ConservativeHome's ToryDiary

David Maclean's defence

The Hon. Member for Penrith and The Border has had a rough time over his FOI amendment but he may have soothed some critics by making it absolutely clear yesterday that MPs' expenses will continue to be published. Even so, it looks unlikely to get through the Lords now because of declared (albeit belated) opposition from David Cameron and Ed Balls, and the difficulty he is apparently having in finding a Peer to sponsor it.

David has sent us a copy of a memo sent to fellow MPs a few days ago, explaining his motives:

"Dear Colleague,

I am writing to brief you on my bill because you may have some constituents who have been misled by the distorted media comments on it which has not given the full picture of the safeguards we have decided on to ensure that information on Members expenses is published in the normal way.  Let me try to set the record straight.

First of all I did not wake up one morning and, on a whim, decide to make this amendment. I am honoured to serve on the House of Commons Commission, chaired by Mr Speaker and other members on it are Jack Straw, Sir Stuart Bell, Theresa May and Nick Harvey.  I have seen at first hand and in detail the operation of the FOI Act and been made aware by colleagues of the new problem which has arisen of third parties attempting, and in some cases succeeding in obtaining confidential letters written my MPs on behalf of constituents to public authorities.

Tory bicycles

The Party Chairman's Office have decided to stop paying for a dedicated driver as part of a shift in resources to more frontline political activity (two regional press officers could be hired with the money saved).

Francis Maude won't have to walk around Westminster, however, as CCHQ is going to buy several bikes for staff to nip to Parliament in. They will be customised with Conservative logos etc - very cool. Cycling is easily the best way to get around central London.

CCHQ will be announcing a summer membership recruitment drive later today.

Deputy Editor

K&C Tories join wider Conservative campaigning to save small shops

This morning's Telegraph reports that Conservative-controlled Kensington and Chelsea council will soon launch a campaign to protect its small shops.

The council will welcome a report today that recommends:

• A levy on large retail chains that will be used to support local, independent retailers;
• Restrictions on supermarkets' ability to sell fresh fish or meat if they are close to an independent butcher or fishmonger;
• New planning laws that stop local shops being converted into coffee shops like Starbucks.

London's Evening Standard has been running a Save our Small Shops campaign amidst growing concerns at the impact that Tesco Metro and other supermarket chains are having on corner shops.  David Cameron has backed that campaign, calling independent shops "the lifeblood of a local community".  Zac Goldsmith, Tory candidate in Richmond Park, has launched his own effort to stop a Sainsbury's opening in Barnes by organising a local referendum.

Blog winners 2007

Several bloggers have beaten us to announcing our own awards, but in our defence we were duty-bound to stay out until the hardcore bloggers finally went home!

The winners of the first Conservative blog awards, as voted by you, are:

Best Young Conservative Blog  -  Birmingham Uni CF 

Best Anonymous Blog  -  Archbishop Cranmer

Best Local Government Blog  -  Maida Vale Conservatives 

Best Newcomer Blog  -  PragueTory

Best Parliamentary Blog  - Nadine Dorries MP 

Best Conservative Blog  -  Iain Dale's Diary 

Unfortunately but understandably, Cranmer ("owing to the lack of a corporeal state") and PragueTory (due to being in Prague) couldn't be there in person but statements were read out on their behalf (see below).

Thanks to all who came and filled out the bar, as with the conservative movement awards last year there was a genuinely friendly and positive atmosphere. Nadine Dorries even thanked the Whips Office for their daily encouragement.

Conservative bloggers need to communicate with eachother if we are to stay ahead of the curve. ConservativeHome will continue to encourage such communication - you can start by joining the "Conservative Bloggers" group on Facebook.

Deputy Editor

Update: We've put together a short 4 minute video of some of things attendees said about blogging, blogs the awards and ConservativeHome. Featuring, amongst others, regular CH commenters malcolm and Justin Hinchcliffe...

ICM shows Tories down to 34%

A new ICM poll in tomorrow's Guardian suggests that the Tory lead is down to 2%. 

