Saturday 24th April 2010

9pm ToryDiary: Exclusive preview of the latest phase of the Conservative poster camapign

8.45pm WATCH: Mid Norfolk Conservative candidate George Freeman records his St George's Day cycle across his constituency

8.30pm ToryDiary update: Third-placed Labour drop back to 26% in Mail on Sunday/BPIX poll

8pm LeftWatch update: Ken Livingstone responds to ConHome's enquiries about his apparent endorsement of Respect and Green candidates

7pm ToryDiary update: YouGov's tracker poll for the Sunday Times shows a 6% 7% Conservative lead over the Lib Dems

6.45pm LeftWatch update: Now Ken Livingstone is quoted giving his backing to the Green candidate for Cambridge 

6.30pm LeftWatch: Is Ken Livingstone backing George Galloway in Poplar and Limehouse against the official Labour candidate?

6.15pm Melanchthon on CentreRight looks forward to a vigorous debate about the respective merits of parliamentary and presidential systems

5.30pm Martin Parsons on CentreRight: Parliament MUST complete invesitigations against defeated MPs

5.15pm ToryDiary update: Ipsos-Mori poll for News of the World suggests the Lib Dems have returned to third place with 23%

4.30pm ToryDiary update: Labour also trailing in third place in ComRes and ICM polls on 28% and 26%

4.15pm WATCH: The ludicrous spectacle that is an Elvis impersonator performing at a Labour campaign event

3.30pm ToryDiary: George Osborne concludes that Labour's campaign is "in disarray" as he confirms that the Tory battleground has expanded to include Ed Balls' seat, among others

2.45pm WATCH: New Conservative video explains what happens during one minute of this Labour Government

2.30pm ToryDiary: The first Sunday opinion poll is out and has Labour still trailing in third place on 23%

1.45pm LeftWatch: Gordon Brown relaunches Labour's campaign... with an Elvis impersonator

12.15pm Harry Phibbs on Centre Right: Nick Clegg's broken promise on the Lisbon Treaty referendum

Noon Melanchthon on CentreRight: "To respond to a three-way split result by overthrowing the system is to refuse to allow first-past-the-post's virtues to operate."

11.45am WATCH: Jeremy Vine illustrates how the Lib Dems are unable to translate votes into seats in Parliament

11.15am ToryDiary: David Cameron says a Tory Government would prevent parties from replacing a serving Prime Minister without a new general election

9.30am Local government: Polluting Lib Dem Richmond Council spends £1 million on staff car allowances

ToryDiary: Ignore media reports of "Tory coalition plans" - the party is working for a Conservative majority and the country requires nothing less

Seats and Candidates update: LISTEN to Harriet Harman continuing to peddle scare stories about the Conservatives scrapping the winter fuel allowance and Sure Start Centres when confronted by Ben Gummer in Ipswich Will Gordon Brown condemn this as unauthorised by him?

Declan Lyons on Platform: Britain is broken and we can start fixing it by rewarding strong families

LeftWatch: Vince Cable on the ropes over the Lib Dem £2.4 million donation from a convicted fraudster

Local Government:

• The battle for Bolton
• The battle for Bromley

Greg Hands on CentreRight: Beware Lib Dems praising the virtues of coalitions in Scotland and Germany

WATCH: Jeremy Paxman's full interview with David Cameron from last night

Brown rips up his strategy to escape third place

"Gordon Brown is to gamble on a last-ditch revamp of Labour’s campaign as he fights to prevent the election becoming a two-horse race between David Cameron and Nick Clegg. The Prime Minister has decided to adopt a more high-profile role because senior party figures fear that Labour is flirting with an historic defeat. He has covered half as much ground as his rivals and spent much time addressing small groups of Labour sympathisers." - The Times

"Gordon Brown is to become a more visible presence in Labour's general election campaign and meet more ordinary voters" - BBC

