Newslinks for Sunday 27th January 2013
MIDNIGHT TORYDIARY: EXCLUSIVE "STALKING WOMBLE" J.ALFRED PRUFROCK MP TO CHALLENGE CAMERON FOR LEADERSHIP
7.30pm ToryDiary: Cameron won't say what he wants to renegotiate but The Sun claims to know...
6.30pm WATCH: Nadine Dorries MP tells Sky News that Boris, Gove, Jesse Norman or Adam Afriyie will be next Tory leader
2pm ToryDiary: Yesterday's Conservative Policy Forum conference and the next manifesto. Verdict: Keep it snappy.
11.30am ToryDiary: It's May 2018. Britain has voted to leave the European Union.
ToryDiary: Despite what you read in the Sunday newspapers, Cameron's leadership is not in danger
ToryDiary update: Four Sunday newspaper opinion polls suggest Europe speech has boosted Conservatives at UKIP's expense. All have Labour's lead falling below 10%.
James Frayne on Comment examines the power of emotion in political campaigns: "Just as campaigns have got used to having pollsters around, soon campaigns will start working with experts on how the mind works."
WATCH: Labour MPs join large-scale street protests at proposed closure of Lewisham A&E
Tory MPs want Cameron to extend restrictions on Bulgarians and Romanians and entering Britain - Observer
Aide to Cameron concedes that inflow of Bulgarians and Romanians could kill off Conservatives' immigration credentials - James Forsyth in the Mail on Sunday: "No 10 is keen to limit the impact of the change. One aide says: ‘We’re really kicking the bureaucracy on this.’ But he also complains that Government lawyers are very cautious about what can be done."
John Redwood: The people are interested in Europe, after all
"The
first thing to say is that all those who think the UK public are not
interested in the issue of the EU or are turned off by parties banging
on about Europe need to think again. The press and public interest has
been big. The Conservatives have gone up in the polls whilst holding a
very public conversation about how far and how fast we should go in a
Eurosceptic direction. Just as Mr Cameron got a big improvement in
ratings when he vetoed any UK membership of the Fiscal Treaty, so too
his ratings have gone up during debates over that speech." - John Redwood
Boris tells The Sunday Telegraph that he'd vote to leave the EU if Britain couldn't get the right deal.
Andrew Rawnsley and John Rentoul... Cameron has aroused an appetite that he will never be able to satisfy...
Cameron's "fundamental problem is the unbridgeable gap between what the rest of Europe might be prepared to swallow to prevent Britain from sliding out of the EU and the price for staying in demanded by a large section of the Tory party" - Andrew Rawnsley in The Observer
"Cameron hasn't said what would happen if he fails to secure a renegotiation, as his critics have noticed. This is partly to avoid offending the Germans by appearing to threaten to leave, which they regard as unfriendly. But also because he knows that a renegotiation on British terms is most unlikely." - John Rentoul in the Independent on Sunday
- With Merkel on side, PM's gamble may yet pay off - Margareta Pagano in the Independent on Sunday
- "It’s early days, of course, but the indications are that Cameron’s policy is a winner. Not only does it take votes from UKIP. More importantly, it throws Labour into disarray. Is Ed Miliband for a referendum or against? In the Commons last week he couldn’t give a straight answer." - Niall Ferguson in The Sunday Times (£)
- At £1 each per week the EU is worth it - David Miliband in The Sunday Telegraph
- Janet Daley likes Cameron's EU vision but can't see Europe accepting it - The Sunday Telegraph
- Peter Hitchens in the Mail on Sunday STILL doesn't believe a word Cameron says: "Why do the remnants of the Tory media, not to mention Tory loyalists and voters, swoon repeatedly into Mr Slippery’s unreliable arms? Time and again he dumps them rudely on the floor. Time and again they come simpering back like besotted suitors."
