Saturday 24th February 2007

9.45pm ToryDiary update: "Deer stalker Dave can fell two stags with one shot"

12.15pm Seats and candidates update: Final four for Tiverton and Honiton

BLOGS

ToryDiary: Gove and Hurd tipped for shadow cabinet and Party Conference to go to Manchester

Seats and candidates: Clerical error cost party over £30,000 last year

Phil Hendren has a great exclusive - He has discovered a YouTube video of Hazel Blears launching her deputy Labour leadership bid.

BLOG OF THE WEEK

Nirj Deva MEP's European Union Discussion Forum.

WILLIAM HAGUE INTERVIEW

In an interview for The Daily Telegraph, the Shadow Foreign Secretary describes how much he is enjoying his politics again, how Tony Blair has failed  to stand up to George W Bush, that the party is on course to have more MPs than Labour and how he will stop more transfer of powers to the EU.

LOST TORY VOTERS

"What happened to the 10 million voters who, across 13 years, have refused to turn out for anybody? Even if 20 per cent have died or emigrated, that is still a huge missing electorate.  David Cameron does not need to convert Lib Dems. He walks into Downing Street if he can find the missing Tory voters and bring them back." - Frederick Forsyth in a letter to The Telegraph

'CAMERON'S HOODIE YOB'

"The gloating yob who pretended to shoot Tory leader David Cameron yesterday boasted of his life of drugs, guns and crime.  Hoodie thug Ryan Florence, 17, told how he smoked cannabis every day and spent months behind bars for a string of violent thefts.  His shameful claims came after he was snapped making the shooting action with his hand behind Mr Cameron, who was in Manchester to speak about youth gun culture." - The Sun

HUGO SWIRE BLAMES BROWN FOR RISING COST OF OLYMPICS

"The cost of the 2012 London Olympics could rise to nearly four times the figure set out in the city's bid for the Games... Shadow culture secretary Hugo Swire said the news was "staggering", and said Chancellor Gordon Brown should take responsibility, because he signed off the original budget.  "There is no doubt that there will be real worries across the country about the huge increase in costs... it is time we got a proper explanation from Gordon Brown on what has gone on and assurances as to what the government is doing to control the ever-increasing budget," he said." - BBC

CHARLES MOORE ON THE FATHER OF ALL BATTLES

"David Cameron says: "We need to make it as socially unacceptable for fathers to avoid their responsibilities as drink-driving now is. As with drink-driving, it is a combination of government action and culture change that will make the difference."  It is an interesting comparison. Drink-driving is indeed a good example of how social attitudes can change. Forty years ago, most people saw it as largely comic. Now we take it seriously." - Telegraph

BROWN IS THE WRONG CHOICE FOR LABOUR... AND FOR THE COUNTRY

"With a genuinely fresh leader, Labour might reasonably hope for a honeymoon period: a carefree few weeks in which the new man distances himself from the failures of the late Blair years, announces a phased withdrawal from Iraq and then, in all probability, calls a snap election.  Instead, the party is moving excruciatingly towards the candidate who is seen as stale, who is most closely associated with the old regime, and who, by temperament, would almost certainly be unable to call an early poll." - Telegraph leader

DEPUTY LABOUR LEADERSHIP CANDIDATES CLASH OVER BLAIRISM

"Peter Hain, the Northern Ireland Secretary, hit back at a suggestion by Hazel Blears, the Labour chairman, that the party risked electoral defeat if it departed radically from Tony Blair's policies.  Ms Blears, who will launch her campaign in her Salford constituency today, said Labour should not repeat the mistake made by Al Gore, the former US Democratic Party candidate, who lost to George Bush after distancing himself from the Clinton administration in which he served as vice president." - Independent

"Top marks to Education Secretary Alan Johnson for choosing Leeds as his campaign headquarters for Labour's forthcoming deputy leadership contest.  Furthermore, the Hull MP has recruited a Yorkshire-led campaign team led by, among others, Bradford MP Gerry Sutcliffe, a Home Office Minister, and Dave Kennedy, who was until recently the interim chief executive of Bradford Council.  Mr Johnson's foresight contrasts with the other candidates who have all appointed Westminster-based teams." - Yorkshire Post