All I will say at this point is what I said on 15th May:

"It will be sometime after the autumn's party conference season before we can fully assess the impact of Gordon Brown on the political landscape.  Only then will opinion polls be free of the distortive effect of the Labour leadership election and voters will have started to get the measure of a Gordon Brown premiership."

The hypothetical Tory lead widens to 8% when Brown is named as Labour leader and Cameron as Conservative leader.

More in the morning.

No longer The Torygraph?

I've written for Comment is free about the difficult relationship between The Telegraph and the Tory leadership.  I argue that The Telegraph should still matter to the Tories:

"In the same way that Tony Blair pursued the endorsement of Rupert Murdoch and The Sun, David Cameron has devoted an enormous amount of energy to neutralising the traditional hostility of the BBC towards the Conservative Party. Keeping The Telegraph happy matters a lot less to Team Cameron than a good relationship with Nick Robinson et al. But the Telegraph-Tory relationship should still matter. The Telegraph remains the newspaper most widely read by the party's most active supporters although the blogosphere is already beginning to provide these supporters with faster, more comprehensive and interactive coverage of Tory news. In a close election The Telegraph would play a vital role in energising centre-right voters."

3pm update from The Guardian: Simon Heffer to stop being Telegraph Comment Editor.

PMQs

The first PMQs since it was confirmed that Gordon Brown would be elected unopposed was a subdued affair, perhaps recognising the pointlessness of asking questions to a Prime Minister who won't be there in two months time. At least the man who will have the power, Gordon Brown, turned up this time.

David Cameron's first subject: David Cameron took advantage of the long handover of power from Tony Blair to Gordon Brown by asking the "Prime Minister if he would advise the next Prime Minister" to reverse planned closures of maternity units. Tony Blair declined to do so. David Cameron then asked about the planned closure of accident and emergency units, again asking him what he would advise his successor to do. The Prime Minister again did not answer. 

David Cameron's second subject: David Cameron challenged Tony Blair on the last minute postponement of HIPS. Comparing the different answers on issues of substance given by Ruth Kelly and Yvette Cooper this week and last week David Cameron asked the Prime Minister if he would advise Gordon Brown to retain them. When Tony Blair insisted nothing was wrong Cameron said that "the walls of the bunker must be pretty thick".

Ming moment of the day: Ming Campbell asked the Prime Minister why he didn't seek a mandate for building new nuclear power stations in his 1997, 2001 and 2005 manifestos and why more money was not being invested in renewable energy.

Backbench question of the day: Simon Burns asked the Prime Minister about the link between dyslexia and crime. He said that a pilot project in Chelmsford Prison help was available to help prisoners with dyslexia but once they were outside no help was available.

Line of the day: Gordon Prentice got the biggest laugh when he asked Tony Blair about "out mutual friend the Chancellor"

Andrew Burkinshaw

Charles Walker MP calls for a strategy to defeat the far-left BNP

Noting that 342,000 people voted for the BNP on 3rd May, Charles Walker MP has written a short paper for the Cornerstone blog - issued today - that recommends that we do not allow political correctness to get in way of defeating Nick Griffin's party.

Mr Walker disputes the suggestion that the BNP has distanced itself from its "thuggish past":

"Those who dare criticise it will often find their names posted on websites such as Red Watch and Stormfront and become the subject of fevered online discussions between white supremacists. Indeed, the relationship between these ultra-fascist websites and the BNP is too overt to ignore and strongly suggests that the BNP continues to be the legitimate political wing of the 'skinhead' faction.  We need to make this connection in the minds of those self-professed 'decent' people who feel, in their words, 'forced' into voting for the BNP as a way of registering their frustration at the mainstream political parties."

The paper argues that "continued concern surrounding Islamic fundamentalism and the real or perceived unwillingness of the Government to talk sensibly about immigration and integration" feeds the BNP its political opportunities.

Mr Walker's paper contains a range of recommendations on housing and immigration policies.  It also argues for Conservatives to reat the BNP as a party of the left:

"Politically the Conservative Party should not shy away from positioning the BNP as another Party of the left operating in an increasing crowded space populated by Labour, the Liberal Democrats, Respect and the Greens. All of these parties favour high-levels of state intervention, big government and top down problem solving. As the allocation of its few council seats suggests, the BNP is not the natural home of Conservative-minded voters and the party must work and campaign to ensure that this remains the case."

