ConservativeHome's ToryDiary

IDS pays tribute to John Profumo

Iain Duncan Smith has written a tribute to John Profumo on the day of his funeral:

"Toynbee Hall is one of the jewels in the crown of this nation's charitable sector. It is the kind of caring institution that commands the love and respect of the British people, an institution that never walks away from people, however hopeless or disadvantaged their circumstances may seem.  Toynbee Hall gave John Profumo his second chance in life and he used it well. It was at Toynbee hall that I first met him and discovered – through others – all the good work that he had done. So many people, who owe the quality of their lives to him, spoke warmly of this one time disgraced politician.  Everyone deserves a second chance. It's what you do with it that marks your life. Real greatness for John Profumo lay not in counting honours and awards, or amassing fame and fortune, but in using his second chance to give other much more vulnerable people their second chance."

See the full article in The Yorkshire Post.

Humphrey, the Downing Street cat, has died

Humphrey, the Number Ten cat, has died.  Conservative Animal Welfare Group President, Roger Gale MP, "who met Humphrey on a number of visits to Downing Street during the Thatcher and Major years", has issued a statement:

“Humphrey was often curled up on the doorkeeper’s chair and a very reassuring presence to those entering No. 10 on business.  We were sad when Humphrey was ‘retired’ with the arrival of the Blairs.  Humphrey clearly had a much loved and comfortable old age.   We were all sorry to learn, today, of his death, and we shall all remember the Downing Street cat with great affection.”

Reuters gives us the history:

"He had wandered into No. 10 Downing Street under Margaret Thatcher and remained throughout the tenure of John Major. But he was sent away to live with a civil servant in "retirement" months after Tony Blair was elected in 1997.  At the time, Conservative opponents accused Blair of having Humphrey put down because the new prime minister's wife Cherie didn't like the cat. Questions were raised. Fur flew.  "Humphrey is now a missing person. Unless I hear from him or he makes a public appearance, I suspect he has been shot," opposition Conservative politician Alan Clark declared at the time.

The government finally arranged for press photos to prove Humphrey was still alive, saying he had gone to live with a civil servant to be treated for illness.  He was photographed, hostage-like, with copies of the day's newspapers to show the pictures were fresh. Blair's office issued a statement saying Cherie was sad to see him go.  It was not the only time Humphrey had been embroiled in scandal. In 1994 the government had to issue an official denial after the cat was accused of killing a family of robins."

Cameron to 'clean up' British politics

Today's Tory proposals to put a cap on party donations and to reduce the number of MPs come on another day when there are more sleaze stories.

Today we have allegations about Ruth Kelly's expenses:

"The Conservatives are calling for an investigation into claims that Ruth Kelly, the Education Secretary, has a “black hole” in her Commons expenses. Ms Kelly has been accused of claiming £72,000 to cover utility bills and interest payments that she makes on her mortgage for her constituency home near Bolton."

And another Lord admitting to Labour loans:

"The Labour Party was dealt another embarrassing blow last night when Lord Sainsbury said he had also lent the party £2m."

The Guardian provides a balanced Labour vs. Tories sleaze list, it won't be long before voters see that balance weighing on this government even more heavily.

Deputy Editor

Wake up to Gordon Brown (1): Economic competitiveness

As part of the most recent survey of the ConservativeHome Members' Panel we asked how the Conservative Party might tackle Gordon Brown.  Throughout this Budget week we will be reflecting on the observations you made...

We start with economic competitiveness.  Here were some of the things you said:

"Take a current copy of Tolley's tax guide and throw it at him! Seriously - compare the latest guide with one ten years old and try to get across the damage this idiot is doing to business and jobs."

"Nail the lie that he has given us an economy to be proud of."

"Highlight the private pensions fiasco, and the decline in growth rates over the past 7 years."

"He has only one strength - the economy - if we can undermine his name on it he is broken. Compare with Kerry's central campaign plank - his Vietnam service."

"Gordon Brown, the man who has given us higher taxes than Germany and made us poorer than Ireland. The man who has overseen our slide down the table of competitive nations, who sold half our gold reserves when the price was at an all-time low, who destroyed the best private pension funds in Europe etc. etc. etc."

"Comparisons with more successful nations such as Ireland."

"He inherited a flourishing economy but is now tens of billions in the red."

"Labour are strangling the economy. They are burdening business to the point they are destroying businesses before they get off the ground."

"Gordon Brown is an economic disaster to all who do not have financial income from the government. This applies to business and government contracts more than help to the individual."

