Sunday 25th April 2010
9pm WATCH: David Cameron insists that whilst the TV debates may have brought challenges, they remain a "good thing for democracy"
8.30pm LeftWatch: Candidate calls Britain "the most mongrel country in the world" - yet the Left haven't batted an eyelid
8pm ToryDiary: YouGov has Tory lead at 4% over the Lib Dems
3.15pm LeftWatch: Nick Clegg, the Liberal Democrats, faith and the election
3pm Jonathan Isaby on CentreRight: Spot the £80,000 difference
2.15pm LeftWatch update: Nick
Clegg did indeed say there were circumstances in which he would sit round the Cabinet table with Gordon Brown
1.15pm ToryDiary: David Cameron and Michael Gove give Conservative education policy a big push
12.45pm WATCH: The racism and hatred of the BNP is exposed in undercover footage of the party campaigning in East London
Nick Wood's High Noon: A hung parliament is not a nice, fluffy option: it would mean paralysis at best, and chaos at worst
11.15am WATCH: Nick Clegg gives Andrew Marr mixed messages about his attitudes to Labour in a hung parliament
10.45pm LeftWatch update: Labour appears to have disowned its candidate for South East Cambridgeshire
10am LeftWatch update: Nick
Clegg is already backtracking on his pledge not to prop up a Labour government
ToryDiary: David Cameron insists a Tory majority is still "quite possible" as he bats off questions about coalitions with the Lib Dems
LeftWatch: Nick Clegg appears to rule out propping up a lame-duck Brown government as Paddy Ashdown says the Lib Dems would not go into coalition with the Tories
Also on LeftWatch: Labour candidate exposed as having posed offensive messages online and been expelled from the Lib Dems for sending sexual emails
Tiffany Trenner-Lyle on Platform: There are so many reasons why first-time voters should be voting Conservative this time
Seats and Candidates: UKIP fails to nominate a candidate against William Hague or George Osborne
WATCH: Gordon Brown tells Sky News' Kay Burley that his is fighting for his life at this election
Michael Gove: We will have 'hundreds of parent-led schools in first year'
"Hundreds of new schools will be opened by parents within the first year of a Conservative government, the Tories have pledged. At least 450 parents and teachers groups across the country want to open their own state schools or use public money to contract private education providers to do it for them. In an interview with the Sunday Telegraph Michael Gove, the shadow children's secretary, said a special pot of cash would be made available immediately after a Tory election victory which would see "hundreds" of such schools "on track" to open within twelve months." - Sunday Telegraph
I don't think this Election will be a contest about who looks less posh, says David Cameron - Interview in the Mail on Sunday
David Cameron: I'm bad at hiding my emotions
"I'm very bad at hiding my emotions," he admits. "If I'm embarrassed I blush. If I'm angry I flush. As a person I'm very easy to read. I look at politicians who don't blush when they make a terrible mistake and think, 'How on earth do you do that?' It's amazing really. Whereas if I screw up you can see it." - The People
Postal vote poll puts comeback kid Cameron at door of Downing Street
"David Cameron has one foot in Downing Street according to the first-ever survey of millions of postal votes to be cast in the next few days. A BPIX poll for The Mail on Sunday shows the Tory leader is on course to win the Election with the highest popular vote and the most MPs." - Mail on Sunday
And in other polls...
"The Conservatives have strengthened their position in the polls but need to make further progress to secure an overall Commons majority, according to the latest Sunday Times-YouGov poll. " - Sunday Times
"The [Labour] party's morale was badly hit last night by the latest Sunday Telegraph/ICM opinion poll which showed Labour falling two points from the last survey by the company, published on Tuesday." - Sunday Telegraph
"The Ipsos MORI poll puts Mr Clegg's party back where he was before the first leader's showdown - trailing in third place again. Tory leader David Cameron is back on top with 36 per cent, six points ahead of Labour on 30 and thirteen ahead of the Lib Dems on just 23." - News of the World
> Last night's ToryDiary: Labour trailing in third place in five Sunday polls... but Ipsos-Mori suggests the Lib Dem surge has receded
Peter Kellner: Why it’s an uphill electoral battle for the Conservatives - Sunday Times
Andrew Lansley: Labour's secret NHS cuts
"Hundreds of doctors and thousands of nurses will lose their jobs over the next five years under secret cost-cutting plans... Andrew Lansley, the shadow health secretary, said: “Gordon Brown promised voters that he would protect the National Health Service and protect frontline services. But these figures reveal that Labour is planning secret cuts. They will cut the number of nurses, the number of doctors and the number of hospital beds. It does not get more frontline than that.” - Sunday Times
"The government is allowing illegal immigrants and asylum seekers to stay in the country because it fails to send staff to one in five appeal hearings... The failure of the Home Office to send officials to fight its case was described as “inexcusable” by Chris Grayling, the Conservative shadow home secretary." - Sunday Times