Download a pdf of the full paper here.

Tonight's event

For those who have registered to attend the blog awards evening tonight, and haven't had a correction by email or on Facebook, the venue is now the upstairs bar at The Old Star rather than the Marquis of Granby. Click here for the map  - it is next to St. James's Park tube station, and very close to Westminster and Victoria.

It's a full house already but email me if you would like to come along. We'll be there from 6:30pm. The organised part of the evening, with Nadine Dorries MP announcing the winners for each award, will start at about 7pm. There's a decent-sized TV in this place so you can watch Liverpool win the Champions League afterwards if you so desire.

The winners will get a bottle of champagne on the night and a side-bar banner for their blog. We'll announce them to the rest of the world in the morning.

Deputy Editor

Back to the 'And theory' folks

I have written for The Telegraph this morning about the aftermath of the grammar schools row.  The article's messages will not be new to regular readers of this site but I'd like to quickly emphasise three themes:

David Cameron does have many policies that should energise more traditional Conservative voters.

1. Top of my own personal list would be his support for marriage and his whole emphasis on social responsibility.
2. Eurosceptics should look forward to the formation of a new grouping within the European Parliament - outside of the federalist EPP.  Yes, the pledge has been disappointingly delayed but alongside opposition to the social charter and the EU Constitution there's enough worth having.
3. Police reform.  Nick Herbert's reform agenda should make a big difference to the nation's ability to fight crime.
4. Within the home affairs brief there's also the promise to scrap ID cards, build more prisons, institute a dedicated borders security police force and appoint a minister dedicated to homeland security.
5. I share many activists' opposition to the grammar schools policy but the emphasis on 'grammar streams' in every school, more independence for City Academies and new freedoms for start-up schools are all very welcome.
6. Much greater independence for NHS professionals.
7. Some sort of English votes for English laws.
8. Tax simplification.
9. An opportunity to repeal the ban on hunting.
10. And my single favourite policy of all (within a not exhaustive list): the establishment of a website that would take much public sector job advertising away from The Guardian and put it online.  Sorry Mr Rusbridger.

I'm sure you can all think of other policies.

These policies do not have to conflict with the greener, gentler message of Project Cameron.

The site's core belief is the And theory of Conservatism.   It's perfectly possible to combine a belief in controlled immigration with a generous and passionate commitment to the third world.  Support for traditional marriage as a way to stronger communities and respect for gay couples to enjoy fairness in matters of property, inheritance and tax affairs are perfectly compatible.  'And theory Conservatives' can argue for higher defence spending and an end to arms sales to despotic regimes.

But these policies do have to be sold.

David Cameron is doing a fantastic job at selling the kinder, gentler Conservatism to centre ground voters.  That's why we did so well in winning LibDem council seats on 3rd May.  But he needs help in keeping the base happy.  He needs David Davis and Liam Fox to do on the right what William Whitelaw did for Margaret Thatcher on the left.  Davis and Fox need to be charged with keeping the base energised and the centre right newspapers on side.

Government delays introduction of Home Information Packs

The government has climbed down on HIPs.  A huge victory for Michael Gove's energetic campaign against them.

MICHAEL GOVE MP'S STATEMENT TO THE HOUSE

"Can I thank the minister for sight of her announcement which I received just 25 minutes before hand?  Clearly this has been a day for doing everything at the last minute.  Can I ask why, after being warned over a year ago that they were comprehensively mishandling this issue Ministers have seen fit to retreat only now – with eight days to go before Home Information Packs were due to be implemented?  Why didn’t ministers take the opportunity we offered last week to think again? Was it stubborn vanity, or sheer incompetence?

The Secretary of State may argue that this humiliating climbdown was precipitated by the Judgement issued in the High Court Today. But that begs the question which goes to the heart of this matter.  Why did ministers press ahead with a scheme which everyone who knows anything about the housing market was telling them was flawed at the heart?

School choice and academic selection can go together

In their latest bulletin Reform argue that the education system in the Netherlands show that school choice and academic selection can go together.