"Continually point out the short term boost that Gordon Brown has been giving to the economy is to the detriment of the longer term good. Huge amounts of expenditure - both private and public are being brought forward. It is unsustainable."

The facts (taken from a CCHQ briefing) certainly back up Panel Members' concerns over declining competitiveness:

• Business taxes have gone from 10th lowest to 10th highest in the developed world.
• We have fallen in competitiveness from 4th to 13th in the world.
• We have a record trade deficit of £47bn . Our deficit with China rose by 20% last year
• Business investment, at 9.7% of GDP, its lowest level since records began in 1965
• The saving ratio almost halved from 9.7% 1992-7 to 5.5% today and pension crisis
• Economic growth last year was 1.8%, below the G7 , OECD  and the global average
• Forecast growth for next year, of 2-2.5%, remains below trend.

Tomorrow we'll look at Gordon Brown's stealth taxes.  Then we'll look at the Chancellor's poverty-fighting, wastefulness, his 'roadblock to reform' status, his closeness to Tony Blair, and then his personal history (including the fact he represents a Scottish seat - a fact which exercised a huge number of ConservativeHome readers).  On Sunday - to conclude the series - we'll see if we can agree on an internet-based campaign to bring much wider attention to the Chancellor's faults.

For background see two Platform articles by Oberon Houston: Britain is not working and A journey through the looking glass.

New poll of polls

Added in the right hand margin is a new ConservativeHome poll of polls.

I'm grateful to those visitors who responded to my request of 24th February for advice on how to set up such a poll of polls.  I've chosen a simple average of the last five polls of Britain's main pollsters - BPIX, ICM, Mori, Populus and YouGov.  I don't pretend it is a perfect poll of polls.  In many ways it is quite crude but it gives a rough idea of the state of the parties. 

Opinion polls have tended to overstate Labour's position in recent years and it must be hoped that they still do.  Nonetheless, the first poll of polls suggests that Labour has a very narrow 0.4% edge over the Conservative Party.

The poll of poll numbers will be input to the ElectoralCalculus website to produce the seats projection at the bottom of the graphic.  On this occasion that produces a Labour majority of 50.  This, of course, is based on a uniform nationwide swing.  It is likely that results will be more complex than that with significant local and regional variations.  The concentration of LibDem support would be very unlikely to reduce their number of seats to 32, for example, even with just 19.2% of the vote.  Tactical voting - which has hurt the Tories at the last three elections - may even start to be used against a disliked Labour government.

The headline figures from the last twenty political polls are listed in the left hand margin - below the 'About' graphic.

Tories to propose cap on funding

Liam Fox has just confirmed on BBC1's Politics Show that the Conservative Party will propose a cap on individual donations.  The former Tory Chairman told Jon Sopel that the cap would be lower than the £100,000pa proposed by ConservativeHome.com (before the current scandals broke on 22nd February).  David Cameron is expected to announce comprehensive proposals tomorrow.  He will write to Ming Campbell and Tony Blair and urge a cross-party consensus.

Such a move would be confirmation that David Cameron is determined to 'stand up to big business'.  It could also force the Labour Party to cut its ties with 'big union' donors.  The lower the cap the greater will be the incentives for the political parties to create a diverse funding base made up of mass connections.

The emphasis must be on 'mass connections' rather than 'mass membership'.  The days of mass membership political parties are over.  The Conservative Party should lead the way in raising money for single-issue campaigns and individual candidates.  David Cameron could, for example, turn his campaign on climate change into a fundraising effort.  Other campaigns could be run on matters of concern to small businesses, churchgoers and sports enthusiasts. 

Liam Fox hinted that some compensation from the taxpayer might be necessary if a cap is introduced.  If such "compensation" is introduced it must be proportionate to a party's success in raising funds from small donors.  State funding should not be decided by insiders in the interests of incumbent politicians.

1.25 UPDATE: Iain Dale is unimpressed with the idea of a cap on donations:

"Tomorrow the Conservatives will outline plans to 'clean up' the system. One proposal will be to limit donations to a figure probably under £100,000. I look forward to hearing where they think they money will come from to make up the shortfall... I suppose symbolically it would be quite appealing for David Cameron to stand up and say "I am announcing today that the Conservative Party will no longer accept any donation of more than £100,000." He would be cheered by the electorate and it would reinforce his 'change' agenda... But on the other hand, think of the message this sends to those donors who have kept the Party afloat in the past through their generosity. If Michael Ashcroft had not been around during the Hague years the Party would have gone under. It's as simple as that."

