22 Jun 2013 09:03:48

Newslinks for Saturday 22nd June 2013

10pm LeftWatch: Labour MPs claimed for 1,541 business class flights on expenses - Tory MPs for just 24

5.30pm WATCH: Ed Miliband: Labour will have to accept spending cuts

4pm WATCH: Nick Clegg: "The Lib Dem manifesto must be a to do list not a flight of fancy"

2.15pm Local Government: Council byelection results from Thursday

2pm Jon Quinn on Comment "It’s taking young families more than a decade to get on the property ladder" : Affordable housing will be key to winning swing seats in 2015

1pm Local Government: Clegg tells Lib Dem councillors to stop apologising for the coalition government

Noon: ToryDiary: "There remain serious questions for Labour to answer. In particular, there are questions about your time as Labour’s Secretary of State for Health" The Morecambe Bay scandal: David Morris sends an open letter to Andy Burnham

10.45am WATCH: Nigel Farage says he made tax offshore mistake

ToryDiary: The Government should speed ahead with an 80 mph limit

Adam Afriyie MP on Comment: The conservative family needs a family reunion

Tory Euro MP leader Martin Callanan MEP, has his monthly letter to ConHome: 26 million young people are unemployed across Europe. So how does the EU respond? Yes - you guessed it...

LeftWatch: Lambeth Labour face further questions over taxpayer-funded propaganda

McLoughlin abandons plans for 80 mph speed limit

"Ministers have abandoned plans to raise the motorway speed limit to 80mph because of fears that the change would alienate women voters. The decision will anger many drivers, most of whom want higher speeds, but will be welcomed by road safety campaigners and environmentalists." - The Times (£)

>>Today's ToryDiary: The Government should speed ahead with an 80 mph limit

Despite Swiss windfall Osborne's borrowing still too high

"Chancellor George Osborne faced more questions over the nation’s public finances today despite a £3.2 billion Swiss tax windfall. Net borrowing fell sharply to £8.8 billion in May from £15.6 billion a
year earlier thanks to the payout, as well as the £3.9 billion transfer back to Treasury coffers of interest on the Bank of England’s bond holdings...But stripping out the flattering effects of both factors, the nation’s underlying deficit is marginally higher than last year." - The Independent

>Yesterday: WATCH: George Osborne gives a beginners' guide to the spending round

Allow building on "uninteresting fields" says Boles

"Developers should be allowed to build on fields if they are boring, the planning minister has said, after a fellow Tory minister accused him and David Cameron failing to protect the countryside. In controversial comments, Nick Boles said people must be "realistic" about the need for more housing, which will mean building on "environmentally uninteresting" green spaces. He made the remarks in a letter to Anna Soubry..." - Daily Telegraph

The Guardian says Gove is to drop Churchill from history curriculum

"Michael Gove is poised to backtrack on major aspects of his controversial new history curriculum for schools in England after sustained opposition from teachers and prominent academics, the Guardian has learned... Winston Churchill is no longer named in the new draft." - The Guardian

Jeremy Hunt spends Thursday in hospitals on work experience...

"I don’t want to scare you but, if you go to hospital or the doctor, especially on a Thursday, there is a chance you will meet “Jeremy”. That is the Health Secretary’s day for doing NHS work experience. He’s made beds, answered phones, observed operating theatres (no jokes about “cuts”, please) and even, apparently, visited mortuaries. On this particular day, he’s manning the front desk at A&E." - The Times (£)

• Hunt may claw back pensions of NHS bosses involved in cover up - Daily Telegraph

...while Charles Moore says David Cameron was wrong to endorse the NHS

"In his first party conference speech as leader, in 2006, he said: “Tony Blair once explained his priority in three words: education, education, education. I can do it in three letters: NHS.” Instead of endorsing what mattered – health care for all – Mr Cameron endorsed our particular system delivering it. It is the worst in the Western world." - Daily Telegraph

>Yesterday on Comment, Julia Manning: After Morecambe, the sackings and reforms needed at the Care Quality Commission

Cameron to say GM food is safe for his children

"Downing Street said yesterday that the Prime Minister had no intention of answering direct questions about what he fed his children. However, 24 hours after Mr Cameron’s spokesman refused to be drawn on the issue, those around the Prime Minister conceded that he would have to relent if he wanted to persuade sceptics of the merits of GM crops." - The Times (£)

>Yesterday "My view [on the EU] is very clear. I'd like to make laws in our own Parliament." - Andrew Gimson interviews Owen Paterson

Hammond furious at health and safety laws being applied to the battlefield

"British troops could be prevented from carrying out vital missions after an explosive human rights ruling, the Defence Secretary has warned. Philip Hammond said the judgment means military chiefs will be ‘living in fear’ of being sued. He fears our forces risk being reduced to Continental-style
peacekeeping roles – which see some countries refuse to let their personnel go out after dark – after judges decreed that the European Convention on Human Rights applies on the battlefield." - Daily Mail

• "It’s impossible not to be alarmed by this week’s Supreme Court ruling that soldiers in warzones should, for the first time, be given protection under Labour’s Human Rights Act...military commanders are regularly tasked with making instant life-or-death decisions. If the fear of future litigation causes them to hesitate for even a moment, the consequences could be disastrous." Leader Daily Mail