In the Netherlands children are assessed either through a test or by teacher assessment. Just over 20% are then taught in a separate, academically orientated institution, about 3% are taught in vocationally orientated institution, while the majority go to a school that offer both academic and vocational courses.

It is this breadth that makes the Dutch system so admired. In 2004 55% of children took vocational courses from the age of 15, a sharp contrast with the UK.

There is also considerable diversity of provision. Two thirds of secondary schools in the Netherlands are run by independent organisations and are funded by the taxpayer through parental choice.

As they look to the Netherlands David Cameron and David Willetts are right to recognise the benefits of school choice, but they must not ignore the academic selection which is central to the success of Dutch education.

To read Professor James Tooley's paper for Reform on school choice in the Netherlands and to read of their other education policies please click here.

Andrew Burkinshaw

Time to turn the screw on Iran

David Cameron held another press conference in the St Stephen's Club today. Joined by William Hague he outlined a number of measures Britain should advocate against Iran for its non-compliance over the ongoing nuclear programme.

Measures the UN Security Council should institute:

• a travel ban on anyone involved in Iran's nuclear and ballistic missile programmes, and on leaders of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps
• blacklisting of Bank Saderat (used by Iran to transfer money to terrorists) and a ban on trade with IRGC companies
• ban on the selling of arms and technical assistance to Iran's military
• discouraging, but not legislating against, investment in Iran's energy sector and restricting the sale of oil and gas related technology

Additional steps the EU should take:

• progressively restricting export credit guarantees to Iran, and European investment in Iranian oil and gas fields
• restricting access of Iranian banks to the European financial system
• travel ban and assets freeze on members of the IRGC
• ban on new or extended loans to Iranian state-owned enterprises

They also believe the EU should show that it is willing to pursue economic and diplomatic sanctions, that are benchmarked by Iranian compliance. See our video clip of Cameron's introductory speech below:

The press Q&A session was again dominated by grammar schools amongst other issues. I asked Cameron how Britain should respond to Iran's role in the killing of British troops in southern Iraq, through their backing of Shia militias. He didn't get into specifics, just saying that Iran's role in regional instability heightened the need for action over the nuclear programme.

Deputy Editor

Related link: John Bolton - use force to prevent a nuclear Iran

Conservative Lords to vote against FOI Amendment

David Cameron said at a press conference 30 minutes ago that he had spoken to Lord Strathclyde about stopping the progress of David Maclean's Freedom of Information amendment in the Lords.

In a response to a question from the BBC's James Lansdale that picked up on his personal opposition to the bill, he said he understood concerns about confidentiality of correspondence with constituents but that it was now not just a Commons issue as MPs were seen to be getting special treatment.

Labour and the Conservatives were officially neutral at the Commons' third reading of the massively unpopular legislation, which resulted in some good coverage for the LibDems. Ming Campbell emailed his e-supporters to announce the launch of a website/petition on the issue attacking both parties:

"I am shocked that the Labour and Conservative front benches in the Commons have joined forces to vote for a special exemption for MPs from the Freedom of Information Act. This brings Parliament into disrepute."

...15 minutes ago. Oops! It's good to be on the right side of this issue now.

Deputy Editor

See this video of his comments shot by ConservativeHome:

The Tory grassroots have acquired a new confidence during the grammar schools row

David Cameron has just been on the Today programme to defend the party's education policies.  He said that the policy change on grammar schools was not politically motivated but was part of his determination to ensure that the party focused on raising educational standards for every child.  He repeated his insistence that it was "delusional" to believe that a large number of extra grammar schools could be created and sustained.  Citing the experience of Sweden and Holland the Conservative leader said that he wanted parents to choose schools for their children and not schools choose children.  He also set out his thinking on education in an op-ed piece for this morning's Times.

During the interview there was a slightly testy exchange about the large number of privately-educated people who sit around the Conservative Party's top table.  David Cameron insisted that he was working hard to build a much more representative party by encouraging women and people from black and ethnic minority communities to become Tory candidates.