Guido's take on this news notes the possible gains to the conservative movement of a cap:

"The effect of this will be that non-party organisations will get funding (as with political action committees in the U.S.). Effectively political funding will be diversified and less controlled centrally by the parties, this can only be a good thing. The situation where the Labour party is funded and controlled from within No. 10 is just unhealthy."

£23,000 monthly fee for David Cameron's guru

Today's Sunday Times reveals that David Cameron's top adviser Steve Hilton is receiving the equivalent of £276,000pa from Tory funds:

"The marketing genius behind David Cameron is being paid £23,000 a month by the party, the equivalent of a salary of £276,000 a year. Steve Hilton, a former employee of the advertising agency Saatchi & Saatchi, is an old friend of the Tory leader and gets a monthly fee as a consultant to the party.  However, party insiders insisted last night that the arrangement was “transitional” while he was freeing himself of his business interests and that he would soon be joining the regular payroll."

The Observer also has the story:

"Details of the payments to Hilton make him the highest paid adviser in the history of the Conservative Party, earning £150,000 more than Cameron himself and almost £100,000 more than the Prime Minister. Even when Alastair Campbell, the former Number 10 Head of Strategic Communications, was at his peak of his influence, he earned £131,000."

Mr Hilton has a long track record of working for the Conservative Party.  He is romantically involved with Rachel Whetstone, Michael Howard's former political secretary, and he devised the Demon Eyes negative advertising for the 1997 campaign.  Eyes will be flashing green - rather than red - as co-workers learn of his remuneration package.  All will undoubtedly be forgiven, however, if Mr Hilton helps to put David Cameron in Downing Street.

The Conservative Party has a track record of paying large sums to key advisers.  Michael Howard is thought to have paid Australian Lynton Crosby £250,000 for directing his 2005 election campaign.  The 2005 campaign was tarnished by a row over the fees paid to a firm owned by Lord Saatchi, then Tory Chairman.

Sleaze row leaves headline polls unchanged

An ICM poll for The Sunday Telegraph finds that 17% of people think that Labour is more sleazy than the John Major government.  Another 56% think it is as sleazy.  20% say that Tony Blair's Labour is less sleazy.

70% said that Gordon Brown becoming Prime Minister would make no difference  to the sleaziness of Labour.

By 47% to 23% people agreed that the Labour Party appeared to have been offering honours in return for loans.

These findings have not yet dented Labour's overall opinion poll rating, however.  The ICM poll for The Sunday Telegraph gives Labour a 37% to 33% lead.

There is slightly better news for David Cameron in The Sunday Times.  A YouGov survey gives the Conservatives a 38% to 35% lead over Labour. 

YouGov has Ming's LibDems at 19%; 2% lower than ICM.

YouGov found that the situation hardly changed if Gordon Brown was leader.  The Tories would move up to 39%, Labour to 37% and the LibDems down to 17%. 

The Sunday Times' survey also asked voters about sleaze and found very similar results to ICM.  53% of voters now regard Tony Blair as sleazy.  24% do not.

A CONSERVATIVEHOME TEN POINT BRIEFING ON DAVID CAMERON'S FIRST 100 DAYS CAN BE READ HERE.

Cameron the Alcopop

Earlier this week a Guardian/ICM focus group compared David Cameron to a BMW five series - swish and modern.  Today - in The Telegraph - it's an alcopop... The Tory leader is seen as "sweet and delicious, but with a potentially dangerous kick."

Other highlights from this morning's Telegraph interview:

• "The Tory leader refused to have a party to celebrate his first 100 days on Thursday; instead, he spent the night cooking supper for the family and watching television."
• "I have ditched some totems that gave people completely the wrong idea about the Conservative Party... We've already changed people's views a little bit. But obviously I haven't done enough about anything yet because I have only been doing this job for three months."
• On his grammar schools policy: "It was a completely outmoded debate - it stopped us from explaining how we were going to improve the education for the 93 per cent of children who don't go to grammar schools."

The interview is a typically Sylvester-Thomson affair - lots of insights into David Cameron's personality and not much on policy.  The most interesting thing said by Mr Cameron was probably this: "In life, I have always been more frightened of failing than I have of concentrating on trying to climb the next peak. It is always a great relief when something that could go wrong doesn't."  He made the remark in the context of his first (and very successful) PMQs.  Fear of failure is not necessarily the best quality you want, however, in a leader.  It could lead to excessive caution.  It would be foolish to read too much into a couple of sentences but it's certainly food for thought...