Mercer wants Tory whip back

"MP Patrick Mercer says he hopes to be readmitted to the Conservative Party in the Commons after he has cleared his name of lobbying allegations. The BBC's Panorama alleged he had accepted £4,000 to lobby for business interests in Fiji. Speaking during a visit in his constituency, the Newark MP said it was "very painful" to think that he might have infringed people's trust." - BBC

Clegg would demand PR in 2015 negotiations for new coalition

"Nick Clegg will make electoral reform the price of going into coalition with David Cameron or Ed Miliband after the next election. A mansion tax, income tax cuts for millions and new green targets are likely to form other “red lines” for the Lib Dems in any negotiations in May 2015... After voters overwhelmingly rejected the alternative vote in the 2011 referendum, Mr Clegg will lower his sights and call for a proportional system of voting in council elections... Lib Dems believe that this would not require a referendum." - The Times (£)

Clegg and Miliband both to warn austerity must continue...

"The economy is going to make life very tough for whoever wins the next election, Ed Miliband and Nick Clegg are to warn their respective parties. Mr Miliband will say Labour must face up to the "hard reality" that it will not be able to reverse spending cuts scheduled by the coalition for 2015-16. Mr Clegg will warn Liberal Democrats against going into the next election with a "flight-of-fancy" manifesto." - BBC

"Department finance directors across Whitehall are understood to be compiling spreadsheets predicting the level of cuts until well after the 2015 poll, in light of the chancellor's announcement that he will not meet his debt target until 2017-18. One Whitehall source said: "Finance directors... can see the decline in spending and will be looking all the way to 2017-18. That is the real challenge. That is where they need to look and think of how they will deal with that." - The Guardian

...while Miliband says Attlee offers austerity model

"Ed Miliband has urged his party to remember that the post-war Labour government achieved radical social change while also managing to run budget surpluses in a time of austerity. The Labour leader urged party members concerned about his decision to accept coalition spending plans for 2015-16 to recognise that high day-to-day spending is not the only route to social justice and that Clement Attlee created the welfare state and NHS while also balancing the budget." - The Guardian

Farage faces revolt on local pacts with Tory candidates

"The Ukip leader has raised the prospect of its candidates running on a joint ticket with like-minded Conservatives at the next general election....But Mr Farage is facing strong resistance from senior party figures who warn the move would alienate disillusioned former Labour voters contemplating switching allegiance to Ukip. And they predict any attempt by Mr Farage to support local deals between Ukip and the Conservatives would run into strong opposition in the party's ruling national executive." - The Independent

Matthew Parris says "we" are not the west and should not intervene in Syria

"It’s the commonest of observations that, on retirement, men and women who have been playing an active role in public affairs find it difficult at first to listen to news bulletins with the mellow understanding that they don’t have to have an opinion any more. As common is the report that after the amputation of a leg, at first you think you can still feel it there. The gently declining empire into which I was born is in the same condition." - The Times (£)

,Cameron must not follow Blair warns Patrick O'Flynn

"The elixir of the grateful crowds of the liberated must have tasted as good to Cameron when he visited Benghazi as it did for Blair on a post-conflict trip to Pristina where every second little boy seemed to have been named in his honour. Then there is the looming on the horizon of much more intractable conflicts - Afghanistan and then Iraq for Blair, Syria for Cameron. This week the spirit of Blair was urging him on." - Patrick O'Flynn Daily Express

Gagging clauses waste money and cost lives says Steve Barclay MP

"The Secretary of State for Health has taken swift action to stamp out gagging clauses in the NHS, but the NAO report’s findings that these compromise agreements are widespread throughout the public sector demands cross-departmental agreement and a concerted effort from civil service leaders to ensure full transparency when it comes to payments. As we have seen, there is simply no place anywhere in the system for clauses which leave an individual feeling they have been gagged, especially when the money involved come from the public purse." - Steve Barclay Daily Telegraph

News in brief

• Hunt may claw back pensions of NHS bosses involved in cover up - Daily Telegraph
• Is the taxpayer funding Hacked Off director's salary? - Daily Mail
• Fresh GCHQ snooping row - The Independent
• Farage apologises for offshore mistake - BBC

> 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.

21 Jun 2013 08:33:31

Newslinks for Friday 21st June 2013

5.30pm WATCH: George Osborne gives a beginners' guide to the spending round

2.15pm Mohammed Amin on Comment: Don't shoot the messenger who reports on anti-Muslim hatred

11.15am MPsETC: Bone and Hollobone - the Bialystock and Bloom of the Conservative backbenches

10.45am "In too many corners of our NHS, we have become so numbed to the inevitability of patient harm that we accept the unacceptable. Only by ensuring that every person is treated as though they were our own family member will be realise the ambition of zero harm." - Jeremy Hunt, the Health Secretary, on Comment: Addressing the silent scandal of our NHS

10.15am ToryDiary: The Prime Minister (Replacement) BIll? Read the full list of 40 rebel Bills in the Alternative Queen's Speech

ToryDiary: Whatever happened to the Tories' green agenda?

Iain Dale's Friday Diary: Did Merkel bring a change of underwear to the G8?