Radio 4's John Humphrys asked David Cameron about ConservativeHome.com's finding that 73% of Tory members opposed the Tory policy on grammar schools.  Mr Cameron said that he would not follow the party but lead it.  You can hear my own 7.16am interview on the Today programme by visiting the Listen Again page.  As I said during that interview I believe the last few days have been very important for the Conservative blogosphere.  The opinion of the grassroots Tories who work so hard for our party's success can no longer be ignored because of discussion fora like this.  I'm grateful to shadow cabinet ministers like David Willetts (yesterday), Alan Duncan (today) and Theresa May (last week) who understand that and are enthusiastic about engaging with you through this site.  We're currently planning how to respond to the findings of the policy review process as they are unveiled throughout the summer.  A mixture of comment threads and online votes will be held to ensure that Oliver Letwin and the party leadership get a sense of your reaction to recommendations by the policy groups.  How ConservativeHome does this will be supervised by the new accountability board that we announced yesterday.  It's absolutely true that David Cameron is the leader of our party and deserves loyalty.  But the current leadership doesn't own the party - the members have a massive stake in it, too.  As we get closer to the election there must be less and less debate and more focus on the need to get rid of Gordon Brown but with the policy review process still underway the internet provides the grassroots with more power than we have ever enjoyed.  We must use that power.

David Cameron and William Hague are holding a press conference this morning on Iran.  Sam Coates will be there for ConservativeHome and will be filing a report later.

A more accountable ConservativeHome

It's been a very busy few days for ConservativeHome and the site has become further established as the leading place where Tory supporters come together to receive Conservative news and to debate the direction of the party.

As ConservativeHome continues to grow Sam Coates and I are conscious of the need to ensure that we are fair to all of the people in the party whose policies and reputations we discuss.  Comment moderation on parts of the site is one of the protections we offer but we need to do much more.  This is particularly important as the site expands. 

In the next few days we'll be unveiling plans to cover local government on a daily basis and we then hope to introduce a daily report from Parliament.  These are all steps towards our long-term aim of providing the most comprehensive and interactive coverage of the Conservative Party and conservatism.

We are setting up a seven person board to oversee ConservativeHome.  The board, to be chaired by Stephan Shakespeare, will have three main functions:

1. To represent MPs, candidates or other individuals who have a complaint about ConservativeHome.  The board will have the power to publish its investigation into the complaint - however critical it is of the ConservativeHome team.
2. To ensure that ConservativeHome products such as the monthly survey of members are conducted with professional integrity.
3. To advise on the editorial direction of the site.

Three of the board members will be appointees of the editorial team but will, we hope, be sufficiently well known that they will be respected.  Three of the board members will be elected by ConservativeHome readers.  You might like to be one of those board members and please get in touch if you are interested.  Stephan will be the seventh member.

Please use this thread to discuss how you think this proposal would work best.

Stopping grassroots-leadership tensions going nuclear

A little earlier I posted an overview of this morning's Cameron press conference.  I asked one question myself - on nuclear power.  The ConservativeHome Members' Panel suggests that you love nuclear power stations almost as much as grammar schools!  I asked David Cameron how he planned to avoid another grassroots-leadership row when Gordon Brown makes it clear that he's backing nuclear power.  My question at least produced the biggest laugh of the press conference... Please watch David Cameron's answer below.

David Cameron's press conference

In opening remarks the Conservative leader, standing near a large picture of Winston Churchill, focused on the Blair-Brown transition and the NHS.

He said that Gordon Brown's "non-election tour" was bad for Britain.  Given that the "Prime Minister non-elect" was not going to face a challenge he should become Prime Minister immediately.  The circumstances had changed since the Labour Party had chosen a seven week leadership campaign and now Tony Blair's departure date should change, too.  It was "bad for Britain" that lame duck ministers like Patricia Hewitt were staying in position while the NHS was facing such difficult circumstances.  It was a farce he said that Tony Blair - because of vanity - would be representing Britain at global summits when all other leaders really wanted to sit down and get the measure of Gordon Brown.