Tory deficit of £12m is covered by loans

A number of ConservativeHome visitors noted the absence of Tory MPs on the TV last week as Labour became engulfed in its loans-for-peerages scandal.  We all suspected that our party was hiding something and today's Times suggests that it was...

Last night on David Cameron's 101st day Michael Howard announced his decision to stand down at the next General Election.  Over the previous 100 days David Cameron has distanced himself from Michael Howard on immigration, tuition fees, tax and public service choice.  If today's Times is correct Mr Cameron needs to act quickly to distance himself from Mr Howard's fundraising record.  Andrew Pierce (who nearly always authors The Times' Tory funding stories), David Charter and Philip Webster write:

"The Tory party averted one of the most serious financial plights in its history by securing secret loans of at least £20 million from rich benefactors, The Times can disclose.  It dwarfs the £14 million in loans negotiated for the Labour Party by Lord Levy, Tony Blair’s fundraiser, and finally admitted by the party yesterday. The revelation of the Tory figure will cause embarrassment for David Cameron."

The way for Mr Cameron to get ahead of this issue is to clean the stables at CCHQ and outflank Labour.  Reports in The Telegraph suggest that he is about to:

"In an interview in The Daily Telegraph today, the Conservative leader says he is "unhappy" with the present system.  He wants election spending limits cut by 25 per cent, from £20 million to £15 million. This would significantly relieve the pressure on fund-raisers who have become increasingly reliant on wealthy individuals."

The Tory leader also expressed support for moving away from loans that do not have to be declared but he declined to commit the party to act unilaterally.  The party should act unilaterally for reasons of moral leadership and for its own good.  Donors are deliberately choosing to lend to the party - rather than to give - because they know that this maximises their leverage on the party.  This is leaving the party precariously balanced on the top of a mountain of debt.  David Cameron promises to stand up to big business but a few big donors hold the party's finances in the palm of their hands.

The Conservative Party will - it appears - come forward with more proposals on Monday.

Editor: "I hope Monday's proposals do not include a cut in total permissible election spending.  This might only increase the relative power of individual big donors.  There should instead be a limit of approximately £100,000pa on the amount that any one person can give.  Donors wanting to give more should invest in other forms of conservative infrastructure as they have done - to great effect - in America.  Political parties should be able to raise as much money as they can from diverse funding sources.  Only a maximum limit on individual annual donations will force Britain's political parties to invest in the kind of internet funding outreach that will produce a whole new kind of politics.  As the parties have to raise funds on the internet - and through other grassroots sources - they will have to reconnect with the concerns of ordinary voters.

My own guess is that state funding will come.  Conservatives should insist that such funding should only be released as a fixed proportion of the money that parties raise from private donors.  This will ensure that taxpayers' money goes to the parties that have most public confidence.  The worst thing would be for public funding to be decided by insiders and incumbents who would use state funding to protect their positions."

Michael Howard to stand down

CCHQ has just confirmed that Michael Howard will tell his Folkestone & Hythe Conservative Association that he will be stepping down at the next General Election as the local MP.  In a brief statement the Tory leader says:

"By the time of the next election I will have been a Member of Parliament for twenty six years.  I have been very privileged to serve as a Government Minister for twelve years and in the Shadow Cabinet for six years but the time has now come to move on."

Highlights of his career include...

• As Secretary of State for the Environment he had some responsibility for the community charge, oversight of water privatisation and led steps towards international action against global warming at the Rio summit.
• As Secretary of State for Employment he helped to negotiate John Major's opt-out from the Social Chapter at Maastricht.
• The prison works policy (for me his greatest achievement) which contributed to an 18%  reduction in crime - after years of remorseless increases.
• As Conservative leader his dog-whistle strategy led the Conservative Party to gains of more than 30 MPs at the 2005 General Election but may have reinforced the party's image as uncaring.
• In his last few months as Tory leader he was unsuccessful in his bid to strip members of their vote in the leadership election but he did position David Cameron to be his successor.

I am sure all ConservativeHome readers wish Michael and Sandra Howard a happy retirement from parliamentary life.

Not coming to a cinema near you...

William Norton - regular ConservativeHome contributor - has sent me the following...

A bumper crop of new films for you down at the cinema this weekend.  The vibrant state of this creative industry is a glowing testament to the brilliant work of our Culture Secretary, Tessa Jowell.