Matthew d'Ancona: Despite banging on about Europe Cameron remains a moderniser
"If Cameron really is caving in to the Right, he has a funny way of showing it. On Friday, his Government published its Bill to legalise gay marriage; last week, ministers announced that more than 5,000 soldiers would be made redundant in the latest tranche of defence cuts; at the same time, the Coalition remains committed to the hugely controversial ring-fencing of the international development budget." - Matthew d'Ancona in The Sunday Telegraph
UKIP promise to target Labour voters after Ed Miliband refuses to give people an In/Out vote - Nigel Farage writing in the Mail on Sunday
- In an interview for The Sunday Times (£) Ed Miliband says UKIP has Cameron on the run.
George Osborne's economic performance should be Cameron's biggest worry - Mail on Sunday leader
The Shadow Chancellor, Ed Balls, tells the Independent on Sunday it is 'utterly irresponsible' not to change economic course.
> Yesterday's ToryDiary: What would George Osborne be doing if he was a Conservative rather than a Coalition Chancellor? It's time for him to say so.
Mark Carney at Davos says central banks may need to do more to ensure economies reach "escape velocity" - Observer
Even some Tories, like Jesse Norman MP, are starting to accept that our free market model doesn't work - Nick Cohen in The Observer...And Stephen McPartland on ConHome yesterday: My campaign to stop big companies dodging tax
Starbucks unhappy after the Prime Minister said tax-avoiding companies had to “wake up and smell the coffee” - Sunday Telegraph
- The Sunday Telegraph leader warns Cameron against anti-business rhetoric.
We can help poorer countries by tackling tax evasion and avoidance - Justine Greening in the Independent on Sunday
Newspapers pump idea that Adam Afriyie is preparing leadership bid
"Adam Afriyie, who was being dubbed “the Tory Obama”, has the support of a group of Conservative MPs although he is unlikely to mount a challenge to David Cameron until after the next election." - The Sunday Times (£)
"A wealthy MP dubbed the ‘Tory Barack Obama’ has been accused of undermining David Cameron with a secret leadership bid. The Mail on Sunday has learned that multi-millionaire IT tycoon Adam Afriyie is poised to stand, should a rumoured backbench revolt force the Prime Minister to resign. Two Tory MPs have told this newspaper they were asked to sign a letter endorsing Mr Afriyie as a leadership challenger in the event of such a contest. One said Mr Afriyie’s supporters claimed 40 MPs had already signed – though his allies deny the letter even exists." - Mail on Sunday
> This story is covered in this morning's ToryDiary.
Dominic Lawson on Cameron's long-term bet on gay marriage
" I suspect he is right: when I discuss this with intelligent people in their late teens and early twenties, of no particular political persuasion, they seem faintly amazed that anyone should make a fuss over the idea that same-sex couples should be able to call themselves married." - Dominic Lawson in The Sunday Times (£)
One for the conspiracy theorists...
Boris Johnson and Rupert Murdoch have ANOTHER private meeting - Observer
Anna Soubry, Nadine Dorries, Claire Perry, Maria Miller... Tory politicians excel at uttering breathtakingly ill-researched and insulting views - Catherine Bennett in The Observer
Cameron is worried about uncertainty caused by the SNP's referendum but with his EU vote
"The Prime Minister looked momentarily wrong-footed. SNP MP Mike Weir had just stood up to ask why it was that David Cameron believed a two-year wait for a Scottish referendum was too long but a five-year delay before a potential EU referendum was “just fine”. “There is a very easy answer,” declared Cameron, before answering a different question. One pro-UK Scottish Labour MP watching noted: “It was a very pertinent question, I’m not sure he saw it coming.”" - Scotland on Sunday
- Annabel Goldie tipped for Lords - Sunday Herald
Tessa Jowell seizes on polling suggestion that support for sport is being cut - Observer
25,000 marched yesterday to save local Lewisham A&E - Sunday Express | Channel 4 report
Lib Dem MP faces party leadership's wrath over Holocaust jibe at Israel - Observer
> Gavin Barwell MP on Comment yesterday: The Holocaust teaches us what educated people are capable of doing in certain circumstances
And finally... John Rentoul offers a preview of a new play in which the Queen played by Helen Mirren meets the prime ministers who've served during her reign - Independent on Sunday
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