Standing alongside Shadow Health Secretary Andrew Lansley he went on to propose a seven point emergency plan for the NHS:

1. An immediate end to the closures of A&E and maternity services that were being driven by short-term financial considerations rather than long-term clinical considerations;
2. More training posts for junior doctors;
3. An independent review of the NHS supercomputer debacle;
4. Re-engagement of GPs with the Department of Health for discussing the future of contracts;
5. Abolish central targets that undermine the professionalism of frontline doctors;
6. A new fairer funding mechanism that recognises the distribution of disease and clinical need;
7. Acceptance of House of Lords amendments to the Mental Health Bill.

Then the questions from the press started and 13 of 17 were about education and grammar schools, in particular.  Nothing much new was learnt with Mr Cameron continuing to insist that the debate was "pointless".  He slightly dodged a question from Nick Robinson in which the BBC Political Editor asked if any frontbencher had threatened to resign.  Mr Cameron replied by saying that no shadow cabinet member had threatened to quit.  He also said that he had not spoken to Michael Howard since the beginning of the row.

Other interesting answers to questions:

• There were no plans to restore the assisted places scheme;
• He would be visiting America soon but had no plans to visit President Bush - it was better that Britain was America's best friend (and was candid) rather than acting like America newest friend (and too eager to ingratiate itself);
• He personally opposed the David MacLean bill.

David Cameron's performance was flawless - perfectly articulate and controlled.

Ed Vaizey: The Cutty Sark will rise again

"This is an appalling event.  The destruction of one of London's - and the nation's - favourite treasures is a cause of huge sadness.  I am sure this will remind us all how much we value our heritage and the sorrow we feel when it is lost.   I am sure that the trustees will do all they can to restore this magnificent ship, and I hope the Government will actively support them in their work.  The Cutty Sark will rise again."

- Culture, Media and Sport spokesman Ed Vaizey MP on the heart-breaking news from Greenwich.

Labour minister wants 'Britons first' in housing queue

Margaret Hodge is all over the newspapers this morning for saying that new migrants should go to the back of the housing queue.  As reported in today's Sun she calls for a new points system to decide access to social housing.  A person's access to a council home would then depend upon their place of birth, length of residence and their national insurance contributions.  Labour MP Keith Vaz attacked Ms Hodge on this morning's Today programme for feeding the fantasies of the far Right that immigrants receive unfair access to social amenities.  For Tory immigration spokesman Damian Green, her remarks are an admission of Labour's failure on borders control:

"Margaret Hodge is admitting the long term failure of this Government to control immigration. This is why Conservatives are calling for an explicit annual limit on the numbers coming here from outside the EU so that we can avoid exactly the sort of problems she is talking about."

The Sun Says gives a "welcome" to Margaret Hodge's intervention:

"Letting immigration run riot only plays into the hands of extremists — as well as placing an intolerable burden on the forces of law and order already hamstrung by political correctness and red tape."

Day six of the grammar schools row

A shadow cabinet minister told me last night that the party leadership was winning the battle over grammar schools. If today's newspapers are victory I'd hate to see defeat. Page two of the Daily Mail warns that "Top Tories" are about to quit (they're always "Top" when they are caught in bed with an unexpected somebody or are criticising the leadership) and page one of The Telegraph describes grammargate as Cameron's "greatest test".  Even Cameron loyalist Bruce Anderson (who otherwise recycles a CCHQ press release for his column in today's Independent) regrets the "poor tactics" of recent days.

Here are a few random observations about the last few days - in no particular order:

It's not just the right who are unhappy...  When ultra-loyalist Michael Howard is unhappy (you read it here first) with his protege this whole business cannot be lightly ignored.  It wasn't just the usual suspects (Cornerstone) who criticised the Tory leadership at last week's 1922 meeting.  Every wing of the party was concerned.  I've certainly had every wing of the parliamentary party on the phone to me over the weekend.  Some are more concerned about a lack of crisis management than the underlying policy but concern is widespread.