MY FARE, LADY
Heartwarming musical.  A man with a brilliant way with words promises to pass off anyone as a lord and lady once he's taught them how to say the right things - which turns out to be "To whom should I make out this cheque, Prime Minister?"

Starring: Rex Harrison as Tony Blair; 300 people you've never heard of as new peers.

CH verdict: the producers are singing all the way to the bank, and some of their junior staff will soon be singing to the Electoral Commission.

HOUSE A-LOAN
Slapstick comedy.  The grown-ups have gone away and left a mere child in charge of the country.  Some villains are trying to get into the House by forcing their way in with £10 million of soft loans.  Will Young Tony's moral fibre crumble and let him take the money?  Yes.

Starring: Macaulay Culkin as Tony Blair.

CH verdict: not as unbelievable as we would like.

EDUCATING RUTH
Biting social satire.  A young woman packs in being a hairdresser and tries to better herself as Secretary of State for Education & Skills.  Best scene: the dramatic part where the professor teaches her arithmetic - subtract 52 rebels from a majority of 66 leaves you in the pocket of the Tories.

Starring: Michael Caine as a very drunk professor; Julie Walters as the inexperienced newcomer.

CH verdict: yawn, but we'll be hearing a lot more of this one for months.

THE TREASURE OF THE SIERRA DROMEY
Tense film noir thriller.  The Treasurer of the Labour Party turns up at the office one day to discover £10 million of cash no-one's told him about.  Where did that come from, he wonders out loud in front of 417 journalists, and then proceeds to tell everybody what a nice man Gordon is.  Whose money is it?  Is anyone going to get out alive?

Starring: Humphrey Bogart as Jack Dromey; Lauren Bacall as Harriet Harman; Peter Lorre as Tony Blair; Sidney Greenstreet as John Prescott; Edward G Robinson as Gordon Brown; 782 people you've never heard of as Labour Party donors.

CH verdict: the surprise ending isn't actually a surprise.

GROUNDHOG DAY
45 million voters are still waking up thinking they're reliving the Major Government.

Starring Bill Murray as the hapless man who just can't make the weather anymore.

CH verdict: we told this one would run and run and run...

Brilliant stuff, William!

Do you know an effective poverty-fighting organisation?

Earlier this week ConservativeHome attempted to define social justice and in response to a posting by John Hayes MP there was a lot of visitor concern that the Tories might be embracing out-of-date perspectives in its use of the social justice term.

Perhaps the best way of understanding the idea of social justice is to look at the kind of poverty-fighting groups that the Centre for Social Justice awarded last year.  David Cameron is pictured presenting an award to the Shannon Trust.  The Shannon Trust recruits literate prisoners to mentor illiterate fellow prisoners in one-to-one teaching.  It is a highly effective programme that tackles one of the main things that stops offenders prospering when they leave prison.  Other groups awarded including a Bristol-based charity that helps build healthy marriages and a homelessness charity that helps people develop the skills they need to become independent of the state.  The CSJ Awards programme is non-partisan and Labour's Salford Council received an award last year.  Members of the judging panel include Frank Field MP and Theresa May MP.

The CSJ has now launched its 2006 Awards Programme and is looking for good poverty-fighting groups to apply for a share of a £25,000 prize fund.  If you know of a worthy organisation please tell them about the CSJ Awards by directing them to this pdf.  Applications must be received by 12th April.

Ken Clarke eyes coalition with the LibDems

Fraser Nelson is doing well at The Spectator.  His recent article on the growth of the state won lots of attention.  Last week he
won attention for his David Davis interview and this week's interview with Ken Clarke has also attracted some headlines.

All of the polls suggest that the Tories are a long way from winning a majority at the next election.  The Conservatives need to be up at 43% or 44% but are currently not much better than level-pegging with a besieged Labour Party.  The loans-for-peerages scandal may yet hurt Labour and the next few polls might make interesting reading.

Mr Clarke has looked at this electoral geography and thinks that the Tories should cosy up to the LibDems.  He likes the look of the Orange Book MPs - Vince Cable, David Laws and Nick Clegg.  "These people ought to be Tories," he says, and as for the LibDem leader - "Ming is an old Tory!".

Ken Clarke certainly thinks a LibDem-Tory pact will be the obvious partnership if a Prime Minister Brown loses his majority:

"‘If Brown fights an election that produces a hung parliament, the public will think his duty is to leave No. 10 and accept defeat and people will expect the Conservatives and Liberals to form a working government... The Liberals really would look as if they’d ignored the public’s message, either refusing to play ball with anybody or helping a defeated Labour party back into office. I’m glad to say the fates could condemn the Conservatives and the Liberals to form a coalition.’"

