Friday 31st October 2008

4pm WATCH: Lord Tebbit's ten minute speech to mark the twentieth anniversary of Margaret Thatcher's Bruges speech

3pm Andrew Lilico on CentreRight: Let's get a few things straight...:"I believe the Conservative Party is allowing itself to be badly outmanoeuvred, and is perceived by the public as having no answer to recession and by journalists to be offering only token responses. Brown is now making the political running on the economy. How could we let the incompetent dull villain turn into the all-powerful imaginative super-hero? Are we now relying on human misery in the recession to win us the election by default? Is that really the best we can do?"

1.45pm Parliament: Opium poppies in Afghanistan

1.45pm Parliament: Labour MPs are gratuitously abusive

1pm WATCH:

• Cameron at Neasden Temple to celebrate Diwali
• George Osborne attacks Gordon Brown's economic policy

1pm ToryDiary: Osborne: If Britain begins to live within our means we can have lower interest rates

12noon: Parliament: Douglas Carswell and Gerald Howarth disagree on defence

10.30am ToryDiary: Was it Cameron who triggered the suspension of Ross?

ToryDiary: Ten predictions about economic policy and UK politics

John Hayes MP on Platform: We must use this economic crisis to engineer a moral capitalism

Seats and candidates: Even at this late stage could we introduce help for low income candidates?

Local government: Should council meetings be webcast? and Latest by-election results

Peter Whittle on CentreRight: 'I'm now so old, my pussy is haunted'

WATCH: George Osborne warns of Labour's 'borrowing without limit' and Alistair Darling says Bank of England has wide enough remit to support fight against recession

Conservatives lead by 9% - Yesterday evening's ToryDiary

Tax cutting Labour?

"Alistair Darling has hinted the Government may borrow more money for surprise tax cuts as Britain faces a deep recession. The Chancellor insisted now was the time to help people, not 'take money out of their pockets'.  Borrowing to fund tax cuts would be condemned as deeply reckless by Opposition MPs and economists.  But many Labour MPs believe they would put the Tories in the politically nightmarish position of having to oppose measures to help hard-pressed families." - Daily Mail

'Responsible' Conservatives?

George Osborne is to attack Gordon Brown for "borrowing without limit" to deal with the economic downturn - BBC

"George Osborne, the shadow chancellor, will on Friday pave the way for tax rises under a Conservative government while warning against a “tax con” short-term cut by Gordon Brown. The Tories are concerned that the prime minister is using the recession to prepare a toxic financial legacy for an incoming David Cameron premiership after a June 2010 election." - FT

And Norman Lamont agrees: "Before the Government adopts full-blown Keynesian policies, it should examine their effect on Japan after the bursting of its “property bubble”. Between 1991 and 1998, Japan spent 100 trillion yen on new railway lines and other public works. Little good did it do. Its economy stagnated. Since 1991, Japan’s government debt as a proportion of GDP rose from 64 per cent of GDP in 1991 to 171 per cent this year. Japan is in a debt trap it can’t escape." - Telegraph

"Two thirds of those questioned said they expect their personal financial situation to worsen over the next 12 months. Such intense economic pessimism should be fatal to an incumbent government, yet the Tories still appear inhibited by the fear of being accused of talking down the economy. It is time they snapped out of it." - Telegraph leader

Speaker Martin protects George Osborne from hostile questions - Times

Andrew Lansley: 17,000 patients missing out on cancer treatment

"The Government is not hitting targets on the number of radiotherapy treatments carried out each year, according to data released under the Freedom of Information Act. It means 17,000 cancer patients who should receive radiotherapy as part of their treatment are not getting it, the Conservatives said." - Telegraph

EU defence integration by stealth will damage NATO - Liam Fox in The Telegraph

Conservatives will not privatise Channel 4 - WARC

Labour are getting excited at prospect of President Obama - John Kampfner in The Telegraph

Martin Bright won't rejoin Labour until it distances itself from billionaires - New Statesman

MSP plans bill to legalise assisted suicide - Guardian

Please use this thread to highlight other interesting news and commentary and visit PoliticsHome.com for breaking political news and views throughout the day.

Thursday 30th October 2008

11pm ToryDiary: Tories 9% ahead in YouGov poll

5.45pm Matthew Elliott on CentreRight: The BBC needs to take a range of offensive behaviour far more seriously

5.30pm ToryDiary: Russia's neighbours cannot rely on the EU, says Hague

5.15pm Tim Montgomerie on CentreRight: Could Brand and Ross be prosecuted?