"My view [on the EU] is very clear. I'd like to make laws in our own Parliament." - Andrew Gimson interviews Owen Paterson

Laura Perrins on Comment: The betrayal of single-income families

Also on Comment, Julia Manning: After Morecambe, the sackings and reforms needed at the Care Quality Commission

David Skelton on MajorityConservatism concludes our series on the challenges of winning a Future Majority: The midlands and northern challenge - where we hold only 16 of 124 urban seats

Local Government: Who decides where new schools are "needed"? Politicians or parents?

The Deep End: Heresy of the week: Conservatism is not about keeping everything the same

Outrage grows over CQC cover-up scandal...

"Families and MPs demanded last night an investigation into how Jill Finney and Cynthia Bower — the two top officials at the Care Quality Commission — got their jobs, after an independent review concluded that they sanctioned the destruction of a critical internal report. In March last year Ms Finney, the former deputy chief executive, ordered a subordinate to “delete” a report that criticised the watchdog’s failure to act over the University Hospitals of Morecambe Bay Trust, where mothers and babies died." - The Times (£) 

• Give power to Morecambe parents - Dr Phil Hammond, The Times (£) 
• Data protection is no excuse - The Independent Leader 
• CQC boss was also in charge of Stafford hospital - The Sun 
• Hunt announces new hospital safety statistics - The Independent 
• NHS blunders cause eight deaths a day - Daily Mail 

…as more evidence of public sector secrecy emerges

"At least 1,000 gagging orders have been signed by government departments and the NHS since the general election, costing taxpayers a ‘staggering’ £28million. An official report has uncovered at least 1,053 examples – one a day over the past three years – of the public sector paying off staff and buying their silence by getting them to sign confidentiality clauses. The highest payment of £266,000, which was described as ‘obscene’, was made by the Department of Health." - Daily Mail 

• Beware the secret state - Daily Mail Leader 
• New allegations of drug companies and pharmacists conspiring to rip off the NHS - Daily Telegraph 

Owen Paterson's bold campaign in support of GM crops launches a food fight

"Mr Paterson said that people needed to get over the idea of GM being risky or novel, because the economic, environmental and health benefits were now proven. “This isn’t some new, spooky innovation brought in by strange profs with wuzzy hair and flapping coats,” he said. “This is an absolutely established part of agricultural production in very large parts of the world. You have the biggest field trial in human history when you think of the colossal amount of GM material that has been eaten in all those countries that are growing GM food.” - The Times (£) 

• Reason and Paterson are on the same side, and both must prevail - The Times Leader (£) 
• Don't let myths about GM block progress - Daily Telegraph Leader 
• Lib Dems attack Environment Secretary for GM "cheerleading" - FT (£) 
• Cause to fear "frankenfoods"? - Daily Mail 
• I'm not a Luddite - John Ingham, Daily Express 

Summer of bank privatisation planning lies ahead for Osborne

"If it worked, the plan would free up the good part of RBS to be a more effective lender. A clean RBS should see an upswing in share price, too. But getting from here to there will be complex, with the good bank itself needing to be split to comply with the upcoming Vickers rules on ringfencing. Mr Osborne’s decision on whether to create a bad bank will be another landmark in what promises to be a long period of upheaval at RBS." - FT (£) 

• Cool market response to RBS breakup - FT (£) 
• The Times urges Osborne to remain open-minded on the banks' future - Leader (£) 
• Chancellor needs a clear strategy to act upon - FT Leader (£) 
• Eurozone extends bank bailout powers - FT (£) 
• Mortgage lending returns to 2008 levels - FT (£) 

Backbenchers camp out for right to launch Alternative Queen's Speech

"Conservative MPs have drawn up an “Alternative Queen’s Speech” with radical policies such as bringing back the death penalty, privatising the BBC and banning the burka in public spaces. The 42 bills also include legislation to scrap wind farm subsidies, end the ringfence for foreign aid spending and rename the late August Bank Holiday “Margaret Thatcher Day”." - Daily Telegraph 

• Cameron starts to lovebomb his MPs - Isabel Hardman, Daily Telegraph 
• Loughton/Leadsom amendment seeks to enshrine marriage tax break pledge in law - Daily Mail 
• Lib Dems will abstain as another backbench rebellion grows more likely - The Times (£) 
• It's Labour who are split on Europe - Jake Berry MP, Daily Telegraph 

Gove's revolution now cannot be reversed - Seldon

“We are now past the tipping point. There can be no turning the clock back now that heads have tasted the benefits of independence. A whole new generation of heads across the country are now the key drivers for change, and they are no longer hamstrung by old ideology or outdated attitudes. " - The Times (£) 

• Hundreds of state schools send no pupils on to Oxbridge - Daily Telegraph 
• The Tories are fighting for the people Labour have abandoned - Fraser Nelson, Daily Telegraph 
• Top schools will be downgraded if they don't widen access - Daily Mail 

Our influence apart will be less than our clout together, Hague tells Scots

"Asked what would happen to the “soft power” of the remainder of the UK (RUK), if Scotland voted ‘Yes’ next September, he said: “What the United Kingdom is together, bringing all the diverse talents and cultures and nations of the UK together, makes that hugely positive impact on the world. If that was to be fragmented, the total sum of that would be less. I think we have to confront that fact." - The Times (£) 