Tory HQ reportedly targeting even more Labour seats

"The Conservatives, too, are revising their campaign to cope with Britain’s first three-horse election race in almost 30 years. Mailshots planned for Liberal-Democrat-held seats in the Southwest of England have been cancelled. Resources will instead be directed at Labour-held seats in the party’s heartlands, which have been made more vulnerable by Mr Clegg’s advance, insiders said." - The Times

"In the north west I’m assured that the Tories are now quietly confident of taking seats such as Carlisle, both Boltons, Barrow in Furness, Weaver Vale, Lancaster and Fleetwood, but also Hyndburn and (does this explain why we haven’t seen him on the trail?) Jack Straw’s Blackburn." - Benedict Brogan's blog on the Telegraph website

Ken Clarke warns of disaster for the economy if there is a hung parliament

"Ken Clarke yesterday warned Welsh voters not to risk economic instability by succumbing to Nick Clegg’s charms. Mr Clarke, whose verbal duels with Lord Mandelson have been among the highlights of the campaign, said a hung Parliament would be disastrous for Britain... “I simply fear an inconclusive election result – a situation where three politicians who have such genuine disagreements have to lead parties into somehow cobbling together an approach to an economic crisis." - Western Mail

"The issue is not really what the markets say in advance of the election about sterling and interest rates. The more pressing concern is whether a hung Parliament would actually have the stomach to tackle the deficit. If there were political stasis, the markets’ verdict could be savage. It is easy to talk grandiloquently about governments of “national unity”. The reality, if Thursday night’s televised debate is anything to go by, is more likely to be bickering and backroom deals." - Times editorial

Tories retain poll lead after TV debate

"The Tories have kept their five-point lead in the race to No 10 after David Cameron's narrow victory in the second leaders' TV debate, The Sun can reveal. But our YouGov poll last night also proved there was still all to play for, with just 12 days to go to polling day." - The Sun

"David Cameron has punctured the Nick Clegg bubble as the novelty of the Lib Dem leader’s X Factor-style success wears off. A Harris poll for the Daily Mail shows the Conservatives regaining ground after Mr Cameron fought back in the party leaders’ second prime-time TV clash on Thursday. They are on 34 per cent, five points ahead of the Lib Dems on 29 and eight ahead of Labour on just 26." - Daily Mail

> Last night's ToryDiary on today's polls

David Cameron has increased confidence after TV debate - The Independent

David Miliband turns his fire on Nick Clegg

"One of Labour's most senior cabinet ministers today launches a withering critique of the Liberal Democrats, claiming the surge in popularity for Nick Clegg is based on a form of "anti-politics" that provides no basis for government. In an interview with the Guardian, the foreign secretary, David Miliband, accuses Clegg of trading on a myth – that "Britain has experienced 65 years of failure". His remarks mark a significant hardening of the Labour position from earlier in the week when cabinet figures such as Lord Adonis were trying to highlight similarities between the two parties." - The Guardian

Jack Straw indicates opposition to electoral reform - Reuters

Clegg prop up Brown? He wants to kill him - Matthew Parris in The Times

Sir Philip Green endorses David Cameron

"David Cameron went shopping for votes on the high street yesterday, picking up a useful endorsement from the retail magnate Sir Philip Green and declaring that under a Conservative government Britain would be “back open for business”. Sir Philip, the owner of the Arcadia retail group, which includes Topshop, Dorothy Perkins and Miss Selfridge, gave a speech at the Fashion Retail Academy in which he attacked government waste and offered some carefully-worded support to the Tory campaign."  - The Times

Gordon Brown refuses to apologise for Labour 'lies'

"Gordon Brown has refused to apologise for Labour campaign leaflets that suggested that the Tories were planning to withdraw benefits such as free bus travel from the elderly... In a press conference, Mr Brown insisted that he had been right to raise the issue of benefits for the elderly, but denied authorising the leaflets." - Daily Telegraph

> Thursday night's LeftWatch: Gotcha Gordon! You say you didn't approve lies about Tory plans for pensioner benefits...