Tory and LibDem MPs were in different lobbies during this week's voting on Tony Blair's Education Bill but there are many other areas where Cameron's Conservatives  are close to Ming's LibDems.  ConservativeHome recently listed some of the shared perspectives:

• Opposition to Punch & Judy politics;
• Commitment to Kyoto - there is already a LibCon pact on global warming;
• Shared belief in decentralisation;
• Opposition to Tony Blair on ID cards and extension of detention without trial.

David Cameron chooses state schooling for his children

David Cameron has chosen state education for his children according to the London Evening Standard (above).  We already know that Mr Cameron is a great admirer of the care that the NHS has given to his son, Ivan and so Mr Cameron has passed Stephen Pollard's Clause IV test.  Back in August Mr Pollard wrote:

"It has been easy to characterise Conservatives as indifferent to public services when ministers in previous governments have gone out of their way to avoid using them, whether it is schools or hospitals. The next leader should pledge that, from day one of taking office as prime minister, where there is a choice between a public and a private service, his ministers will always use the public service."

Briefing on May's local elections

As I posted earlier I received a briefing on the forthcoming local elections from a senior Tory official on Tuesday as part of an effort by the party to include the blogosphere within 'the information circle'.  Listed below are some of the main points that emerged from the briefing and my own observations:

• This May's elections are the smallest set in the four year cycle in terms of the number of people entitled to vote.  There are no elections in Scotland or Wales.  They are mainly in English shire district councils (where 1,209 seats are being contested), English metropolitan district councils (815 seats) and London (1,861 seats).  Click the graphic on the right for an enlarged pictorial view of the contested councils.
• There are also elections for four directly-elected mayors; in Hackney, Newham, Watford and Lewisham.  James Cleverly, a ConservativeHome regular, is standing in Lewisham and click here for details of his launch party.
• Voting hours are being extended by two hours to 7am to 10pm - as in General Elections.  This may increase turnout and will delay the announcement of results.
• The Conservatives led in the 'national equivalent vote share' in each of the last times in which May 4th's seats were contested so the party is starting from a high base. 
• It hopes for the most advance in London where it currently holds 8 of 26 boroughs.  It hopes to remove Labour from the chairmanship of the Association of London Government.
• In Liverpool, Manchester and Newcastle - where the Tories hold no seats - expectations are low.  In many seats the Tories are actually in fourth place - behind independents and old Liberal candidates (as well as Labour and the LibDems).  The party hopes to reclaim second and third places in certain seats so that it has a more realistic chance of winning them in future elections.
• The LibDems are hoping to steal Solihull (where they won the General Election seat last year) and Richmond-upon-Thames (where we made spectacular gains four years ago) from the Tories.
• Top Tory targets are Bury, Coventry and Croydon.  Colin Rallings and Michael Thrasher - the respected local government watchers - say that 200 net councillor gains in London would indicate that the Conservatives were polling over 40% (the "minimum required for them to have even a chance of winning an overall Commons majority").

ConservativeHome hopes to cover the local elections closely.  It would be great if we could have regular reports from the canvassing frontline.   If you are out knocking on doors - of an evening or over a weekend - and would like to email thoughts to me please do.  It would be great to get doorstep observations...

...about David Cameron and Tony Blair...
...What national issues are coming up...
...and insights into the particularities of local campaigns...

If you want to sign up to file one report as part of a wider roster of nightly postings - in a similar way to people posted on the leadership hustings - please email [email protected].

CCHQ becomes blog-friendly

It's been a good week for Tory bloggers and the willingness of the Conservative Party to engage with us.   ToryRadio has formally launched with an interview with Party Vice-Chairman Grant Shapps.  Grant is responsible for e-campaigning so it was a good first interview for the man behind ToryRadio - the recently-married Jonathan Sheppard. 

Yesterday CCHQ gave ConservativeHome a scoop on Chishti - The Movie and this morning David Cameron has written exclusively for ConservativeHome about his first 100 days.  Earlier this week a senior official at CCHQ gave me a briefing on the forthcoming local elections (about which I intend to post very shortly).  It was the first of a number of outreach initiatives to bloggers and the wider 'Tory web community' organised by Francis Maude.  Some of the Tory Chairman's critics might like to remember that when they next vote in the ConservativeHome Members' Panel!  The US Republican and Democrat parties already organise regular briefings for online members of the conservative movement.