THE 1980 IRANIAN EMBASSY SIEGE

"A secret Whitehall history of the Iranian embassy siege reveals today for the first time the details of how Margaret Thatcher's government dealt with the six-day crisis, which ended with a dramatic SAS rescue on live television.  The 120-page document shows how behind the scenes, ministers, diplomats and police battled with problems that ranged from fears that the hostages were growing too close to their captors to bizarre plans for a visit to the scene by the Duke of York at the height of the emergency." - Independent

UKIP ACCUSES ELECTORAL COMMISSION OF BIAS IN REPAYMENT CRISIS - Independent

THE GUARDIAN ON THE VOTE TO REPLACE ONE OF THE HOUSE OF LORDS' HEREDITARY TORY PEERS

HAVE YOU WATCHED IT YET?  Add to the 184,058 views of 18DoughtyStreet.com's A World Without America ad.

MILIBAND'S CLIMATE BILL DOWNGRADED - Times

TIM MONTGOMERIE DISCUSSES PETITION POWER WITH LIBDEM MP NORMAN BAKER - BBC World Service's Politics UK programme (20mins30secs in).

Please use this post to highlight other interesting news and commentary...

Friday 23rd February 2007

5.15pm Seats and candidates updates: Finalists for Colne Valley and Invalid voting set to save Sir Patrick Cormack

BLOGS

ToryDiary: When are the LibDems going to be asked to repay £2.4m from Michael Brown? and The floating non-voters

BritainAndAmerica: 150,000 views of 'A World Without America' 

CAMERON ENDORSES CITY ACADAMIES

"David Cameron says he backs Labour's city academy programme - but claims it must go "further and faster". He says he wants more freedoms for the flagship scheme, which sees private sponsors provide up to £2m, and being given a say in the way they are run. The academies have attracted criticism and are viewed by some as a threat to the future of state education. But the Conservative leader said being in opposition was not just about opposing the government." - BBC

KALMS WON'T BACK "RED-HERRING UKIP"

"A major Tory donor has withdrawn support for the “red herring” europhobic UK Independence Party, boosting David Cameron’s efforts to contain threats of defections from his party’s right-wing. The move coincides with growing confidence among Tory traditionalists that Mr Cameron will fight the next election on a strongly eurosceptic manifesto." - FT

>>> Yesterday's ToryDiary: The stay-at-homes are a bigger worry than UKIP

PLAID CYMRU ANGRY ABOUT TORY COALITION CLAIMS

"Opposition parties could unite to put a Conservative into power in the Welsh assembly, Welsh Secretary Peter Hain has warned Labour activists. Mr Hain told Welsh Labour's spring conference in Swansea there was a "very real danger" of a Tory first minister." - BBC

"Plaid last night threatened legal action against Labour for repeatedly suggesting Ieuan Wyn Jones's team is preparing to go into coalition with the Tories. Painting the election as a fight between Labour and a "Tory-led coalition" has been a key part of the Government strategy, and the idea has been rammed home in a series of ministerial speeches and interviews." - Western Mail

CAMERON WALKS THROUGH WYTHENSHAWE ESTATE

"A teenage hoodie told last night how he ran up behind Tory leader David Cameron and pretended to shoot him. Tagged thug Ryan Florence, 17, said he made the sick gun gesture to impress gang pals who were watching. The yob in a gang called Benchill Mad Dogs struck when Mr Cameron was visiting a crime-ridden council estate in Manchester to speak out on youth gun crime." - The Sun

ANOTHER WILTSHIRE SPLIT

"The row over whether to scrap an entire tier of local government in Wiltshire became an all-out war yesterday after both sides claimed independent analysts backed up their arguments.But with a decision looming within weeks on whether a Tory-led Wiltshire county council bid to scrap the district councils should go ahead, it was claimed last night that the Conservatives in Wiltshire are engaging in civil war over the issue." - Western Daily Press

FRESH SOLDIERS TO FIGHT TALIBAN

"The defence secretary, Des Browne, is expected to announce on Monday a fresh deployment of more than 1,000 extra troops and equipment to Afghanistan to combat an expected spring offensive by the Taliban. The increase in forces was reported to the cabinet yesterday amid what was described as a heavy discussion about the situation in the country and the efforts needed to shore up the government in Kabul. The new military push is expected to cost the Treasury £250m." - Guardian