The media finally catch up with ConHome's story about the Labour candidate performing a Nazi salute

"A Labour candidate was under fire today for performing a Nazi salute while speaking at a students’ debate. Daniel Zeichner, 53, was appearing at the Cambridge University Union to discuss whether the Conservatives were ready to return to power. During his speech, when he accused the Tories of associating with ‘fascists’ such as the Polish Law and Justice Party, he made the ‘Heil Hitler’ salute." - Daily Mail

> March 29th on Leftwatch: Labour candidate gives Nazi salute as he lazily smears Tory allies in Europe

Lib Dems use fake nurse in election leaflets

"Desperate Liberal Democrats used a fake nurse in election leaflets, it was revealed last night. Researcher Sian Cliff donned a uniform to be photographed with a party candidate. The row came hours after Nick Clegg stunned Westminster by seemingly trying to boost his credibility by claiming he was a Northerner." - The Sun

Some ordinary northerner! How Nick Clegg is really a man of extraordinary privilege whose family own a chateau - Daily Mail

> Yesterday's LeftWatch: LibDem candidate gets researcher to dress up as nurse for faked election leaflet

George Osborne say he'll nail robbers in pinstripes and prosecute rogue banks...

"Banks which rip off their customers face multi-million-pound fines under dramatic plans for a ‘robbers in pinstripes’ law unveiled today by the Conservatives. Shadow Chancellor George Osborne said white-collar fraudsters were costing the economy an estimated £30billion a year but getting off ‘scot-free’ because of Labour’s lax regime." - Daily Mail

...and attacks Labour for "jobless recovery"

"Brown narrowly avoided a double-dip recession yesterday - as the UK limped towards recovery. Figures showed national output (GDP) rose by a tiny 0.2 per cent from January to March. The rise confirmed the end of the worst slump on record - but it was HALF the size expected in the City... Shadow Chancellor George Osborne said: "After the longest recession we have a jobless recovery from a weak Government." - The Sun

Parties trade blows over 'fragile' economic recovery - BBC

Cameron dismisses claim Tories would put up VAT

"David Cameron has dismissed claims the Conservatives would put up VAT if they won the general election, insisting his first Budget would focus on cutting spending." - Daily Telegraph

David Cameron targets north-east and Northern Ireland for spending cuts - The Guardian

David Cameron wants the English to reclaim St George's Cross from BNP

"In a speech in Leadenhall Market in the City of London, Mr Cameron said it was vital that English people “properly celebrated” their National Day. He told a crowd of 200 cheering supporters: “Today we are celebrating St George's Day, and we are reclaiming St George's Day as an important day I think for good reasons. And one of the most important reasons is that we should be reclaiming the flag from the BNP and saying the flag belongs to the English people, all of them." - Daily Telegraph

> WATCH: David Cameron and Boris Johnson celebrate St George's Day

Michael Gove: My birth mother knows who I am, but I'll never try to track her down - Daily Mail

For once, Polly Toynbee writes something which is indisputably true

"Nick Clegg has no chance of becoming the next prime minister. None, zilch, zero." - The Guardian

And finally... Meet the "mini-Hague"

"This week I found Britain's youngest canvasser. Conservative campaigner William Liefting Moore is ten. Going on 35. William was knocking on doors in Richmond Park, South London, where Tory heart-throb Zac Goldsmith hopes to unseat honking Lib Dem Susan Kramer. Owing to his tender age, William has to be chaperoned by older volunteers, although he is so grown-up it is almost vice versa. 'I have always liked the Conservatives' ethos,' he said, his piping treble mulling over policy matters with the gravitas of a Jeremy Paxman. 'They are more business orientated. I am less attracted to Gordon Brown. Labour's record is unsatisfactory. They have been in power for 13 years.' Three years more than our William has been on the planet." - Quentin Letts in the Daily Mail

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