Monday 27th April 2009

9pm ToryDiary: A Conservative majority of 170!

6.30pm WATCH: Nicholas Soames MP objects to use of Winston Churchill by UKIP

5.45pm ToryDiary: "One BBC journalist told me that his colleagues and editors were now more interested in an announcement from George Osborne than from Alistair Darling."

5.15pm Latest from Parliament:

• Mark Hoban speaks out in favour of co-operative and community societies
• Nick Hurd uncovers Government waste - in the Insolvency Service

5.15pm WATCH:

• Jacqui Smith ditches plans for a giant Government email database
• Gordon Brown describes Afghan-Pakistan region as "crucible of global terror"

2.15pm ToryDiary: Boris attacks 50p tax band as an "assault on London"

1.15pm WATCH: Alan Duncan: If you read that Miss California has been murdered you'll know it was me

11.15am ToryDiary: David Cameron launches new campaign for a referendum on the Lisbon Treaty

10.30am WATCH: Video of David Cameron's full thirty minute Cheltenham speech

10am Julia Manning on CentreRight: What the Government needs to do to protect Britain from Mexican swine flu

ToryDiary: Ten reasons why Tory MEPs are 'delivering for Britain'

Howard Flight on Platform: How we should regulate the UK's financial services industry

Seats and candidates: Diary of a PPC: Pauline Latham (Mid Derbyshire)

Local government: Is town twinning a good thing?

Star Chamber:

• Cancellation of the A400M transport aircraft and the Future Strategic Tanker Aircraft (FTSA) would save £3bn
• John Redwood identifies 17 EXISTING Tory spending cut commitments

Coverage of David Cameron's "age of austerity speech"

 Britain will become the 'sick man of Europe' again unless debt crisis is dealt with, warns Cameron - Sky

"In his gloomiest speech since taking over as Tory leader in 2005, Cameron said that the dire state of the public finances meant that he would be judged as prime minister by his success in dealing with the debt crisis." - Guardian

"David Cameron warned public sector workers to prepare for a painful pay squeeze from next year because an incoming Tory government would have to take "incredibly tough decisions" to cut Britain's debt mountain. The Conservative leader said the financial crisis was so severe that Britain needed to undergo "massive change" as it entered an era of belt-tightening." - Independent

"Shadow Chancellor George Osborne, who remains Mr Cameron's closest ally, champions spending cuts over tax rises and promises detailed plans to ensure he has a proper 'mandate' to wield the axe. He believes business tax cuts, in particular, are vital to ensure that Britain begins pulling itself out of the economic nightmare. But Shadow Health Secretary Andrew Lansley promises the budget for the NHS will be protected. That would imply massive cuts elsewhere or significant tax increases." - Daily Mail

> ConservativeHome's ten point summary of the things that mattered from the Cheltenham Spring Forum

Bruce Anderson: David Cameron must be willing to tell voters things they don't want to hear

"Although David Cameron was right to avoid the trap which Labour was setting, and to refuse to turn the next election into an argument about the new super-tax, he will have to refight some of the intellectual battles which Mrs Thatcher seemed to have won. He opposed 42-day detention, even though the polls indicated that it was popular. He should also defy the polls on the question of a low-tax economy. In these troubled times, a politician brave enough to tell the voters that their first instincts were wrong could earn their respect for displaying leadership." - Bruce Anderson in The Independent

Melanie Phillips: Cameron must cut taxes and spending

"Despite the rousing cry of David Cameron yesterday - a 'return to traditional public spending control', a 'new culture of thrift in government' - the concern remains that a Tory Government will merely provide yet more of the same old, same old. If this country is to recover and flourish once again, it needs to produce more wealth and to live within its means. That means significantly reducing public expenditure and reducing taxes, not just for the wealthy but across the board." - Melanie Phillips in the Daily Mail

If taxes have to rise...

Roger Bootle, writing in The Telegraph, has a suggestion: "If taxes have to rise, I have a modest suggestion which could help. Rather than doing this in the usual way, instead make people contribute to government funding. In return for increased "taxes", give them a certificate, a gilt if you like, which entitles them to a stream of interest payments, which could be used to reduce their tax bills in future."

Lib Dems ‘drifting into wilderness’ says defector to Tories, Norsheen Bhatti - Times

Saturday's Seats and candidates post: Lib Dem parliamentary candidate defects to the Conservatives

Alan Duncan may face police probe for talking about murdering someone on prime-time television - Daily Mail

Margaret Thatcher's successors ruined the prosperous Britain she created - Edwina Currie in The Telegraph

The political importance of Samantha Cameron

"Sustaining her husband’s commitment to public services, serving as a one-woman focus group or casting a retailer’s eye over his project, Sam Cameron shapes the current brand of Conservatism in a number of subtle ways. Perhaps the strongest, however, is her taste in people. There are Conservative colleagues of her husband whom she likes — Andrew Feldman, Michael Gove, Steve Hilton. And there are those of whom she is less fond. An invitation to Dean, the family’s beautiful constituency home, for the weekend is as much in her gift as his." - Times

Brown's reform of MPs' expenses "dead" says Cameron as Labour backbenchers revolt - The Sun

Clegg u-turns on demand to stop MPs buying second home - Express

Harriet Harman to publish Bill that will force employers to reveal pay of men and women - BBC

John Reid could return in summer reshuffle of government - Mirror

Government minister Lord West places bet on Labour losing election - Telegraph

10,000 people have signed 'Brown must go' petition - Guardian

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