• Hague: Scots' safety could be at risk after independence - Daily Mail 

Local government faces further cuts of 10%

"Eric Pickles has been forced to accept one of the highest cuts to his Communities department to protect spending on health, schools and overseas aid. Senior Whitehall officials said that he was still negotiating the details, which could include a transfer of cash from the NHS budget for social care, but the 10 per cent cut had been agreed." - The Times (£) 

• Pickles moves to end petty bin fines - Daily Mail
• Putting out Labour's trash - Daily Express Leader
• Miliband mulling fines for house builders who don't build - FT (£) 

Anya Hindmarch, Government trade ambassador, attacks red tape

"Of her mostly female team of 50, a total of 13 had babies in 2011. But she added: ‘I think it [regulation] could end up working against women, unfortunately. ‘As a woman, a mother-of-five and an employer of a lot of women with children, it would end up making you make a choice between employing a man or a woman. You probably might pick the easier route because the  regulation and consequential cost and eggshell treading would just be too onerous.’ She added: ‘I cannot say strongly enough that any more regulation will cripple this country. We are so over-regulated.’ - Daily Mail 

Farage in offshore tax row

"Nigel Farage last night admitted he opened an offshore trust fund to slash his tax bill. The leader of the UK Independence Party, who has been outspoken critic of tax avoidance, set up a scheme on the Isle of Man for ‘inheritance purposes’. But he claimed he never used it saying: ‘It was a mistake. I’m not rich enough.’" - Daily Mail 

News in brief

• Telling off Quentin Letts doesn't work, discovers DCMS - Daily Mail 
• Allowing soldiers to sue could put them at risk - Dominic Raab, Daily Telegraph 
• Minimum wage to be studied anew on its 15th birthday - The Times (£) 
• Skills shortage worries business leaders - FT (£) 
• Government should get on with energy tariff plan - Daily Express Leader 
• Clegg under fire for Nigella Lawson comments - The Times (£) 
• Osborne turns down duet offer from Obama's favourite soul singer - The Guardian 
• Audit report expected on welfare reforms - FT (£) 
• Parliamentary standards watchdog to be muzzled - The Times (£) 

> 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.

20 Jun 2013 08:26:56

Newslinks for Thursday 20th June 2013

6.45pm Local Government: Councils "face further 10% cut in central government grant"

5.15pm WATCH: Owen Paterson: GM food "is not a strange, new, spooky innovation"

4.30pm Philip Booth on Comment: Tax havens are good - let's make Britain one

3pm Morecambe's MP, David Morris, on Comment: "Andy Burnham derided the appointment of a powerful Chief Inspector with the authority and judgement to call out problems as "heavy-handed regulation".    He calls it "heavy-handed"; I call it "speaking truth to power", and my constituents rue the day he stamped this out at a time when babies were dying at Morecambe Bay." Labour bears a share of the responsibility for the deaths at our local hospital

2.30pm ToryDiary: The Work Programme is working

12.30pm WATCH: Andrew Mitchell: "Whipping like stripping is best done in private"

11.30am Shailesh Vara MP on Comment: How can we justify helping the Libyans but not the Syrians?

11am ToryDiary: "...a brave speech, seeking to lead rather than follow public opinion. This is a man on a mission." Key points from Owen Paterson's speech making the case for GM food

10am Local Government: John Bald says The education debate is going Gove's way

ToryDiary: At last, the prospect of getting some taxpayers' money back for our bank stake

Also on ToryDiary: The optimistic conservatism of Paterson's support for GM foods

Dr Martin Parsons on Comment: Obama's folly - why the west cannot negotiate with the Taliban

Kate Maltby writes this week's Culture Column: Let’s not become like the Tudors under Walsingham - mad with paranoia about spies and espionage

In the fourth part of our Future Majority series on MajorityConservatism, Elizabeth Oldfield argues that religion in Britain isn't dead, but alive in new ways - and a challenge to political parties: Elizabeth Oldfield says: Religion in Britain. Not dead - but alive in new ways. And a challenge to the political parties.

Local Government: Martin Drake, James Hart and Nicholas Allen from Doncaster on Why the ‘Anyone but Labour’ attitude must not creep into the Conservative Party

The Deep End: How about this: A thriving company that cuts costs for consumers without squeezing its workers

Osborne prepares for bank sale...

"George Osborne has signalled he is ready to start the sell-off of the taxpayer's stake in Lloyds Banking Group, but said he is to consider whether to break up the Royal Bank of Scotland, in a move that could delay the bailed-out bank's return to the private sector. In his annual speech to City grandees at Mansion House on Wednesday night, the chancellor said he was "actively considering options for share sales in Lloyds", in which the government has a 39% stake. Speculation is mounting that a partial sell-off of the state's Lloyds stake could take place within months." - The Guardian

...but will he tell Sid?

