Saturday 23rd February 2008

7.30pm CentreRight:

• Louise Bagshawe notes David Heath MP is running scared on the referendum issue
• Conor Burns notes that MPs are privately critical of the Speaker, but never publicly
• Alex Deane notes the difference between opposing multiculturalism and opposing multiracialism 

7pm ToryDiary: Time's up, Mr Speaker

6pm ToryDiary: America needs to restore its moral authority in the world says William Hague

CentreRight selections:

• In his first post for CentreRight, Martin Parsons warns that Hezbollah is threatening Israel with open war;
• Nile Gardiner fears that Hague's remarks on US foreign policy risk reigniting Tory tensions with the White House;
• And much more locally, Harry Phibbs objects to road humps.

12.30pm ToryDiary: 300 Labour members set to defect to Derby Conservatives?

11.45am Seats and candidates: Boris Johnson will resign as MP for Henley if he ousts Ken Livingstone

Robert Colvile on Platform: How the internet will change the way politics works

Hague says US needs better image in the world

"America needs to restore its 'moral authority' in the world, William Hague says today. The election of either John McCain or Barack Obama as United States president would elevate US politics in the eyes of a global audience, the Shadow Foreign Secretary says. In a move that will anger the Bush Administration but which highlights Tory unease at the way American foreign policy has been run in recent years, Mr Hague also reveals he has been talking to Democrat "policy makers" in Washington." - Telegraph

William Hague interview - Telegraph

Auschwitz trip funding

"Leading Jewish groups and MPs have rounded on Conservative leader David Cameron after he dismissed funding to send schoolchildren to visit Auschwitz as "a gimmick". His intervention was described as "sick and ignorant" by the Government and "a low form of politics" by Lord Janner, the chairman of the Holocaust Educational Trust." - Telegraph / Times

ToryDiary summary of reaction / Samuel Coates and Greg Hands MP comment

Brown benefiting from handling of Rock

"Voters have refused to endorse Tory attacks on Gordon Brown over his handling of the Northern Rock crisis. Two polls showed growing support for the Government's decision to nationalise the stricken bank, despite David Cameron's warning that it would be a calamity for the economy." - Mail

Adopting the co-op

"In one of his boldest attempts to colonise Labour territory, David Cameron has adopted the humble Co-op as a central plank of new Tory thinking. This week the Conservative Co-operative Movement, inaugurated by Mr Cameron three months ago, recommended a range of tax breaks for local co-operative services and started a publication on how to set up a retail food co-operative." - Times

The Lady's Not for Spurning

"What Portillo reveals is that many Tories, especially male Tories, were indeed deeply in love with Mrs Thatcher, and could not bear what was done to her - or what they had helped do to her - in the autumn of 1990. The Conservative Party itself, says Portillo, became - and may still be - the victim of their feelings of hatred and guilt." - Times (we will set up a live chatroom for Monday's programme)

Former MP Sir Ralph Howell has died

"Ralph Howell was an outspoken and unashamed right-wing Conservative from farming stock, and a successful farmer in his own right. He recaptured Norfolk North for the Conservative Party in 1970 and held the seat until 1997." - Independent

24hr drinking fuels rise in crime

"Labour's laws on 24-hour drinking were condemned by police yesterday as new figures showed that officers were having to deal with thousands of extra alcohol-related crimes a month since restrictions were relaxed." - Telegraph

Michael Martin should step down

"Over the seven and a half years that Michael Martin has been Speaker, the House of Commons has fallen to an unprecedented low in public esteem. MPs have ceased to be authoritative, and become contemptible." - Telegraph leader

MPs have given overwhelming support to proposals for an increase in the rights of agency workers, despite a lack of Government backing - Sky News

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