...but the Tory right is very unhappy.  I'm still struggling to understand why the reannouncement of an existing policy (no more grammar schools) caused quite the reaction it did but it's beyond dispute that it did.  The fact that it led the news bulletin on last Wednesday's Today programme might have been enough to induce cornflakes-choking but my guess is that Melanie Phillips gets closest to an explanation in her Mail column.  "The Tories," she steams, "have put up silently with his husky trips to the Norwegian glaciers, havering over the health service and hugging of hoodies but this is a repositioning too far."  Failure to quit the EPP on schedule, the Toynbee affair and the promise of green taxes on air travel probably did more to prepare the way for this moment but there is a last straw character to the anger on the Tory right.   Dissension will be much more public from now on if core Tory beliefs continue to be sacrified in pursuit of approval from the BBC.  The whips office aren't helping things either by trying to pull 'realo' members of the Cornerstone Group away from the 'fundi' members.  Team McLoughlin's hamfisted tactics are only increasing resentments.

Cameron needs to be more patient in responding to critics' concerns.  It was unhelpful for the Conservative leader to dismiss this row as "pointless", attack The Telegraph and then set up straw men arguments to demolish in yesterday's Mail on Sunday article.  If he wants good and long-term relations with the right-of-centre press and his colleagues he needs to be more conciliatory.  David Willetts' whole approach to this affair has been much more mature.  He's patiently answered numerous interviewers' questions and on ConservativeHome's interviews channel is today promising to answer your toughest questions.

Where are David Davis and Liam Fox?  There are suggestions that the shadow cabinet didn't approve of last week's announcement.  The shadow cabinet may have the right to be concerned at "poor tactics" but they cannot complain about the fundamental policy.  Collective responsibility means that they should be on the airwaves helping to defend the leader when he's facing controversy.  David Cameron desperately needs Davis or Fox to become his Whitelaw - keeping the right onside as he reaches out to the centre.  He also needs to appoint someone to repair relations with The Telegraph that have deteriorated sharply again after some improvement.  Janet Daley's talk today of the "juvenile idiots who advise" David Cameron and of a new Conservatism defined by "patrician condescension" should be ringing alarm bells.  For years Janet has been the most loyal of Conservatives but today her attack on the party is well OTT.  CCHQ needs to be understanding why and putting it right.  ConservativeHome will be making its own ten point case for David Cameron tomorrow.

Strengthen the press operation.  Too many rows have got out of control.  Hug-a-hoodie.  Green taxes.  Polly Toynbee.  Now grammarsgate.  As recommended last December - David Cameron needs a stronger press operation.  George Eustice is great but he has less resources than his predecessors and we're closer to returning to Government than for a long time.

We do have good education policies.  They were drowned by the criticism of grammar schools but as this post noted - the party does have some very good policies on education.

Thank God for Gordon Brown.  It's important that we don't get things out of perspective.  The party has just enjoyed very good local election results and the Labour Party is about to replace their most successful ever leader with Gordon Brown.  The Chancellor's cliche-laden and wooden performances since launching his leadership operation should be deeply worrying to all Labour MPs with marginal seats.  Project Cameron will emerge stronger from all of this if Team Cameron is humble enough to learn the lessons of the last few days.

I'll be attending this morning's Cameron press conference and will report again straight afterwards.  The Conservative leader will want to develop his critique of Tony Blair's loooong goodbye but the press will have other topics on their minds...

More Labour propaganda at your expense

I had to visit my local GP on Friday afternoon and noticed the waiting room had four piles of a leaflet summarising the 2007 Budget.  Published by the Treasury it was little more than propaganda at the taxpayers' expense.  A few snippets from the leaflet will give you the gist:

• "The Government's economic reforms have continued to help the UK maintain macroeconomic stability";
• "Inflation is set to remain low and stable";
• "The public finances remain sound";
• "[The Government] is creating a modern and fair tax system";
• "Since 1997, the New Deal has helped over 858,000 young people into jobs, and helped to provide greater employment opportunity for people who find it harder to obtain jobs" (Hello?!);
• "High quality public services";
• "The Government is determined to secure value for money for the taxpayer".

You can read the full leaflet here but there's something very wrong about our taxes being used to fund soft Labour propaganda.  The game is given away at the end of the leaflet when it refers to changes made since 1997.  The leaflet is making points that have everything to do with the electoral cycle and very little to do with the business cycle.