2.30pm Parliament: Round up of written answers

12.45pm Parliament: Jeremy Hunt on the 2012 Olympics

12noon Parliament: Richard Bacon on food labelling

9.45am PlayPolitical: Barack Obama's half-hour prime time campaign ad

ToryDiary: George Osborne's non-Treasury roles

Local government: Should paving front gardens be allowed?

Jeremy Lefroy on Platform: The independence of the Office for National Statistics

Tories accused of £8bn shortfall in NHS policy - Times

Lawson says tax cuts are not solution to slump

"Speaking at a House of Lords economic seminar, he said: "There is lots of bad news still to come and lots of bad debts yet to be revealed. I would be astonished if this is not at least as bad as the early 1990s. In fact I think it will be worse than that - and longer-lasting." The solution, he added, is "monetary policy, and very low interest rates which should be globally-concerted. A fiscal Keynsian boost would come too late and be damaging which would leave us with a hugely bloated public sector." - Telegraph

Tories probe client rules to find out what would happen if a bank collapse wiped out client money held in a law firm's accounts - Law Gazette

Chancellor pledges to borrow initially to see Britain through recession, then to rebuild public finances once it is over - Times

Gordon Brown yesterday demanded that lenders who provide store and credit cards must change their rules to make it more difficult to repossess homes - Guardian

Motorists face paying tolls to drive on hard shoulder

"Within months, officials will draw up plans to create a faster lane for those willing to pay for a quicker journey on the country's busiest roads during the rush hour. Drivers would pay up to 42 pence a mile to avoid the jams under a model being considered by ministers." - Telegraph

Ministers will reexamine the case for new high-speed rail lines - a year after the idea was rejected as too expensive - BBC

Ministers accused of arrogance over 128-day parliamentary session

Opposition politicians have accused the government of "arrogantly" misusing its oversight of parliamentary business, as it emerged yesterday that the number of days MPs would attend parliament in the next session would be the smallest since 1979-80 - Guardian

A government initiative to improve prisoners' education "has not succeeded", the Commons public accounts committee says - BBC

MPs say speed limits should be cut to 20mph in some areas to tackle "appalling" level of child road deaths - Guardian

Ask parliament, not courts, when it comes to assisted suicide

Two high court judges rejected Debbie Purdy's request for guidelines from the Director of Public Prosecutions on when assisted suicide cases would be prosecuted, saying it was a matter for parliament and not the courts. However, they granted an appeal on the grounds of public interest, which would be expedited because of Purdy's terminal condition - Guardian

BBC fighting to save career of star presenter Jonathan Ross - Telegraph

Deafness scourge of troops in Afghanistan

Hundreds are returning from Afghanistan suffering from severe and permanent damage to their hearing - Times

House prices have fallen for the twelfth month in a row and are now 14.6pc lower than last year, the latest figures from Nationwide show - Telegraph

Norwich and Norfolk Race Equality Council tells schoolchildren to take pledge to 'be nice' to gipsies

"The pupils, aged six to 11, were told to stand up and promise to "welcome newcomers" and not bully them. The incident happened at one of a series of workshops for children, hosted by South Norfolk Council as part of Local Democracy Week earlier this month. Villagers in Spooner Row are fighting against council plans to build a new travellers site with eight pitches. Council officers have insisted they knew nothing about the pledge and denied trying to "brainwash children" into accepting the controversial plan." - Telegraph

Top conservatives to meet on rebuilding Republican party

Senior Republicans are planning to meet at a rural retreat in Virginia within days of the election to discuss how to rebuild a party they expect to be badly beaten in the White House and congressional races - Guardian

Please use this thread to highlight other interesting news and commentary and visit PoliticsHome.com for breaking political news and views throughout the day.

Wednesday 29th October 2008

10pm Ruth Lea on CentreRight: The climate change bill: a futile and very costly folly

4.30pm PlayPolitical: McCain ad says Obama's plan to spend and tax America further into recession proves he isn't ready

4.15pm Tim Montgomerie on CentreRight: "What kind of people do they think we are?"

4pm Matthew Sinclair on CentreRight: British taxpayers' money is being used to fuel hatred in the Middle East

2.15pm Parliament: Terrorism in Israel

1.45pm Parliament: Conservative dissent on climate change

1.30pm CentreRight:

• Andrew Lilico asks if Brown might cut taxes
• Jim McConalogue has proposals for restoring Westminster accountability for EU laws

1.15pm ToryDiary: Have your say in the latest ConservativeHome survey

12.30pm Parliament: Giving prisoners a purpose

LIVE BLOG OF PMQs FROM NOON.