"The first tranche of shares in Lloyds are likely to be offered to institutional investors, followed by a possible sale to the general public. It could be modelled on the popular “tell Sid” sale of British Gas shares in the 1980s." - The Independent

• "Osborne is about to make another mistake with Lloyds: he wants to sell the first tranche of shares to institutions, rather than involve the public in the sort of mass distribution that is desperately needed to rebuild a shareholder democracy." Allister Heath City AM

The economy is out of "intensive care"

"The British economy is “out of intensive care” and moving towards a recovery from the financial crisis, George Osborne has declared....Mr Osborne’s statement reflects growing optimism among ministers that
the UK economy is finally over the worst of an economic crisis that began in 2008 and has painfully squeezed millions of households’ budgets. Delivering his annual Mansion House speech in the City, Mr Osborne highlighted recent economic figures showing that employment levels are robust, modest economic growth has resumed and companies are more optimistic about the future." - Daily Telegraph

Yesterday:

• ToryDiary: Andrew Tyrie's bank reform balancing act has successes - and wobbles, too
• Greg Clark MP's weekly Letter from a Treasury Minister: Who Bolckow and Vaughan were, and why we need successors for them today

NHS cover up continues...

"The NHS watchdog was tonight accused of a “broader and ongoing cover-up” after refusing to name officials who ordered the destruction of evidence of its failure to prevent a maternity deaths scandal. One MP demanded a police investigation into the actions of senior managers at the Care Quality Commission. Jeremy Hunt, the Health Secretary, demanded that those responsible for the apparent cover-up ultimately be publicly identified, despite defending the CQC’s decision not to name the individuals immediately." - Daily Telegraph

• "In a move that prompted fury, the names of those responsible for the cover-up at the health regulator were redacted from a damning report published yesterday. Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt condemned the secrecy and demanded the names be published – insisting there should be ‘no anonymity and no hiding place’ for the officials involved." - Daily Mail

...amidst demands for prosecutions

"NHS watchdogs who covered up their failure to investigate baby deaths should face criminal charges, a former Director of Public Prosecutions said yesterday. Lord Macdonald of River Glaven, QC, suggested that misconduct in a public office had been committed by officials at the Care Quality Commission. MPs demanded that its former bosses be “hauled before Parliament” to explain their roles in the scandal engulfing the regulator." - The Times (£)

• "Imagine that this had been a private sector company covering up what it knew about sub-standard care and poor practices that led to the deaths of several mothers and children; or a bank that had lost billions of pounds. There would have been a clamour for arrests and prosecutions...Yet in the public sector, we are expected to be content with an apology from the new chief executive, a promise to learn lessons and a structural overhaul that may, or may not, improve matters." Leader Daily Telegraph

Paterson to try and persuade public of the benefits of GM food

"The government has a duty to explain the benefits of genetically modified crops to the British people, Environment Secretary Owen Paterson is to say. In a speech today, he will argue that GM has significant benefits for farmers, consumers and the environment. The UK and Europe risk being left behind unless the technology is embraced, he will say." - BBC

• More GM crops would mean more nature reserves - Daily Telegraph

Ian Livingstone to be new Trade Minister

"BT chief executive Ian Livingston is to step down in September to become a UK government trade minister. David Cameron announced the move at Prime Minister's Questions, saying Mr Livingston would succeed Lord Green - the former HSBC chairman - who will stand down at the end of the year." - BBC

Nigel Evans refutes charges

"Commons Deputy Speaker Nigel Evans has said he "refutes all allegations" after being arrested on suspicion of three counts of indecent assault. The 55-year-old answered bail following his arrest in May on suspicion of rape and sexual assault, and was told that he faced the additional allegations." - BBC

EU referendum bill toughened

"The Bill has been toughened since a draft version was published. It now makes clear that ministers have to announce the date of the referendum before the end of 2016. Failing to do so would open them up to a legal challenge." - The Times (£)

• "Conservative MP James Wharton presented his European Union (Referendum) Bill in the Commons to loud Tory cheers. If the Bill becomes law it will be a major milestone for the Daily Express crusade to free Britain from the EU. Having received its formal First Reading without debate, all eyes are now on July 5, when the Bill returns to the Commons for a crucial Second Reading." - Daily Express
• "Mr Wharton’s measure deserves to be backed by all democrats, whether they favour breaking free from the suffocating embrace of Brussels or remaining trapped within it. It is therefore unimpressive and frankly bizarre that Labour leader Ed Miliband is withholding his support from the measure, instructing his MPs to abstain when it is first voted on in the Commons. Miliband intends to use parliamentary procedures to kill-off Mr Wharton’s legislation without openly opposing it. This is a deeply dishonest approach. Labour was once known as “the people’s party” yet has become the party that will not trust the people." Leader Daily Express

>Yesterday: ToryDiary: An invitation from Grant Shapps to sponsor James Wharton's EU referendum bill

Grassroots Tories "trust Cameron on the EU"

"Grassroots Tories may be Eurosceptics, but they trust David Cameron's strategy on the European Union. A majority of them say that if, following any renegotiation, he were to recommend they vote to keep Britain in the EU, they would do just that. Right now, according to a new academic survey of ordinary Conservative Party members, 71 per cent would vote to leave the EU. But if Mr Cameron can cut a deal which – in his view – protects our national interests, more than half of them (54 per cent) would vote to stay in."- Daily Telegraph

Cameron says Commons vote on Syria might cause too much delay

"More than 80 Conservative MPs have signed a letter calling for a full Commons vote before any decision to take action against the Assad government. Asked about this demand, Mr Cameron said: "You are absolutely right to make the point that we make a big commitment to come to this House and explain, vote and all the rest of it, but obviously governments have to reserve the ability to take action very swiftly on this or on other issues." - BBC