If you are a blogger or run a non-party website that engages with political issues and would like to be included in Francis Maude's blogger briefings please email me at [email protected].

ConservativeHome in the diaries

Two stories from Conservative- Home appear in today's newspaper diaries.  The Sun's Whip Diary mentions our story yesterday about Team Cameron all catching the flu.  The Daily Mail's Hardcastle column is topped with a quote from David Cameron's article on The Platform.

Labour's Enron moment

Some news stories are genuinely startling.  This morning's revelation that Jack Dromey, the Labour Party's own treasurer, did not know that his party had borrowed millions of pounds is one such story.  The fact that Mr Dromey has made his anger public is confirmation of the growing rebellion within the Labour movement against Blair and his style of leadership.

Nigel Evans MP, who following his pursuit of Tessa Jowell appears to have emerged as the leading Tory sleazebuster, provided the BBC with a prize quote:

"Even Enron would be amazed at hearing the sort of accounting practices that are going on within the Labour Party.  I have never known anything like it. It is quite staggering."

The Tory silence on this issue is not staggering but it is frustrating.  Backbenchers Nigel Evans and Quentin Davies should not have to carry all the political water on this issue.  The nature of party funding and the trading of peerages for cash stinks to high heaven.  The Conservative Party should take a stand on this issue.  It should say that hidden loans are unacceptable and that no party should receive more than £100,000 from any individual in any one year.  Both of those two measures would put flesh on David Cameron's pledge to stand up to big business.  It would also force all of Britain's political parties to democratise their funding base.  This doesn't have to happen tomorrow.  It could happen after a two to four year period in which the political parties could - with the help of the internet - develop a wider funding base.  See this post for more background on ConservativeHome's political funding campaign.

Education Bill jumps first hurdle

The first vote on the Education Bill was passed comfortably by 458 votes to 115.

Labour says 51 of its backbenchers rebelled, so it was the Conservative Party "wot won it" for Tony Blair.

There has been a lot of commentary about this Bill being the beginning of the end for Blair. His demise will quicken that little bit more if there is prolonged scrutiny after the second vote.

See the key points of the bill, and the key quotes from the debate for more info.

Deputy Editor

PMQs: Punch is back

Education: David Cameron invited Tony Blair to agree that any MP who believed in greater parental choice and more freedom from LEAs for schools should vote for today's Education Bill.  Tony Blair replied that the Bill would also restrict selection and give more power for LEAs to intervene in failing schools.  These measures, the PM suggested, explained why David Cameron was only imposing a two line whip on his own rebellious Conservative MPs.  The Tory leader suggested that the PM should concentrate on whipping Labour MPs and leave him to worry about Tory whipping arrangements.  The PM read three quotes in which Mr Cameron had previously encouraged speedy passage of the Education Bill.  Why was the Tory leader now intending to vote against the programme motion (which shortens debate)?  Because, DC replied, the Tories believe in parliamentary scrutiny - two words which the PM probably couldn't even spell.  Very Punch & Judy.

Jericho: Mr Cameron's first three questions had focused on the Jericho jail break and Britain's relationship with Hamas.  Tony Blair said that the British government respected the democratic legitimacy of Hamas but that it would have to behave peacefully and recognise Israel if it wanted substantial help from the UK or the EU.

Ming's moment: The LibDem leader asked about the Parliamentary Ombudsman's finding that DWP guidance on company pension schemes had been "inaccurate, incomplete, unclear and inconsistent".  The PM said that no responsible government could underwrite the massive financial risks that private citizens undertake with regard to their pensions.  Towards the end of PMQs another LibDem MP asked about pensions.  The grey leader's party will clearly be courting the grey vote.  Something for all of us to watch...

Backbencher of the day: Tory MP Quentin Davies.  Mr Davies invited the PM to act against the outrage that any donor could buy a peerage by giving substantial sums to a political party.  The PM didn't answer the question and said something irrelevant about everything being more transparent since 1997.

Chishti - The Movie

Labour's Recess Monkey may have first broken the story of Rehman Chishti's defection to the Conservative Party but ConservativeHome has Chishti - The Movie.  World exclusive!

The video shows Francis Maude's opponent-turned-adviser meeting David Cameron and explaining the reasons for his departure.

