily criticised for allowing the Olympics bill to run out of control, as being 'too lightweight' to head such a massive project." - Mail on Sunday

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