Gordon Brown invokes God to attack Tory inheritance tax policy
"Speaking of his anger at Conservative leader David Cameron's plans to lift all estates up to £1m out of inheritance tax, Mr Brown said: "How can it be a priority to give to people who have already got so much? It's not 'God helps people who help themselves', it's 'God helps people whom he has already helped'. That's what their [the Conservatives'] motto is." - Independent on Sunday
Cameron goes on attack over unelected PMs
"David Cameron has said he would change the law to prevent unelected prime ministers staying in power - a direct attack on Gordon Brown's mandate." - Sky News
> Yesterday's ToryDiary: David Cameron says a Tory Government would prevent parties from replacing a serving Prime Minister without a new general election
> Melanchthon on CentreRight looks forward to a vigorous debate about the respective merits of parliamentary and presidential systems
"Sections of new laws could be drawn up by members of the public under Tory plans to "crowd-source" legislation announced. Experts would be able to submit draft clauses to Bills online as part of moves to involve more people in law-making. The idea, to be piloted in the first session of a Conservative government, sits alongside proposals for legislation to pass through a "public reading stage" - including a "public reading day" when MPs and Peers would consider suggestions submitted on the internet." - Press Association
Conservatives "will allow nurseries to charge top-up fees"
"The Conservatives will allow nurseries to charge parents of three- and four-year-olds millions of pounds in "supplementary fees" if they form a government after 6 May, the Observer has learned. Campaigners have described the move, which would end the guarantee of a free place for every child that age, as "a huge blow to parents". - The Observer
Fraser Nelson: Only a Conservative majority would steer us away from economic disaster
"The equation is clear. A hung Parliament means instability. Our mortgages, jobs and savings would all be at risk. We might see a Labour-LibDem deal, even if Cameron gets the most votes. They'd say it was just until a new election was called. But you can bet they'd stitch up a new voting system designed to keep the Tories out - and condemn Britain to perpetual Lib-Lab coalition. Only Cameron has a plan to fix the public finances, and steer us away from a Greek- style financial disaster." - News of the World
Matthew d'Ancona: A Lib-Con deal is a real possibility - Sunday Telegraph
Sir Richard Dannatt: A hung parliament cannot deliver on defence
"Can a hung parliament really be thought to be a formula for the good governance of this country? If we have found it too difficult to take key decisions on defence when the government has a strong majority and a strong balance sheet, what real chance would there be of getting those decisions taken by a coalition government with a huge deficit?" - Gen Sir Richard Dannatt writing in the Sunday Telegraph
Lefty luvvies attack Tory policy on the BBC
"More than 40 of the best known performers in the country, including comedians Catherine Tate, Meera Syal, Stephen Merchant and Terry Jones, and the acclaimed actors Sam West, Hugh Bonneville and Harriet Walter, have signed a public letter denouncing plans to cut the licence fee and accusing opposition politicians of "a cavalier attitude towards the BBC's independence".- Observer
Mandelson: Flirt with Clegg and you might end up married to Cameron
"Lord Mandelson warns today that a vote for Nick Clegg's Lib Dems will pave the way for a Tory election victory. In an exclusive interview, the Business Secretary also launches a ferocious attack on the "ignorance and inexperience" of David Cameron and the "con trick" he is desperate to pull on the public. Speaking at Labour's election HQ, Lord Mandelson says the surge in support for the Lib Dems could deprive Labour of vital votes and allow the Tories to sneak into Downing Street via the back door." - Sunday Mirror
Non-doms hand Lib Dems £3.5 million
"The Liberal Democrats have accepted donations worth more than £3.5m from four non-doms, even though Nick Clegg, the party’s leader, has said it is “wholly wrong” to have donors not fully tax-resident in the UK." - Sunday Times
Clegg backed bid to return Elgin Marbles
"Doubts over Nick Clegg’s commitment to British interests in the EU intensified last night after it emerged he once led a campaign to return the historic Elgin Marbles to his friends in Greece. As an MEP, the Lib Dem leader berated the British Museum for guarding the statues, saying it was like displaying Big Ben’s clock in the Louvre." - Sunday Express
Martin Ivens: Nick Clegg, the thorn in everybody’s side - Sunday Times
Vince Cable’s image as economic whiz crumbles under new scrutiny - Sunday Times
Ministers apologise for insult to Pope
"The Government has apologised to the Pope over official documents that mocked his forthcoming visit to Britain by suggesting he should bless a gay marriage and even launch Papal-branded condoms. " - Sunday Telegraph
"The SNP will go to court this week in an extraordinary legal move to block the third crucial party leaders' debate being shown on TV in Scotland if the BBC does not give it a podium place, Scotland on Sunday can reveal." - Scotland on Sunday
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