Work Programme delivers better results

"Fewer than one in five sickness benefit claimants who joined the government’s flagship welfare-to-work programme has found a job, according to figures released by the industry’s trade body on Thursday.
However, the figures also show that around a third of people who have been on the programme for at least a year have started work, suggesting that, after a difficult start, the scheme may be starting to deliver results." - Financial Times

• 900.000 still to find work from Work Programme - The Times (£)

"Super Sirs" to rescue failing schools

"Crack teams of top teachers should be sent to underperforming schools, the country’s top watchdog will say today. Thousands of “unseen children” are let down in rural areas and seaside towns, warns Ofsted chief inspector Sir Michael Wilshaw. In a landmark speech he will call for an army of “experienced and effective teachers to work in less fashionable, more remote or challenging places”." - The Sun

Peter Oborne says Boris should be made Tory Chairman

"It is hard to think of any modern Conservative better suited for the job than Mr Johnson. Popular with the public, loved by the party, he has reinvented the rules of political discourse since becoming Mayor of London. So far he has been kept at arm’s length by the Tory leadership, who feel envious and threatened by the Mayor’s charm and ease. The most intelligent reaction is to tie Mr Johnson in – by making his fortunes dependent on those of Mr Cameron." - Peter Oborne Daily Telegraph

>Yesterday: Columnist Stephan Shakespeare on new polling about the Prime Minister and London's Mayor: "When we look at the words the Johnson-likers use to describe themselves, we find ‘individualistic, knowledgeable, disorganised’, versus Cameron-likers seeing themselves as ‘friendly, organised and hardworking’. Stephen Fry & Eddie Izzard v the England Rugby Team - yes, it's Boris v Cameron

Quentin Letts says Ed Miliband failed again at PMQs

"Edward Miliband could do with winning Prime Minister’s Questions. It has not happened for  a while – in part because David Cameron went solong during May without doing  a PMQs. Some Labour voices suggested during that absence that Mr Cameron was hiding. Given Ed Mil’s iffy form at the  despatch box, they should be glad the PM did not subject their man to more outings. Ed is scoring so few runs at present, he could be batting for Essex." - Quentin Letts Daily Mail

>Yesterday: ToryDiary: "Prime Minister's questions is a perpetual assault by Mr Cameron on the Labour Party, of a kind which a gifted desk officer in the Conservative Research Department of the late 1980s might make. It is a professional performance, but also a rather mean-spirited and constricted one." - PMQs: David Cameron and Lynton Crosby set out to destroy the Labour Party

The New Statesman claims some Tory backbenchers want to lose General Election

"It is, for the time being, confined to a kernel of 30 or 40 backbenchers. They have drunk themselves morose on a cocktail of resentments – call it ambition on the rocks – that is one part irritation with David Cameron’s snooty manner and one part injured pride at missed promotions, stirred together with a fizzy mixer of ideological betrayal. The irreconcilables would take pleasure in seeing the Prime Minister’s smooth features crumpled by election-night disappointment." - Rafael Behr New Statesman

David Aaronovitch says Labour are letting down the Syrian people

"Mr Cameron, who I think can see, like me, where this Syrian disaster is heading, looks over at the Opposition bench and finds no cover. Just 11 months ago Douglas Alexander, the Shadow Foreign Secretary, one of the best and brightest in Labour’s firmament, warned the Russians that if they continued to arm Assad and thwart international sanctions they’d “bear the stain”. But now he says we should “not take actions that compromise the commitment of the Russians to take part” in the Geneva II peace talks." David Aaronovitch The Times (£)

News in brief

• Work longer hours, Gove tells teachers - Metro
• Peerage for Sir Mervyn King - BBC 
• Poor children in rural areas let down says Sir Michael Wilshaw - BBC
• Britain in dangerous moral state says Welby - The Times (£)
• Farage says UKIP will win a Scottish MEP - Guardian
• Bankers bonuses at new record - The Independent
• Boris has a new bus - The Guardian
• Labour's YouGov lead down to 6% - YouGov

And finally...Obama called Osborne "Jeff"

"Music fan Barack Obama kept getting George Osborne’s name wrong aftermixing him up with one of his favourite soul stars — Jeffrey Osborne." - The Sun 

> 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.

19 Jun 2013 08:27:50

Newslinks for Wednesday 19th June 2013

6.45pm ToryDiary: Andrew Tyrie's bank reform balancing act has successes - and wobbles, too

6pm WATCH: David Cameron and Ed Miliband go head to head on bank regulation

4.15pm Nick de Bois MP on Comment: The use of police cautions is out of hand - they should return to being final warnings

2.45pm ToryDiary: "Prime Minister's questions is a perpetual assault by Mr Cameron on the Labour Party, of a kind which a gifted desk officer in the Conservative Research Department of the late 1980s might make. It is a professional performance, but also a rather mean-spirited and constricted one." - PMQs: David Cameron and Lynton Crosby set out to destroy the Labour Party

1pm ToryDiary: Conservative support rises among the young - presenting an opportunity we must seize