NEVER UNDERESTIMATE A POLITICIAN'S VANITY

"Julie Burchill years ago wrote that "politics is just showbusiness for ugly people". This is increasingly less true; because of the superficial demands of the mass media, those ill-favoured by nature have less chance to reach high office. Yet her remark is valid in its attribution of thespian vanity to the political class. For all that, it is wrong just to sneer at politicians obsessed with their appearance; there is a good argument to the effect that they are only revealing themselves to be human." - Dominic Lawson in the Independent

UK MISSILE DEFENCE

"The UK and US governments have been holding discussions on the possibility of positioning a US anti-ballistic missile defence system on UK soil. An article in The Economist claims UK Prime Minister Tony Blair has lobbied the US president for the system." - BBC

How the system would work - BBC

>>> Mark Pritchard MP wrote about missile defence for ConservativeHome last May.

Please use this post to highlight other interesting news and commentary...

Thursday 22nd February 2007

11pm ToryDiary update: If 'it is the economy, stupid', the Tories can start smiling

12.15pm ToryDiary update: If you want to be tough on the causes of crime - you support the family 

BLOGS

ToryDiary: The stay-at-homes are a bigger worry than UKIP and The bronze lady

LondonMayor: Steve Norris: "If I run, I'll win"

BritainAndAmerica: Prayers for Billy Cox 

HEALTHY MARRIAGE PROGRAMME

"Feckless fathers who avoid responsibility for their children should be made to feel as socially unacceptable as drink-drivers, according to David Cameron." - Telegraph

"David Cameron is studying radical proposals to introduce a "healthy marriage" programme that would teach people how to stay together as a family. The Tory leader is set to hail the central role played by a stable home in preventing crime, as he steps up his campaign to put the family at the centre of Tory policy. He will use a visit to a social centre in Manchester to endorse a major report from his social justice policy group that warns of the link between family breakdown and youth crime." - Daily Mail

"I am proud to say that some of these real community leaders are now getting stuck into politics – as Conservative council candidates. Last night three Wythenshawe people were chosen as our candidates for the local elections. So the dividing lines are clear: an old-fashioned Labour approach which is top-down, short-term and centralising, or a modern Conservative approach which is bottom-up, long-term and trusts in local action. Ten years of state control have failed our children and our society. The turning point will come with a new Conservative government committed to the ideal of social responsibility." - David Cameron in the Telegraph

CAMERON'S CHOICE OF SCHOOL

"The sought-after Church of England primary school chosen by David Cameron for his daughter has a long record of being feeder for fee-paying senior schools, it has emerged. The Tory leader is snubbing at least 15 nearby primaries with his plan to send three-year-old Nancy to the church school more than two miles from his home. The schools he is shunning include a 450-pupil primary just yards from his Notting Hill front door, where nearly half of pupils qualify for free school meals." - Daily Mail

"I am the walking definition of everything A-list Tories are meant not to be these days: wrong age, wrong sex, wrong ethnicity, wrong sexual orientation, wrong background, wrong number of limbs. But I have found something in common with David Cameron. I have sent - and he will send -children to church schools." - Clive Aslet in the Telegraph

THATCHER STATUE UNVEILED IN MEMBERS' LOBBY

"Former prime minister Margaret Thatcher, the "Iron Lady" of politics, unveiled a silicon bronze statue of herself in parliament on Wednesday. "I might have preferred iron -- but bronze will do. It won't rust," Thatcher told a ceremony in the Members' Lobby of the House of Commons, the lower chamber of parliament. "This time I hope, the head will stay on," she joked to laughter and applause, referring to a marble statue of herself that was decapitated by a vandal in 2002." - Reuters

"It is a tradition in the House of Commons that MPs nod in the direction of the Speaker whenever they enter or leave the chamber - this dates back to the days when MPs held their debates in St Stephen's Chapel and would nod in the direction of the altar. But since the new Lady Thatcher statue was unveiled in the Members' Lobby yesterday, I hear mutterings of a new tradition taking root." - Telegraph Spy

TROOP WITHDRAWAL

"Mr Blair's announcement on troop cuts was a compromise between political constraints and growing concern among military chiefs. Bigger cuts would have created problems for President Bush and would probably not have been welcomed by the Iraqi government." - Guardian leader

