Wednesday 28th February 2007

7.30pm ToryDiary update: Reports of the death of the Tory-GOP relationship are exaggerated

12.40pm ToryDiary update: Cameron asks Blair about the Chancellor's unpopularity with his colleagues

Noon ToryDiary update: Is this ad "inflammatory"?

11.30am Seats and candidates update: Final two for Exeter

BLOGS

ToryDiary: Ming has begun preparations for coalition talks

Seats and candidates: Any questions for John Maples?

"On climate change, Iraq, tax, and their attitude to politics in general, New Labour’s children have long since fled the Blair nest... Blair leaves a legacy of politically rootless young people, either indifferent, or drifting toward the political fringes.  Of course this is an opportunity for the Conservatives.  But New Labour’s Lost Generation don’t yet feel much closer to us either.  They’re still waiting - for a leader and a set of ideas with which they can connect.  Rather than expecting them to find us, our challenge is pro-actively to go out and connect with them.  In the spirit of putting our money / effort where our polling is, that’s what the Bow Group now intends to do, with a series of events aimed at first-time voters.  Stay tuned."

- Adrian Blair on YourPlatform analyses a Populus/ Bow Group poll on first-time voters

Joe Loconte on BritainAndAmerica: Iran's nuclear train has left the station

THE SUN ATTACKS TORY TACTICS ON OFFENDER MANAGEMENT BILL

The Tories are set to reverse their support for a shake-up of the probation service and side with left-wing Labour MPs in attempting to inflict a defeat on the Government - The Sun

The Sun Says: "A strange collection of Leftie dinosaurs and David Cameron’s Tories are preparing to join forces tonight at Westminster.  Rebel Labour MPs plan to vote against a bill allowing a private sector shake-up of the probation service.  The Offender Management Bill is a bold move to make probation work more efficient — and make the public safer from re-offenders.  David Cameron has made clear he’s in favour of radical ideas to improve difficult issues facing society.  But all of a sudden he appears set to join Labour lefties and vote AGAINST the bill — simply so he can give the Government a bloody nose.  Mr Cameron should avoid party politics and stick to his principles to help this bill become law.  The Conservative leader likes to talk the talk.  Today, it’s time to walk the walk."

GEORGE OSBORNE CALLS FOR A CHANGE IN EU DIRECTION

"George Osborne, in a speech on European reform, will say the EU needs a "complete change of direction".  He will criticise EU leaders for failing to realise that they needed to address competition within the EU as well as with the rest of the world." - BBC

FAMILY POLICY

"David Cameron's promise of tax breaks for married couples is a "misdiagnosis" of the problems facing society, Tony Blair said yesterday... The Conservative leader has argued for support for marriage in the tax system. But Alan Johnson, the education secretary, said yesterday in a speech that family policy must be "bias-free"." - Guardian

>>> There is a great Peter Brookes cartoon in The Times depicting Alan Johnson as the yob that taunted David Cameron last week.
 

MILBURN AND CLARKE APPEAR TO QUESTION BROWN STRATEGY

"Two former Cabinet ministers have e-mailed all Labour MPs, calling for an "open debate" on the party's future.  Charles Clarke and Alan Milburn wrote that Labour needed to show that, after 10 years in office it had the "vision and policies" for Britain's future.  Both have previously urged Gordon Brown - favourite to succeed Tony Blair - to say what he would do as prime minister.  BBC Political Editor Nick Robinson said the e-mail suggested that "waiting for Gordon isn't good enough"." - BBC

"I don't know whether Mr Brown, and whichever of the eight deputies he ends up with, will lose Labour the next election. But if I were a Labour MP, worrying about life after Westminster, I wouldn't put money on their not doing so.  And I would be asking one very important question: what, when there is such a prize to be gained, is holding John Reid back?" - Simon Heffer in The Telegraph

CHRISTOPHER HITCHENS ON DAVID CAMERON

"David Cameron has become the green challenger. His party's events feature tie-less informality and earth tones and much grave talk about the need for "organic" attitudes... Most astonishingly of all, he is running against Tony Blair (or rather, against Blair's heir-presumptive, Gordon Brown) as the candidate who wants to refashion Britain's relationship with Washington in such a way as to take distance from the American alliance. The press conference at which Cameron announced this new initiative was held on Sept. 11 last, as if to emphasize that the American Embassy could no longer take Tory sympathy for granted. And Cameron has appointed William Hague, a former leader of the party, as his spokesman on foreign affairs. Hague takes every opportunity to criticize the Blair administration for its slavish endorsement of George Bush and to promise that a Conservative government cannot be counted upon for Republican military expeditions." - Slate.com

ALISTAIR BEATON ON DAVID CAMERON

"To be perfectly honest, Tory Dave is already boring me stupid.  Why he's not boring the electorate stupid, I can't quite understand, though I imagine it's something to do with finding any alternative to Blair horribly attractive.  There was recently a moment when my spirits rose. No, it wasn't the news about the marijuana. It was that photograph of young Dave as a member of the Bullingdon Dining Club.  Here at last was something worth attacking. The great moderniser was revealed as an archetypal Tory toff, a rich kid straight from the pages of an Evelyn Waugh novel.  This, after all, is the dining club which boasts the motto: I like the sound of breaking glass (shouldn't that be in Latin?)." - Telegraph

THEY EXPECT US TO GO GREEN BUT THEY STILL LIVE THE HIGH LIFE

"The Tennessee Center for Policy Research says [Al] Gore — whose global warming documentary won an Oscar Sunday, "deserves a gold statue for hypocrisy," because his 20-room mansion consumes more electricity every month than the average American household uses in an entire year — with an average power bill of $13,059 59 — along with a natural gas bill of more than $1,000 a month." - Brit Hume on FoxNews.com

"Al Gore has fashioned himself a lucrative career (and pocketed an Oscar) by reinventing himself as the Jeremiah of the age of global warming. How blissful, then, to learn the inconvenient truth that the Gore house in Nashville, Tennessee, uses over 20 times more energy than the average American home.  That's a lot of electricity. Not only does the former presidential hopeful run his own personal CO2 factory - he also has a predilection for private jets. Mr Gore does, of course, claim to offset his vast carbon output. We should hope he does. But isn't this just another example of a politician telling us to do what he says -not what he does?  As a powerful advocate of the use of fewer natural resources, he should be making more of an effort himself. Otherwise his doom-laden prognostications will be seen as mere hot air." - Telegraph leader

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