Newslinks for Tuesday 28th August 2012
7.45pm WATCH: Justine Greening: A third Heathrow runway is "likely to be full within years of opening, if not instantly"
5.15pm WATCH: Nick Clegg: "We're not going to give a go-ahead to a third runway at Heathrow"
4pm Matthew Barrett on Comment: Time to end the "War on Drugs"? I'm still waiting for it to start.
3.30pm WATCH: Tim Montgomerie: David Cameron made a specific pledge against a third runway - it would let down too many people for him to u-turn now
2.30pm Richard Royal on Comment: Why we launched Conservative Friends of Russia
12.45pm ToryDiary: Chris Grayling announces London-wide scheme to end something-for-nothing benefits culture
ToryDiary: A warning for David Cameron - Tim Yeo dismisses him as a footling Old Etonian over Heathrow
Columnist Peter Hoskin: The joy (and politics) of working from home
Johnny Munkhammar on Comment: Extra government spending doesn't bring growth
Majority Conservatism: Thou shalt not be a Left or Right-wing Conservative Party but as broad in your concerns as the British people
International: Lord Ashcroft begins a diary from the Republican Convention in Florida
Local government: Will the turnout for the Police Commissioner elections be derisory?
The Deep End: Don’t make the rich pay – stop paying the rich
Heathrow expansion: Cameron must decide "whether he is man or mouse" - says Tim Yeo MP
"Tim Yeo, a former environment minister... says the “environmental objections” to the expansion of Heathrow are “disappearing”. ... in an article for The Daily Telegraph he says Mr Cameron must “find his sense of mission” and push ahead with the controversial project. “The Prime Minister must ask himself whether he is man or mouse,” he writes. “Does he want to be another Harold Macmillan, presiding over a dignified slide towards insignificance?" - Daily Telegraph | Guardian
- I backed Cameron on Heathrow to save the environment – but the facts have changed - Tim Yeo MP for the Daily Telegraph
- The economic case for a third runway at Heathrow is overwhelming - Daily Telegraph editorial
> Today on ToryDiary: A warning for David Cameron - Tim Yeo dismisses him as a footling Old Etonian over Heathrow
Backbenchers demand answers from Cameron on how the next election can be won
"David Cameron will face demands from his MPs next week to explain how he can win the next general election, as he enters a two-month period that could be the busiest of his premiership. MPs will use William Hague’s appearance before the 1922 Committee and Mr Cameron’s dinner with parliamentary colleagues shortly afterwards to demand to know whether he has a plan for victory in the next election, after the Lib Dems announced opposition to the review on constituency boundaries." - Times (£)
> Yesterday on ToryDiary: Will the real David Cameron please stand up?
"George Osborne is liability to Tories, poll reveals""Senior Tory figures, who are calling in private for Osborne to swap with the foreign secretary William Hague, are likely to seize on the poll which shows the chancellor is seen as one of the weaker members of the cabinet. Nearly half (48%) of voters say he should lose his job in the reshuffle. This rises to 52% among the over 65s and 53% among those aged between 35 and 64 – the age groups that are most likely to vote." - Guardian
- CON 34, LAB 39, LDEM 15 - UK Polling Report
- Voters put pressure on David Cameron to remove George Osborne - Guardian
- Which cabinet ministers should be sacked? More poll results from the Guardian
- A full government reshuffle is on for early September but who will be the winners and losers? - Daily Telegraph
Janan Ganesh: Osborne has cut the top rate of tax and imposed the longest period of austerity since WW2, yet the Tory right consider him too cautious
"The chancellor is beleaguered by all sides but only one side can claim any coherence... he regards the right’s anger as confused and self-contradictory. He is correct but his mistake was to expect anything else. Unlike prime minister David Cameron... Mr Osborne witnessed at close quarters Mr Major’s evisceration by his own right flank. ...That should have taught Mr Osborne a lesson he is now learning the hard way. The Tory right are many things: fizzing with ideas; more diverse in social background than the blue-blooded modernisers; often shrewd in their big judgment calls, namely the folly of the single currency. But they are not biddable. They do not reward concessions to their demands; they pocket them and ask for more. Nothing is ever enough." - Janan Ganesh for the FT (£)
> From yesterday - Neil Carmichael MP on Comment: It's not enough to cut the deficit, we need to strengthen the 'real' economy too
Ryan Bourne: What George Osborne can learn from Paul Ryan
"One of the admirable things about Paul Ryan, the Republican Party's pick for vice president, is the regularity and clarity with which he sets out America's long-term debt problem. Sure, not everyone agrees with the medicine he advocates, and there is plenty of debate to be had on his proposed entitlement reforms. But there is clarity about what he is trying to achieve. Anyone who has watched his "Path to Prosperity" videos online is left in little doubt as to his intentions." - Ryan Bourne for the Wall Street Journal