"But what if the Iraqi army can't hold the ring in the south and it descends into civil war? As Sir John Keegan, our Defence Editor, writes elsewhere today, the withdrawal phase could be even more dangerous to our forces than what has gone before. Relief that the boys are coming home is tempered both by that fear - and by the horribly uncertain future still facing the south." - Telegraph leader 

"The latest Baghdad security initiative has made an encouraging start and might bear more fruit than cynical critics would like to concede is possible.Even so, Britain should not be rushing to leave southern Iraq on an artificial timetable." - Times leader 

BROWN MAKING SAME MISTAKE AS LAWSON

"Mr Grumpy is making the same mistake as Mr Clever 19 years ago. When the cycle turns down, a chronic deficit of income to spending will be revealed. And in the long tradition of his predecessors, Mr Brown will leave it to a successor, a new Parliament or a different government to sort out." - Graham Searjant in the Times 

Please use this post to highlight other interesting news and commentary...

Wednesday 21st February 2007

6.30pm LondonMayor update: Nicholas Boles to leave Policy Exchange to focus on mayoral campaign

12:45pm ToryDiary update: Cameron presses Blair on pensions and Labour infighting

11.45am ToryDiary update: Grayling acts on potential for petition abuse

11am CF Diary update: Growing media interest in Conservative Future

BLOGS

ToryDiary: We need to stop promoting Downing Street petitions and 18DoughtyStreet.com's A World Without America advertisement

BLAIR TO ANNOUNCE TROOP WITHDRAWALS (BUT LIBDEMS SEEKS FASTER DRAWDOWN)

"All British troops will be pulled out of Iraq by the end of 2008, starting with the withdrawal of 1,000 in the early summer, the Guardian has learned."

Ming Campbell's reaction: "If these reports are true, a reduction in British forces in Iraq is to be welcomed.  But I still believe that our presence exacerbates the security situation and we should have a target for the withdrawal of all British troops by the end of October this year." (BBC)

DAVID CAMERON CHOOSES A CHRISTIAN SCHOOL FOR HIS DAUGHTER

"Mr Cameron — who during his leadership campaign said that he did not attend church as often as he should — has become an active participant at St Mary Abbots Church in Kensington, West London, and hopes to get his three-year-old daughter, Nancy, into the highly prized and secluded school in the church grounds." - Times

IAIN DALE IN THE TELEGRAPH

Iain Dale writes his debut column for this morning's Telegraph.  He summarises his article on his blog.

GORDON BROWN CAN BEAT DAVID CAMERON...

Jonathan Freedland sets out a strategy for a Brown victory - Guardian

...AND DAVID MILIBAND PROBABLY CAN'T

"The public barely knows Mr Miliband. He is a relatively junior Cabinet minister, with complex political views, far from the right-wing Blairite he is lazily branded. Put under scrutiny, his winning patina might turn out to be just that, a mirage... it could also remove Labour’s strongest card — experience — against the youthful Conservative." - Alice Miles in The Times

MARGARET THATCHER PAYS TRIBUTE TO RALPH HARRIS

"Men and women in fancy waistcoats joined Baroness Thatcher last night to celebrate the life and work of Lord Harris of Highcross, a key influence in the revival of free-market policies.  Lady Thatcher was one of dozens of politicians and many hundreds of liberal-minded economists who paid tribute to the late Lord Harris at St John's, Smith Square, in Westminster." - Telegraph

>>> Read John O'Sullivan's tribute to Lord Harris

TONY BANKS' POLITICAL PORTRAITS GO TO AUCTION

"More than 150 political portraits which belonged to the late Lord Stratford, Tony Banks, go under the hammer in May.  Styles range from classical portraiture to outrageous caricature with values from a few hundred pounds to £120,000." - BBC

JOHN PRESCOTT'S OFFICE COSTS UP BY ONE-THIRD - Daily Mail

NEW STARTER HOMES TO BE BUILT AMONGST COUNCIL HOUSING ESTATES - Independent

SCOTTISH PARLIAMENTARY EXPENSES UP BY TWICE INFLATION RATE - Scotsman

TYCOON TO LAUNCH NEW RIGHT-WING PARTY IN ISRAEL - Independent

Please use this post to highlight other interesting news and commentary...