11am ToryDiary: Jeremy Hunt calls for broadcasters to help fight alcoholism and other social ills

10.30am Local government: Former Lib Dem Mayor explains her defection to the Conservatives

ToryDiary: George Osborne defines his anti-recession policy in 78 words

Ian Taylor MP on Platform: Is tackling climate change compatible with maintaining energy security?

International: What next for America's Republicans?

Local government: Who will scrutinise the scrutineers?

Greg Hands MP on CentreRight: Is the Euro making a comeback?

Britain passes first legally binding national emissions reduction target

"Mid-sized companies face mandatory reporting of their carbon emissions from 2012 after MPs on Tuesday night passed sweeping legislation setting ambitious targets to tackle climate change. The climate change bill, approved by a clear Commons majority, commits Britain to slashing greenhouse gas emissions by 80 per cent by 2050, in what is the world’s first legally binding national emissions reduction target." - FT

"Osborne escapes investigation into donation discussions" - Guardian

The Daily Mail has another photograph from George Osborne's youth.

Brown and Cameron condemn Russell Brand's offensive call

"Gordon Brown and David Cameron last night weighed in to the row over a series of offensive telephone calls made by Jonathan Ross and Russell Brand to the veteran actor Andrew Sachs on their Radio 2 show as the media regulator Ofcom launched a major investigation into the incident." - Independent

> Yesterday's ToryDiary on the controversy.

Profile of Wilfred Emmanuel-Jones

"He rails against supermarkets and rural poverty and has his own Black Farmer food range. Steven Morris meets Wilfred Emmanuel-Jones, an unlikely Tory candidate." - Guardian

Backbench Tory MP David Davies slams Black Police Association

"A Tory MP has provoked fury by accusing Britain's black police leaders of being racist. David Davies said black police representatives in London had behaved worse than the apartheid regime in South Africa by urging ethnic minorities not to join the Metropolitan Police force. In a speech to the National Black Police Association annual conference, he also slammed the organisation for not allowing white people interested in fighting racism to become full members." - Daily Mail

Barely two months after Russia invaded Georgia, Peter Mandelson accelerates trade with Russia - Telegraph

"Lord Mandelson is staying in a £5,500-a-night luxury suite at one of Moscow's most sumptuous hotel" - Daily Mail

EU Commissioners fail to deliver on transparency

"Pledges made in 2005 to tighten the code, after an outcry over a cruise on a Greek tycoon's yacht enjoyed by José Manuel Barroso, the Commission President, seem to have fallen by the wayside." - Times

"There is a scandal that has been revealed by the events on a yacht off Corfu this summer that both Conservatives and Labour can agree on, namely the shocking laxity of rules governing the gifts and hospitality lavished on commissioners. Lord Mandelson observed them to the letter – and, of course, this was not hard. They are toothless. Mr Barroso must now acknowledge that they give his Cabinet too much freedom to abuse their posts, and he must fix them." - Times leader

Tony Blair earns £12m since leaving Downing Street - Telegraph

Bookmakers point to neck-and-neck contest in Glenrothes - Herald

"Gordon Brown is expected to make one final campaigning trip to Glenrothes before next week's by-election in an attempt to provide the extra impetus his party needs for victory." - Scotsman

Please use this thread to highlight other interesting news and commentary and visit PoliticsHome.com for breaking political news and views throughout the day.

Tuesday 28th October 2008

7.30pm Tim Montgomerie on CentreRight: Another victory for James McGrath?

6pm Seats and candidates: Kemi Adegoke selected from all women shortlist to unseat Tessa Jowell

5.30pm ToryDiary: Questions for you

5pm Parliament: Farm production in the UK

5pm Peter Cuthbertson on CentreRight: Ten recent pundit predictions

4.30pm Paul Goodman MP on CentreRight: "Positive action to help some white groups"?

2.45pm Parliament: Will the Government free the police from red tape?

1.30pm Parliament: Labour and Lib Dems block pensions reform

1.30pm ToryDiary: After a difficult week George Osborne moves on to the front foot

10.30am Seats and candidates: Liberal Democrat MP for Cheadle found guilty of misusing Communications Allowance

9.45am Helen Rainbow on CentreRight: “Top-ups” pave the way for a new debate about healthcare funding

9.30am Matt Sinclair on CentreRight: "Today sees the third reading of the Climate Change Bill.  With aviation and shipping included in some way and the target strengthened from 60% of 1990 levels to 80% the bill now constitutes a significantly harder legally binding pledge than it did before.  I've written before about the nonsense of setting such a target when, over the Government's time in office, emissions have actually increased 1.6%..."