11am ToryDiary: An invitation from Grant Shapps to sponsor James Wharton's EU referendum bill

9.45am Henry Hill's Red, White and Blue column: Villiers to G8 protesters - let's see you make it to remote Fermanagh

ToryDiary: The BBC has been outpaced by reality, and has become unsustainable

Columnist Stephan Shakespeare on new polling about the Prime Minister and London's Mayor: "When we look at the words the Johnson-likers use to describe themselves, we find ‘individualistic, knowledgeable, disorganised’, versus Cameron-likers seeing themselves as ‘friendly, organised and hardworking’. Stephen Fry & Eddie Izzard v the England Rugby Team - yes, it's Boris v Cameron

Greg Clark MP's weekly Letter from a Treasury Minister: Who Bolckow and Vaughan were, and why we need successors for them today

Evan Price on Comment: The state should not decide who represents you in court

Yesterday, ethnic minority members. Today, older and young people. Majority Conservatism's series on the challenge of winning a Future Majority continues. Max Chambers: To win, Cameron must make a game-changing offer to the young middle-classes

MPsETC: Bluebirds soar in double demolition

Councillor John Moss on Local Government: Scrap rent control for local tenants

The Deep End: Post-war America: When capitalism was nice

At the G8 summit in County Fermanagh, the West tries to engineer a coup in Damascus...

“President Assad’s henchmen would be allowed a role in a rebuilt Syria, world leaders said yesterday in an attempt to encourage a coup against the dictator. Senior figures in the military, security services, and across the Government would survive after Assad had gone, G8 leaders promised at the close of the summit in Northern Ireland…David Cameron said that the G8 wanted to persuade Assad loyalists who knew “in their hearts” that he must go that Syria would not collapse into hopeless instability without him” – The Times (£)

• What’s to be gained from arming the rebels? - Roger Boyes, The Times (£)
• Miliband is standing firm on Syria, but is he caught in a trap? - Mary Riddell, Daily Telegraph

...but Putin refuses to bow to G8 pressure to cut Assad adrift...

“Peace talks aimed at bringing and end to the bloody slaughter in Syria are unlikely to take place soon after world leaders failed to make a swift breakthrough. Hopes that both sides could meet in Geneva next month appeared to be dashed today after an isolated President Putin stood up to pressure from all other seven G8 leaders” – The Times (£)

...while Cameron secures a global tax crackdown on secretive firms...

"David Cameron has ordered a crackdown on secretive firms and trusts as he heralded an historic global deal to stop tax avoidance. The news came as a Number 10’s tax adviser warned that African countries are losing twice as much in avoided tax as they are getting in aid from the West” – Daily Telegraph

• "The G8 made some progress on tax evasion but the big prize will be new rules to prevent companies shifting profits around the world" - Times Editorial (£)
• "The G8 summit in Lough Erne has been a curiously flat affair, but David Cameron is right to stress its importance" - Daily Telegraph Editorial

...and journalists watching from afar detect tensions, rivalries and downright loathing

“Officially, it has been the greatest diplomatic shindig in the world. Unofficially? A stewpot of bubbling tensions, rivalries and downright loathing. G8 they call it. G-hate, more like. Barack Obama and Vladimir Putin sat next to each other in one of the little ‘bilaterals’ which have been held at the G8 summit in County Fermanagh. Boxing gloves, please! Did two chaps ever look less thrilled to see one another?” – Quentin Letts, Daily Mail

• Cameron takes G8 break with early-morning swim – Daily Mail

> Yesterday:

• ToryDiary - Is there really any point in G8 summits - the Time Team of international diplomacy?
• Caroline Spelman on Comment: Let's hear it for a US/EU trade deal - which could account for half of global trade

Daniel Finkelstein: We must never forget our debt to America

"British people owe a huge debt to the United States that we don’t often talk about and can easily forget. And these two anniversaries provide a moment for thanks. The proper understanding of Soviet communism that has been achieved after the fall of the Berlin Wall demonstrates that fear of Soviet expansion was not fanciful and that their ambitions did extend to the subverting of Western democracy. And it also shows the poverty and oppression that would have followed had they been successful." - The Times (£)

Miller's child porn summit: £1 million - but no "opt in" porn filters

“Britain's internet giants have agreed to put extra money into the fight against sickening child abuse images – but are refusing to install automatic filters that would force users to ‘opt in’ to online pornography. At a Westminster summit, the top four internet service providers pledged an additional £1million over four years to the Internet Watch Foundation, a charity which works to remove indecent images from the web. Firms including BT, TalkTalk, Facebook and Google signed a ‘zero tolerance’ agreement on child abuse images at the summit, hailed by Culture Secretary Maria Miller as a triumph” – Daily Mail

• End this filth – The Sun Says
• Maria Miller defends “incredible importance” of DCMS – Daily Telegraph
• Saatchi caution “not enough” say campaigners – The Times (£)

Britain should reap the rewards of GM crops

“In a speech tomorrow, Owen Paterson, the Environment Secretary, will call for a renewed debate about the use of GM, which is severely restricted in the European Union…around the world more than 170 million hectares of land are under GM crops, sustained by 16 million farmers in 28 countries, with no reports of apparent damage to health or the environment…Mr Paterson’s attempt, therefore, to get the EU to reopen this subject is eminently sensible, yet it has provoked outrage among eco-campaigners” – Philip Johnson, Daily Telegraph

