Monday 19th March 2007

8pm ToryDiary update: Brown would trail Cameron by 15% according to new ICM poll

Early evening BritainAndAmerica updates: It'll be months not weeks before we know if 'surge' has worked says Bush and Conservative website targets Giuliani

4.30pm ToryDiary update: Technology not taxation will deliver greener future say Tory members

Lunchtime Seats and candidates update: Five new seats invite candidate applications

Lunctime CF Diary update: Craig Cox's latest progress report

11am CF Diary update: What would you do with your ID card?

BLOGS

ToryDiary:

• "The party has gone to war with ConservativeHome"
• Osborne wants 3p corporation tax cut - paid for by scrapping of reliefs

100TH TAX RISE SCHEDULED FOR WEDNESDAY'S BUDGET

"Families have been hit with 99 tax increases since Gordon Brown became Chancellor - and he is likely to go over the century in his 11th Budget on Wednesday, the Tories claimed last night." - Telegraph

BUSINESS TAX BURDEN

"Businesses are paying almost £12bn more in tax in 2008/9 than they were when Labour came to power, the Engineering Employers Federation said.  Surging taxes have hit manufacturer profitability hard and turned many companies away from the UK, it added." - BBC

"Since 2000 British public spending has been pushed up faster than in any other developed economy – more than three times as fast, in fact, as in the US, which has experienced the next most rapid pace of increase. Spending has risen by an annual average of 4 per cent in real, after-inflation terms. To pay for this the tax burden has also risen more sharply than in our leading competitor countries, to an extent that has strained public tolerance, provoked wails of fury from business and led the International Monetary Fund to give warning this month that further rises would be economically damaging.' - Times

TIMES LEADER CALLS FOR BUDGET TO FOCUS ON HOW REVENUES ARE SPENT

DAVID CAMERON PROMISES MORE GRIT

"David Cameron promised a year of "grit" yesterday to build on the changes he has made to the Conservatives and cast his party as a government in waiting prepared to take tough choices.
In his keynote speech to the Tories' spring forum in Nottingham, Mr Cameron tried to answer the fears of some party members and focus groups of swing voters that he is short on substance. "It's only when you do the tough things that people know you're serious," he said." - Guardian

DAVID CAMERON'S SOCIAL CRUSADE

"The Tory leader said Mrs Thatcher had stopped the UK from being the economic “sick man of Europe” in the 1980s. He said HIS task is to stop Britain from being the “sick family of Europe”. David Cameron last night pledged that his quest is to save the NHS and rescue Britain from anarchy." - The Sun

The Sun Says:

"MargaretThatcher had her work cut out – and so does David Cameron.  She turned Britain into the world’s fourth largest economy.  Cameron announced yesterday that his mission is to save the NHS and rebuild a strong British society.  He must show he has the same iron will as Maggie.  And the ability to swing a manbag."

A TELEGRAPH LEADER WELCOMES THE TORY NHS STRATEGY

DAVID CAMERON'S RECYCLING HABITS

"Mr Cameron's staff have displayed some irritation at a Sunday newspaper whose journalists had examined the contents of rubbish bins outside his Kensington home, and accused him of not taking proper care to recycle his household waste. Some of the nappies they found were not biodegradable.  A spokesman said the party was considering a formal complaint about the intrusion on the Cameron family's privacy. The Camerons have been unable to find biodegradable nappies for their disabled four-year-old son.  The spokesman added: "I don't think there is any doubt that this sort of thing is sharp practice. We need to have a good debate in this country and I think it's a shame that it is devalued by silly stories where people rummage through people's bins." - Independent

>>> Yesterday's Sunday Mirror story

Kevin Maquire: "The Nottingham conference was surprisingly low key, attended by fewer activists than the Liberal Democrat shout-a-thon a couple of weeks ago in Harrogate.  There was none of that whiff of power you could scent at Labour gatherings in the four years up to 1997 with lots of empty seats in the hall and small hall and few exhibitors. If I were Cameron, I'd be worried. His support is shallow and the Tory faithful don't like all that green stuff, particularly now his fondness for private jets and failure to recycle his own rubbish properly has added the stench of hypocrisy."

DAVID CAMERON MOVES TO THE CENTRE

"When David Cameron switched his hair from a right-parting to a left, some wondered if he was simply mirroring his party's general shift in politics. But by Sunday the Conservative leader was offering observers a further sign - that he is moving to the centre ground... It is Mr Cameron's third hairstyle in less than a week but, unlike some celebrities and even politicians, it did not cost a fortune." - Daily Mail

Yawn.

MAUDE CALLS ON MEPs TO BACK EPP LINE OR FACE DESELECTION

"The latest Tory Radio interview with the Conservative Party Chairman is now online.  During the interview, Francis Maude effectively sent the message to current Conservative MEPs that they either back David Cameron's decision to leave the EPP grouping or face not being allowed to stand as Conservative candidates."

JOHN BIRD TO STAND AGAINST KEN LIVINGSTONE

"John Bird, the founder and editor-in-chief of The Big Issue, is to make a dramatic entry in the race to be London mayor.  In an interview with The Daily Telegraph Mr Bird disclosed that he will announce next Monday that he will run, posing potentially the most serious threat to Ken Livingstone's hopes of winning a third term. But Mr Bird, who has twice experienced homelessness, will not say whether he will stand as an Independent or for the Conservatives."

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