Wednesday 24th October 2007

4.10pm ToryDiary: Win a bottle of bottler

3.45pm ToryDiary: "EU flag may fly over Tories old Smith Square HQ"

3pm ToryDiary: Rifkind accuses "Europhobes" of "posturing" in demanding a post-ratification referendum

2.15pm ToryDiary:  Hamas must renounce violence before talks can begin says Trimble

ToryDiary: Live PMQs blog from noon

12pm Seats and Candidates: Mark Jones selected for Aberdeen South and Mark Versallion selected for Stretford & Urmston

11am PlayPolitical: Backstage at Cameron's press conference and How to make a negative ad

10am Parliament:

• Baroness Neville-Jones and Baroness Warsi both made their maiden speeches in the Lords yesterday and both during a debate on Afghanistan.  Baroness Warsi focused on the plight of women since the toppling of the Taliban regime and Baroness Neville-Jones on the UK military mission.
• David Mundell MP attacked Douglas Alexander's handling of the Scottish elections fiasco and concluded that a minister should never again be responsible for elections procedures and his own party's campaigns.

Columnist Peter Franklin says politics is no longer showbiz for ugly people

Platform: Stephen Crabb MP on how devolution is causing socialism and seperatism

"Eurosceptic anger" over not promising a retrospective referendum

"David Cameron risked inflaming his party yesterday when he tacitly admitted that it would be too difficult to hold a referendum on the EU reform treaty once it comes into force. The Tory leader is under pressure from MPs and activists to pledge to give the British people a vote on the treaty even if it has been ratified by all 27 EU member states." - Times

Independent / Sun / FT / Telegraph

Politics is a long-term game

"Political time horizons now need to be at least 18 months to two years ahead, not a few weeks or months. An increasingly self-confident David Cameron showed yesterday that he understands this shift, as Sir Menzies Campbell did last week in resigning as Lib Dem leader." - Peter Riddell in The Times

Liberal conservatives

"David Cameron yesterday sought to capitalise on Liberal Democrat woes by presenting his party as the home for liberal conservatives, offering fresh thinking in the next few months on school diversity, welfare reform, prison failure and greater accountability of local councils." - Guardian

Having the bottle to cut taxes

"As part of the new rhetoric about taxation and spending that the Tories need to find, they should start by saying this: that they are not in future going to pursue spending as an end in itself, but are going to pursue value. They should stop promising to spend, and start promising to rationalise." - Simon Heffer in The Telegraph

Expensive equality superquango

"Labour's new human rights 'superquango' will cost taxpayers £22million more to run than the three bodies it replaced. The Tories last night criticised the cost of the new commission. Theresa May, party spokesman on equality, said: "People who work in the public service have a duty to spend money responsibly'." - Daily Mail

National population projections

"Of Gordon Brown's much vaunted 3 million new houses by 2020, one and a quarter million will be needed for new immigrants. It is not only a matter of bricks and mortar. The very glue of our society is being weakened under the impact of rapidly growing communities of very diverse cultures - some of whom have little intention of integrating with us." - Andrew Green in The Telegraph

40th anniversary of the Abortion Act

"Lord Steel, architect of the 1967 Abortion Act, says today that abortion is being used as a form of contraception in Britain and admits he never anticipated "anything like" the current number of terminations when leading the campaign for reform." - Guardian interview

North-South divide moves north

"Worcester woman, the marginal voter assiduously courted by the Conservatives, will wake up today and discover that she now lives in the north as a result of an academic exercise that obliterates the Midlands." - SocietyGuardian

Rüdiger von Wechmar

"German diplomat who, as ambassador to Britain, dealt deftly with the tense relationship between Thatcher and Kohl" - Times obituary

Yesterday evening's ToryDiary tipped Osborne for Chairman

Job vacancies

• Agent - South Devon Conservatives
• Corporate Resources Officer - Chelmsford County Hall Conservatives
• Office junior - John Whittingdale MP
• Deputy Director - Reform
• Research Fellow (Health) - International Policy Network
• Researcher - Nick Ramsay AM
• Consultant - New Philanthropy Capital
• Part-time intern - Malcolm Rifkind MP
• Voluntary researcher - Alok Sharma PPC
• Office Manager - Countryside Alliance
• PA/Researcher - Rob Wilson MP
• Assistant Parliamentary Officer - Charity Commission
• Executive Secretary - Mark Pritchard MP
• Campaign Co-ordinator - Pro-life APPG
• Typist - Oliver Letwin MP
• Administrator - Global Vision

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