ConservativeHome Newslinks for Thursday 28th June 2012

2pm MPsETC update: David Cameron's full statement raises the prospect of tougher regulations to tackle Barclays scandal: "We’ve already taken a lot of action to make sure we regulate our banks and financial services appropriately, but if there’s more that needs to be done, we’ll do it."

1.45pm Lord Ashcroft responds to Peter Oborne's article about him and ConservativeHome in this morning's Telegraph

1.15pm WATCH: Ed Miliband calls for criminal charges to be brought against Barclays scandal figures

1pm MPsETC update: Coverage of George Osborne's statement to the House

11.15am MPsETC update: David Cameron has released a statement, asking: "Who was responsible? Who was going to take responsibility? How are they being held accountable?"

11am Local government: Conservative councillor resigns over Housing Benefit proposals

10am MPsETC: Andrew Tyrie calls Barclays scandal "absolutely shocking, as bad as one can imagine"

ToryDiary: 100 Tory MPs call for Cameron to prepare legislation for EU referendum

Columnist Andrew Lilico: What it means for Cameron to face a Prince-in-Waiting

Andrew Lansley MP on Comment: I will not let patients suffer because of Labour's hospital mismanagement

Dr Andrew Murrison MP on Comment: The lateness of today's memorial to Bomber Command is a standing rebuke to government

Local Government:

The Deep End: The politics of poverty and the poverty of politics

WATCH: Boris Johnson: "We're confident that we're as ready as any Olympic city has ever been at this stage"

Lords reform rebels threaten the biggest revolt in Tory history as 100 backbenchers warn they will not hand Lib Dems power in Upper House

"A group of about 100 backbenchers, nicknaming themselves ‘The Sensibles’, are vowing to vote down the proposals, warning they will not hand the Liberal Democrats the balance of power in a reformed upper house in perpetuity. Downing Street sources concede they are expecting ‘blood on the walls, floor and ceiling’ over legislation which threatens to put Coalition relations under unprecedented strain. ... Sources close to the Prime Minister... denied Conservative MPs were being given ‘a nod and a wink’ that they could rebel over Lords reform without suffering consequences. But one senior MP said when he told a party whip in charge of discipline that he intended to vote against, he was told: ‘Good.’" - Daily Mail

"Officers of the 1922 Committee of Tory MPs were shocked by the Prime Minister's hardline stance at a private meeting on Tuesday, when they warned him he faced strong opposition on the party's back benches to the plan" - Independent
Lords reform 'would end radical PMs' - Guardian

> From yesterday:

Lords comment

"Don’t tell me we’re rushing into Lords reform. My family was in this fight 400 years ago" - Laura Sandys MP for the Times (£)
"Pressing ahead with Lords reform will make the coalition look weak, divided and out of touch with voters’ real concerns" - Times (£) editorial
"Sensible changes to the House of Lords are the answer – not a Bill that would create far more problems than it solves" - Lord Kakkar for the Daily Telegraph
"Mr Clegg’s proposed reform would not make the country more democratic, nor would it ensure the passage of good laws or the administration of wise governance." - Daily Telegraph editorial
"The Mail urges every MP who cares about this country to join the Tory rebels." - Daily Mail editorial

Tory MPs attack Osborne for making them look foolish after fuel duty u-turn

"Some expressed irritation that Mr Osborne, after U-turns on successive Budget measures, had again left them defending a tax rise until he changed his mind. “I don’t mind marching to a tune but what’s annoying is when the tune keeps changing. Then you look a bit of a wally,” one minister said." - The Times (£)

"It takes a special kind of genius to turn good news for millions of motorists into a public relations disaster. Yet this is the feat pulled off by the Chancellor on Tuesday – with much help from junior Treasury Minister Chloe Smith" - Daily Mail editorial
""This would never have happened under Alastair Campbell," one Tory said" - Guardian
At a time of crisis, we need more experience at the top than this - Steve Richards for the Independent

> From yesterday:

ToryDiary: Reacting to fuel duty decision, 78% of Tory members want more tax cuts funded by faster spending cuts
MPsETC: Is Robert Halfon MP David Cameron's passport to Essex Man?
WATCH: Treasury Minister Chloe Smith's difficult Newsnight interview on the fuel duty u-turn

William Hague wants a Whitehall audit of the application of EU law in Britain

"William Hague... wants to launch a comprehensive audit of the impact of European Union law on Britain this summer, an exercise that could fuel a Conservative drive to repatriate powers from Brussels. ... The proposed study of the “balance of the EU’s existing competences” is contained in the coalition agreement, and Mr Hague wants to get on with it this summer. But Mr Clegg has yet to sign off on the scope and timing of the exercise." - FT (£)

Merkel heads to Brussels for crucial euro summit - BBC
'A backdoor bailout': UK to pledge another £1billion to prop up EU's stricken economy - Daily Mail
Strasbourg insider becomes UK's next human rights judge - Daily Telegraph

> From yesterday - Bill Cash MP on Comment: We need a referendum on the proposed Fiscal Union