Banking 1) Banking Commission raps Osborne over interference with nationalised banks

“The UK government has ‘interfered’ in the running of the part-nationalised banks in a manner that is ‘clearly not acceptable’, a sweeping parliamentary review into the failings of the British banking system has concluded. The rebuke, prompted by government pressure on Royal Bank of Scotland over bonus payouts and regulatory capital increases, comes only days after the bank’s chief executive, Stephen Hester, was ousted following Treasury pressure” – Financial Times

• Far-reaching recommendations on banking hit home – Financial Times Editorial
• Osborne told by Banking Standards Commission that bosses of collapsed banks should be sent to jail - The Independent
• Reckless banking should be a criminal offence – Philip Augar, Financial Times
• Pay cuts imposed on top civil servants could lead to exodus of talent - Guardian
• House prices rise by £9,000: average value soars to £238,000 – Daily Express
• Make the bankers pay - Daily Mail Comment
• The Government and the banks must rise to the challenge - Ed Balls, Politics Home (£)

Banking 2) Osborne to set out plans for nationalised banks in his Mansion House speech this evening

"The Chancellor will use a speech at the Mansion House this evening to indicate that the sale of the Government's 40 per cent stake in Lloyds can start before 2015. And he made clear that offloading the 81 per cent stake in RBS can only begin if taxpayers will get their money back. Mr Osborne also confirmed that he had played a key role in ousting RBS chief executive Stephen Hester because he wanted a new man in place to guide privatisation."

Latest Cameron-Boris poll: 30 per cent would back Cameron-led Tories at next election, 36 per cent Boris-led Tories

"Supporters of Boris Johnson prefer Jeremy Clarkson, Jimmy Carr and the rock band Muse, while backers of David Cameron like Margaret Thatcher, Prince William and listening to Just a Minute on BBC Radio 4, research shows. The survey also suggested that 30 per cent of voters would back the Conservatives at the next election if Mr Cameron is in charge, compared with 36 per cent if the Mayor of London takes over, according to an analysis by the polling company YouGov." - The Times (£)

> Today: Columnist Stephan Shakespeare - Stephen Fry & Eddie Izzard v the England Rugby Team - yes, it's Boris v Cameron

Latest Generation X poll: the Conservatives double their support among the youngest cohort of voters

"Pollster Bobby Duffy, who is leading Ipsos MORI's work on generational analysis, said many in Generation Y seemed to have a more individualised outlook. "They believe people need to take greater personal responsibility rather than looking to the state – perhaps reflecting the fact that they have had less support themselves than other recent generations. "The Conservative position on many aspects of policy therefore appeals more directly to this sense of stopping 'something for nothing'," Duffy said, adding a proviso that the extent of Tory support from the young shouldn't be exaggerated." - The Guardian

Cover-up over 16 baby deaths at Morecambe Bay hospitals

“Health bosses are today accused of covering up their failure to investigate a hospital where up to 16 babies died through neglect. Despite multiple warnings about Morecambe Bay hospitals, a Care Quality Commission inspection gave the trust the all-clear in 2010. Even when a CQC official produced a dossier showing the inspection was flawed, bosses told him to destroy it to protect the commission’s reputation” – Daily Mail 

Plans for open primaries abandoned, Sarah Wollaston claims

"Plans to introduce 'open primaries' in 200 parliamentary seats before the next general election are being abandoned because David Cameron believes they lead to 'awkward' MPs in the Commons, a Tory backbencher has claimed. Dr Sarah Wollaston, the MP for Totnes, said that she believed that Downing Street had shelved the idea of open primaries over fears that they may favour ‘outspoken’ candidates” – Daily Telegraph

God goes but Queen remains as Guides adapt Promise

“Girl Guiding has severed its ties with God and country — at the heart of the movement since it was founded more than a century ago — after a radical rewriting of its historic ‘Promise’ that is designed to appeal to a new generation of members. From now on, Guides will pledge ‘to be true to myself and develop my beliefs’ instead of ‘to love my God’. ‘My country’ has been replaced by ‘my community’. But the Queen survived the cull, so girls will still promise to ‘serve’ her and subsequent monarchs when they take their oath” – The Times (£)

Fury as union boss accuses Kate Middleton of “having babies to get state handouts”

“The leader of one of Labour’s biggest union backers sparked fury tonight after likening Kate Middleton to ‘young women having babies to get state handouts’. Unison boss Dave Prentis took aim at the heavily pregnant Duchess of Cambridge in a speech attacking government cuts to welfare. Labour leader Ed Miliband was urged to distance himself from the ‘outrageous’ attack just weeks before she is due to give birth” – Daily Mail

News in brief

• US and Taliban agree to peace talks - Guardian
• David Steel's abortion concern - Daily Mail
• Another night of demonstrations in Brazil - Guardian
• DWP will look again at disability benefits - The Independent
• Nigel Farage’s trip to Scotland disrupted by protests – Daily Telegraph
• Teenage couple killed by train in apparent suicide pact - Independent
• Met Office warns of a decade of wet summers – The Times (£)

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