Conservative Home

« Newslinks for Saturday 14th September 2013 | Main | Newslinks for Monday 16th September 2013 »

Newslinks for Sunday 15th September 2013

7.30pm WATCH: Vince for leader! Coalition with Labour in 2015! Higher taxes! Meet the Lib Dem Councillors

4pm LeftWatch: Further evidence that Ed Balls wants the economy to fail, so he can succeed

EU Exit1.45pm ToryDiary: "The Swiss story is precisely what British eurosceptics need. We must put forward a positive, viable vision for our future without the EU - and we must be able to rebut the unfounded fears raised bythe project's fanatics, whether they are talking down Britain's economic capabilities or threatening the prospect of a re-run of World War One."  Switzerland shows that life outside the EU isn't just possible, it can be better

11am ToryDiary: What Party members want most from Cameron is a little bit of love

ToryDiary: "Suddenly, when your job involves deciding to support one policy or another rather than supporting both in different leaflets across the country at the same election, you can be pinned down. You have to be one thing, not all things, to voters - and you have to take responsibility your decisions." The problem with the Lib Dems: No-one likes them, and they do care

On Comment, Lord Ashcroft presents his latest polling: "The encouraging news for the Tories, such as it is, is that Labour have made no further progress in their top targets seats than they had when I conducted a similar exercise in 2011...Despite this, Labour’s lead in these seats has grown from nine to 14 points over the last two years, largely because of the defection of Tory voters to UKIP." UKIP's ratings in Conservative-Labour marginals threaten to put Miliband in Number 10 

Coalition
Lib Dem Conference 1: Jeremy Browne calls on colleagues to be proud of the Coalition

"Ministers fear Lib Dem activists at the party’s annual conference, which starts this weekend in Glasgow, are set to rebel against key Government policies and may vote to reinstate the 50p rate introduced by Labour weeks before it lost power in 2010. ‘The fundamental question for Liberal Democrats gathering for conference is this: are we proud of our Government or ashamed of it?’ Mr Browne said. His remarks will be seen as a rebuke to colleagues on the Left of the party – including Business Secretary Vince Cable and president Tim Farron – who have begun to complain publicly about coalition policies." - Mail on Sunday 

>Today: ToryDiary - The problem with the Lib Dems: No-one likes them, and they do care

>Yesterday: ToryDiary - A plastic bag tax would hit the poor and small shops but wouldn't help the environment

Lib Dem Conference 2: Could the Lib Dems cosy up to Labour?

Lib Dem Bird Tory"Liberal Democrat members are demanding Nick Clegg make a deal with Labour at the next election, an exclusive poll has revealed. The extraordinary poll will put pressure on the Deputy Prime Minister, who opened his party conference in Glasgow yesterday, to start distancing himself from the Conservatives and open talks with senior Labour figures." - Independent on Sunday 

Rising UKIP vote threatens to let Miliband into No 10

UKIP_mag 3"The UKIP threat is draining Tory support in key marginal seats so much that the party could let Ed Miliband into Downing Street, according to a poll released today by Lord Ashcroft, former deputy chairman of the Conservative party. Ashcroft finds a 14-point Labour lead in the 32 marginal seats where it is the main challenger to the Tories, enough to put Miliband in No 10 with an overall majority. However, the poll of 13,000 people finds the increased lead is due not to a surge in Labour popularity but to a tripling of the UKIP vote in the marginals." - Sunday Times (£) 

>Today: Lord Ashcroft on Comment - UKIP's ratings in Conservative-Labour marginals threaten to put Miliband in Number 10

Farage fears the pace of leading UKIP may burn him out

"He says he is not looking beyond the Euro elections next year and the general election of 2015. And then what? Will he resign? “No. I’m not even saying that. I’m just saying that to think beyond 2015 for me personally is impossible. To think of 2020 — no way.” But why? He is 49 now, he will only be 56 then. Or does he think he’ll be burnt out? “I think that’s a danger. If I go on like this, I’ll be burnt out, yes.”" - Sunday Times (£) 

>Yesterday: WATCH - UKIP founder Alan Sked launches New Deal party

Syria
US and Russia strike a deal on Syria

"The United States and Russia have overcome their differences and agreed to put Syria on a short leash, giving it one week to account for all of its chemical weapons, to submit to surrendering them for destruction according to a strict timetable, and to give international inspectors “unfettered access” to its territory." - Independent on Sunday 

Ken Clarke attacks deficit hawks and eurosceptics

Clarke17"‘I think we have made the biggest cuts in public spending that any democratically elected government has tried to do in modern times,’ said Mr Clarke. The more fervent of our colleagues may think it is peanuts and we should have gone further but that’s simplistic nonsense'…Mr Clarke also renewed his attack on the Eurosceptic element of his party who advocate leaving the EU. ‘I don’t think the majority of MPs would have the first idea how to look after the interests of the United Kingdom in a world in which we’d suddenly decided to leave the European Union,’ he said." - Mail on Sunday 

BorisAtRally

Boris: No to wind farms, yes to nuclear

"They seemed to be everywhere and I asked myself: When were we consulted? Was there a referendum? Did someone ever warn the British people that these moaning seagull-slicers were going to be erected on some of the most sensational scenery that God ever called into being? The answer is that no one warned us, because no one really took the decision to do it. It just sort of happened. We’ve contracted these mills like a disease because of our pathetic apology for an energy policy." - Boris Johnson, The Sun on Sunday (£) 

Shadow Cabinet infighting breaks out over economic recovery

Labour Rose Wilting"Disagreements spilled out at a Shadow Cabinet meeting called to discuss how to reverse the decline in Labour’s fortunes in what has been a torrid summer for their leader. Defence spokesman Jim Murphy threw down the gauntlet by insisting that the party had to revise its message now that the economy was clearly recovering. He clashed with Shadow Chancellor Ed Balls by insisting Labour could no longer argue the economy was ‘flat-lining’ – a taunt made famous by Mr Balls." - Mail on Sunday 

  • Jeremy Clarkson may run against Ed in 2015 - Mail on Sunday
  • Miliband steels himself for McBride's book on the Brown years - Sunday Times (£) 

>Yesterday: ToryDiary - It's the standard of living, stupid

Climate report shows the IPCC acknowledge their computer models were wrong

"The leaked report makes the extraordinary concession that the world has been warming at only just over half the rate claimed by the IPCC in its last assessment,  published in 2007.  Back then, it said that the planet was warming at a rate of 0.2C every decade – a figure it claimed was in line with the forecasts made by computer climate models.  But the new report says the true figure since 1951 has been only 0.12C per decade – a rate far below even the lowest computer prediction." - Mail on Sunday 

25 Tory MPs write to Cameron over defence cuts

Defence cuts""John Baron, the MP for Basildon and Billericay and a former army officer, said: “There is growing concern about the unanswered questions over the extent of cost savings and the resulting capability gap. Reports of the Ministry of Defence’s failure to meet its reserve recruitment targets add urgency “Surely the axeing of the regular battalions should now be stopped at least until we know the government’s plans for the reserves will work?”" - Sunday Times (£) 

>Yesterday: Tobias Ellwood on Comment - We need two aircraft carriers to be a military power of the first rank

News in brief

Email_subscribe

> 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.

Comments

You must be logged in using Intense Debate, Wordpress, Twitter or Facebook to comment.