ToryDiary: New poll brings us back into hung parliament territory

ToryDiary: John Whittingdale leads concern at Ross-Brand calls

Dan Hamilton on Platform provides a guide to all of next week's US Senate races

Local government: Stop council tax funded trade union posts

International: Sarkozy embraces state intervention and protectionism

WATCH: David Cameron slams Gordon Brown's borrowing plan as a massive "con trick"

Today's must-read: Help the white working class or risk surge in far-Right extremists, says equalities chief

"Britain risks a surge in Right-wing extremism if it fails to help its white working class weather the recession, the equalities chief will warn today. Trevor Phillips will break with years of political convention to call for the law to be changed to enshrine positive discrimination in favour of disadvantaged whites." - Daily Mail

Time for consumers to spend, says Boris

"A deep recession may be upon us. But there is no need to go into mourning for capitalism, because capitalism will never go away, and there is nothing remotely impolite, in these circumstances, about spending money and being seen to spend money. Far from it." - Boris Johnson in The Telegraph

"Lord Mandelson, in Moscow on a trade mission, told Sky News last night: “We are facing an unparalleled financial crisis. I don’t think people have yet realised what the impact is going to be on the real economy, on businesses and jobs back at home.”" - The Sun

Mixed advice from the leader columns

"Don't borrow: cut spending and taxes" - Telegraph leader

"Strange as it sounds, if recession deepens, writing cheques to citizens looks like the prudent response. Under the circumstances, such handouts are likely to relieve credit constraints and allow fresh consumer spending. And if they are able to cushion a hard landing, they will prove to be value for money. Most developed countries – in particular the UK – have room to take on more public debt; they cannot really afford not to." - FT leader

"The trouble is Labour has already spent and borrowed too much. There is nothing in the kitty. More borrowing today means even HIGHER taxes later. That’s why the world downgraded its valuation of our economy, sending the Pound into freefall." - The Sun Says

Osborne, Mandelson and Deripaska

"George Osborne attempted yesterday to draw a line under the row over his contacts with a Russian billionaire when he admitted he had made a mistake in discussing a donation from Oleg Deripaska during his summer holiday in Corfu." - Guardian

"There has never been any serious prospect that David Cameron would drop Mr Osborne, however. Not only are they close friends but Mr Osborne is the co-architect of Tory modernisation. He has also shown shrewd judgment as Shadow Chancellor, especially on fiscal policy and taxes, but his authority has been weakened and he is going to have to be more cautious in word and deed, as he seems to recognise. According to the PoliticsHome tracking poll, his personal rating has fallen sharply." - Peter Riddell in The Times

Lord Mandelson has rejected new Tory demands to disclose full details of his meetings with Russian billionaire Oleg Deripaska - Telegraph

There will be trouble for the Tories if their millionaire benefactor Lord Ashcroft does not answer vital questions - Rachel Sylvester in The Times

Twenty years on, Norman Tebbit reflects on Margaret Thatcher's Bruges speech

"Perhaps when Margaret Thatcher set out, in her Bruges speech 20 years ago, her vision of a European Economic Community of "willing and active co-operation between independent sovereign states", she was a quarter of a century ahead of her time. It was a vision so different from that of the political establishment in Brussels that the euro-fanatics within the Conservative Party concluded she would have to go. Her departure opened the way to the successive treaties of Maastricht, Antwerp, Nice and Lisbon hustling the EEC into the EC and now the EU; but for the obstinate refusal of the Irish to be railroaded into the constitution, we would by now be faced with a European Republic." - Lord Tebbit in The Telegraph

Policy Exchange report on premium funding for poorer pupils

"The pupil premium, a suggested new funding system that rewards schools financially for admitting pupils from the poorest homes, is already official policy of the Liberal Democrats and the Conservative Party. Today's report sets out how it would work. To the Westminster policy wonks, it is one of the most eagerly awaited papers this year, with added political interest because the thinktank associated with Cameron's Conservatives has devised the report with Julian Le Grand, better known for advising the Blair government." - The Guardian

Tougher measures to prevent extremists entering the UK are to be announced by Home Secretary Jacqui Smith - BBC

And finally...

The Guardian judges Pauline Prescott the star of last night's BBC2 documentary on John Prescott's view of class.

Please use this thread to highlight other interesting news and commentary and visit PoliticsHome.com for breaking political news and views throughout the day.