> Today - Johnny Munkhammar on Comment: Extra government spending doesn't bring growth
> Yesterday on ThinkTankCentral: New Centre for Policy Studies report shows widespread public misunderstanding of economic issues faced by Britain
Lord Tebbit: Damian Green said some sensible things – but I'd rather he got back to his job and regulated immigration - Lord Tebbit for Telegraph Blogs
> Today on Majority Conservatism: Thou shalt not be a Left or Right-wing Conservative Party but as broad in your concerns as the British people
Eric Pickles: Fraud and mistakes have cost councils £1billion
"More than £1billion of council tax benefit payments have been lost in six years because of fraud or mistakes, the Government will claim today. Eric Pickles... has now challenged councils to get a grip of the problem as they prepare to take responsibility for handing out the benefit from April. Councils have complained that a shake-up of the system will see them having to pay out the cash instead of it coming from central government." - Daily Express
Gove pulls plug on free school days before start of term
"Funding for a new free school has been pulled by Michael Gove’s department, just days before it was due to open, because it had not recruited enough pupils. The One In A Million Free School, in Bradford, was expected to open its doors for the first time next week. ... The families of those children will now have just days to find them a place at a different school before the start of term. It raises questions about whether other free schools due to open next week could also have their funding withdrawn at the 11th hour." - Times (£)
Ken Clarke’s weekend court plans in tatters as lawyers object - Daily Telegraph
"The two Tory blondes locked in a bitter war of words"
"In Westminster’s male-dominated corridors of power you might assume that women would stick together out of solidarity – especially if they are in the same party. Think again. The traditional serenity of a summer at Parliament was shattered yesterday when one female politician turned on another. It was Prince Harry who started it though, with the women taking opposing sides over whether pictures of him partying should have appeared in the British press. Outspoken Nadine Dorries rode to the defence of the third in line to the throne against her colleague Louise Mensch." - Daily Express | Daily Telegraph
> Read it all here, from yesterday's ConHome - Columnist Nadine Dorries MP: Louise Mensch was wrong to back The Sun against Prince Harry
Polly Toynbee: People want to see their deep anger reflected by opposition politicians - Polly Toynbee from the Guardian
> Yesterday on LeftWatch: Tensions growing between Balls and Miliband over Labour's direction
East coast mainline should remain in public hands, says Labour frontbencher
"Britain's east coast mainline, which runs trains from London to Edinburgh, should remain in public hands, the shadow transport secretary, Maria Eagle, has said. In a contribution to Ed Miliband's debate on forging a more responsible economy, Eagle said Britain's mainly privatised rail network would benefit from a "public sector comparator"." - Guardian
- Virgin plans legal fight for West Coast train line - Independent
- FirstGroup warns against rail franchise delay in Branson row - Guardian
> From yesterday - WATCH: Maria Eagle MP: Justine Greening's lack of transparency over West Coast Mainline decision is "outrageous
Tories failing to build social homes for poorest people, Labour says
"Conservative councils will build on average 20 social homes for the poorest people in society by the end of the parliament – and in the housing minister's own back yard, just one house a year will be built until 2015, according to a survey. Freedom of information requests by the Labour party to 324 local councils showed that Tory local authorities were building fewer than half as many social homes as Liberal Democrat councils and fewer than a fifth of those in Labour authorities" - Guardian
George Galloway criticised for 'window licker' tweet - Guardian
European court may force Britain to lift ban on political TV ads
"Britain may be forced to lift its ban on political advertising on television before the next election, leading to a profound change in campaigning. The European Court of Human Rights will announce within weeks whether it thinks political adverts should be permitted on TV. The ban... is being challenged because opponents say it breaches the guarantee to freedom of expression under the European Convention on Human Rights." - Times (£)
Pay rises for public sector workers despite 'pay freeze' - Daily Telegraph
Foreigners grab lion’s share of UK takeovers - FT (£)
NHS scorecards to keep doctors up to the mark - Times (£)
- 'Hit squads' to take over seven NHS trusts - Daily Telegraph
Cannabis more damaging to under-18s, study suggests - Guardian
Six out of ten prisons too crowded, with 7,000 more inmates than they're meant to hold - Daily Mail
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