Gove targets under-perfoming councils

"Leeds and Middlesbrough councils are said to have been chosen because they have been less co-operative with ministers in tackling under-performance in their schools... If they still do not co-operate, Michael Gove, the Education Secretary, has the power to sack the governing body and impose his own interim executive board to run the school before it becomes an academy." - Independent

Tim Montgomerie: Cameron must define himself in a way that pulls him closer to blue-collar Britain

"The left’s vision of the good society has long been clear: Labour will build the New Jerusalem by pouring ever more taxpayers’ money into the welfare state. In this age of austerity, that vision has reached the end of the road. In its place could be a Tory vision of social progress built on traditional schooling, incentives to choose work rather than welfare and, I would add, strong families. A Conservative Party that can combine this social message with economic competence might even start winning elections again." - Tim Montgomerie for the New Statesman

Grant Shapps: Twitter allows me to escape being shut up by civil servants

"In Government, where the problem isn't getting coverage but ensuring that it's actually in your own words, Twitter enables me to bypass some of the excessive bureaucracy that goes with the Whitehall Government machine. You see, even if I don't actually send that Tweet in my own words, Officials know that I could. So the balance of power is subtly shifted in favour of the Minister" - Grant Shapps for the Daily Telegraph

Baroness Warsi is cleared of serious ministerial code breach

"Conservative Party co-chairman Baroness Warsi has been cleared of any serious breach of the ministerial code over an official trip to Pakistan. The prime minister's adviser found she was guilty of only a "minor" breach for failing to declare she had been accompanied by her business partner. Lady Warsi, who has apologised to David Cameron, said it was time to "move on"." - BBC

David Willetts warns universities in foreign grades scandal - Daily Telegraph

Universities must learn from this investigation - David Willetts for the Daily Telegraph

Tory MP Raymond Mawby sold information to Czech spies - BBC

Telegraph's obsession with ConservativeHome continues with Peter Oborne suggesting Lord Ashcroft manipulates site

"ConservativeHome is now home to a well marshalled and (thanks to Ashcroft) superbly resourced rebel force, more effective by some distance than the Maastricht dissidents who shook John Major’s government 20 years ago... In recent months Lord Ashcroft and his small but beautifully placed army of editors, columnists and pollsters have started to push David Cameron around. On issue after issue – Europe, welfare, education, taxation – Mr Cameron has edged away from the political centre towards the Right. The transformation of David Cameron personally from the family-friendly, tree‑hugging moderniser of his early days as Tory leader to today’s veto-wielding wind-farm slasher is one manifestation of Lord Ashcroft’s success." - Peter Oborne for the Daily Telegraph

Tony Blair would like to be Prime Minister again

"Tony Blair yesterday said he would like another stint as prime minister, but accepts it is unlikely to happen. Mr Blair said he did not want to leave office when he quit in 2007 ... When he was asked whether he would accept another term as PM if it was offered, he replied: “Yes, sure, but it’s not likely to happen is it, so…”" - Scotsman

Alex Salmond steps back from Scottish independence campaign

"Alex Salmond has handed over control of the campaign for Scottish independence to a former BBC News executive and an ex-Labour MP in an effort to distance it from the Scottish National party" - Guardian

"Salmond said yesterday the SNP’s fundamental argument for independence was not an economic one when he addressed some of the world’s leading thinkers in Edinburgh." - Scotsman

Lord Ashcroft: Three heroes of Bomber Command we must never forget

"The target had been damaged earlier but by the day of Learoyd’s mission the Germans had strengthened their defences. This was apparent as soon as the first four aircraft tried to hit the target: two were destroyed and the other two were badly damaged. Learoyd, 27, showed exceptional courage by dropping to a dangerously low level to have a better chance of hitting the target. His attack at 150ft was the most dangerous of all. His aircraft was repeatedly hit and large pieces blown away but he pressed home his attack with skill. He brought his wrecked aircraft home and because the landing flaps were inoperative and undercarriage indicators out of action, he waited for dawn before landing, without causing injury to his crew." - Lord Ashcroft for the Daily Express

MoD ‘wastes £6.6bn on unused kit and supplies as it axes thousands of frontline troops’ - Daily Mail

Mass of government data on public services to be published - Guardian

Banks rigged interest rates: Barclays fined £290m after damning emails reveal how greedy traders fiddled figures to make fortunes - Daily Mail

Libor manipulation scandal is a disastrous own goal for City - Allister Heath for City AM

One in four hospitals, clinics and care homes fail to meet basic standards for patient safety and quality of care - Independent

And finally 1... 'Sod off you Scottish git!' Gordon Brown's closest aides told to hurl abuse at him on day he replaced Blair as PM so he was prepared for power - Daily Mail

And finally 2... Captain Crow's cruise: On the deck of a riverboat, beer in hand, the union hardliner plotting strikes that could hit the Olympics - Daily Mail

> Please use the thread below to provide links to news topics likely to be of interest to ConservativeHome readers and to comment on political topics that haven't been given their own blog. Read our comments policy here.

Newslinks for Thursday 28th June 2012

Comments

Recent Comments

Newslinks Archive

Duty Editor

Search

Editor's blog choice

Conservative Home

News Categories

More Conservative News