Mr Chishti was also interviewed on this morning's Today programme.  He cited Labour's glorification of terror measures and Tony Blair's failure to secure UN approval for the Iraq campaign as part of the reason for his defection.   

Tomorrow's 'scoop' will be an exclusive article from David Cameron.  The Conservative leader will be writing for ConservativeHome on his 100th day as party supremo.

Cameron's 99th day begins badly

The team around Cameron have invested life and soul in 'their Project'.  They are a tight knit team - similar in outlook, they eat together and in recent days they've even shared illnesses.  David Cameron was ill last Thursday.  Oliver Letwin was struck at the weekend.  Steve Hilton - the Project's architect - was off work with the same flu yesterday.  This morning's ICM opinion poll for The Guardian won't make easy reading over the fairtrade muesli and lemsips.

The 3% Labour lead takes the party back to its BC (Before Cameron) position.  As Stephan Shakespeare of YouGov argues - on YourPlatform - this is a leadership that takes opinion polls very seriously.  The ICM survey is only one poll, of course, but the party leadership is some way behind the lead that it had hoped the waves of positive publicity would produce.

But if the 99th day has started badly, David Cameron has high hopes that it will end more happily.  It looks increasingly likely that Tony Blair will need Tory votes in tonight's vote on the Education Bill.  That will be embarassing for the Prime Minister but not fatal.  The fact that it won't be fatal infuriates a minority of Tory MPs.  Their opinion is voiced by Simon Heffer in today's Telegraph:

"It is very hard to remove a sitting Prime Minister from office between elections, but Mr Blair has played a real high-wire game with this Bill. Were it to be defeated on second reading, it is hard to see how it could not have foreshortened his premiership, such is the general mood against him in his party."

Mr Heffer and other Tories think the top priority should have been to hasten Tony Blair's departure and to then begin the demolition of 'Prime Minister Gordon Brown'.  Team Cameron have chosen a more subtle path.  If that path doesn't produce better opinion poll ratings soon, the complaints will be that it is too subtle.

8.05AM UPDATE: The Sun has reacted angrily to news that the Tories will "reject a “timetable vote” that would ensure the Bill is law by May".  Its 'Sun Says' column says:

"“Principled” Tories are playing political games with kids’ schooling.  David Cameron will ride to Tony Blair’s rescue in tonight’s crunch vote on education.  But he is threatening to hobble the reforms as they go through Parliament.  The Tory leader had a clear choice.  He could have opposed the Bill from the outset as Mr Blair began caving in to Labour rebels.  Or he could have risked angering his own MPs by supporting it to the end.  By ducking and diving, he emerges with neither his integrity nor his courage intact."

Labour PPC joins the Conservative Party

The former Labour parliamentary candidate for Horsham, Rehman Chishti, has defected to the Conservatives. He stood against Francis Maude at the last election with a 3.1% swing against him. Francis said that:

“Rehman is an extremely able and respected politician, as I found out at first hand when he stood against me. I am delighted that someone with his energy and talent has joined the Conservative Party. I have appointed him as my adviser on diversity and ethnic minorities.”

In 2003 he was elected as a Labour Councillor in Medway Council, at the age of 24 years. Rehman was born in Pakistan and studied law in Aberystwyth where he was active in student politics. He was called to the bar in 2001 and has worked for some politicians, including Benazir Bhutto the former PM of Pakistan, and Helen Clark. In announcing his decision he said:

“I’m delighted to have joined the Conservative Party. Under David Cameron, the Conservatives provide hope and inspiration to the public at large who have become disillusioned with New Labour. Tony Blair’s Labour Party increasingly takes voters for granted and is out of touch with modern Britain.”

A Labour defection was rumoured over the weekend, and several people on this site registered their objection to whoever it was being parachuted into a safe seat. If he is treated well however, others may consider making the jump. This is excellent news for Cameron two days before his one hundredth day as leader, but there is more to do before we get MPs crossing the floor

Deputy Editor

David Cameron suggests higher pay for inner city teachers

David Cameron has this morning launched a Charter for Inner City Schools (a pdf of which is here).  The Charter includes a suggestion that schools in 'tough' areas should enjoy the freedom to pay higher salaries to ensure teacher recruitment and retention.  English language teaching, streaming and home-school contracts are also emphasised.

The proposals will be submitted to the Public Services Improvement Policy Group under Stephen Dorrell and Baroness Perry.  The publication of 'proposals' like this may be the way in which the party intends to deal with the policy vacuum between now and the 18 month reporting deadline for the policy groups.