Two interesting graphs on total state spending and taxation do appear at the end of the leaflet (click on either of the images below to enlarge).

Related link: Livingstone's propaganda on the rates

Cameron wants 'grammar streams' in every school

David Cameron has written for the Mail on Sunday about grammar schools.  The full article is on conservatives.com but here are a few key extracts and ConservativeHome responses:

"In eighteen years of Conservative Government, neither Margaret Thatcher nor John Major created grammar schools. That's why Conservative MPs and candidates in areas without grammar schools do not campaign for them to be brought back."

> True, Mr Cameron but John Major's 1997 manifesto promised a grammar school for every town. By then the Tory leadership had understood we needed a return to excellence in our schools.  Michael Howard, a long-time member of the 1979 to 1997 governments and with successful grammars in his county of Kent, certainly still supports these schools and we are sorry that your office chose to silence him.

"Far from being some winning slogan, a pledge to build more grammar schools would be an electoral albatross."

> Really?  A YouGov poll for The Daily Telegraph found that 49% of voters supported a larger number of grammar schools.  70% of Tories are in support.

"This is a key test for our Party. Does it want to be a serious force for government and change, or does it want to be a right-wing debating society muttering about what might have been?"

> This is unworthy of you, Mr Cameron.  On Thursday we published your list of other education policies and welcomed them.  Of course it's right that a one nation Conservative government will enact reforms that benefit the many, not the few but that does not mean the party has to rule out new grammar schools.  There is something very Henry Ford about your Mail on Sunday article trumpeting the Tory policy that says "any individual, company, charity, church, community group, teacher or parent co-operative who wants to set up and run a school - providing they meet certain minimal standards - will be able to" whilst saying that that school can be any school but not a grammar school.

"We need to create more good school places rather than argue abut how to divide up the ones we have. The fact is, we don't have enough and we need more. How do we do it? Not by dividing existing schools up into a thousand grammar schools and two thousand secondary moderns."

> This is a straw man argument.  Who exactly is arguing in favour of the centralised state deciding that 1,000 schools should become grammars?  Mainstream Conservatives are simply saying that a few more should we welcomed if that is what local parents want.

"Today, because of the way that league tables and inspections work, there is far too much teaching to the test and teaching to get children from D to C instead of stretching the brightest to get A and A star. That's why we will reform the curriculum, exams and testing, and that's why we want to see aggressive setting by ability - in effect, a 'grammar stream' in every subject, in every school."

> Good stuff.  We can end on a point of agreement.

Postscript: The BBC often fails to ask 'right-wing questions' of Conservative politicians - defaulting instead to attacking from the left - but Andrew Marr was excellent on Sunday AM this morning.  Interviewing David Willetts he championed the anger of the Conservative grassroots and noted that the only support for the new Tory position was coming from left-wing commentators.  David Willetts did finish his interview on a high note by revealing that he opposed David Maclean's attempt to exempt MPs from key Freedom of Information requirements. Mr Maclean got a nasty comeuppance on page one of the Mail on Sunday: One wife, two mistresses... and a quad bike on Commons expenses.

Melissa Kite won't be the last journalist to be scrutinised by the blogs

Two weeks ago The Sunday Telegraph's Melissa Kite wrote a highly speculative piece about a shadow cabinet reshuffle.  Fox was to be sacked, Hague to be demoted and David Ruffley would enjoy a massive promotion.  ConservativeHome covered it here.  Iain Dale fisked it here.  Alan Duncan MP rightly dismissed it as shoddy journalism here. 

Ms Kite has authored a piece for today's Sunday Telegraph about the whole business.  Rather than defending her original article today she continues the mudthrowing tactic that she adopted last week in a post for The Spectator's new blog.  In that post she blamed the criticism of her article on misogyny and the Christian right.  (Note to Melissa: Alan Duncan is not a member of the Christian right).

I have no regrets about ConservativeHome's two postings on this affair.  Despite all of Ms Kite's mudthrowing there is only one dominant issue here: Journalists can no longer write speculative pieces for Sunday or other newspapers and expect no scrutiny.  Before the blogosphere people that might have been injured by the pen of Ms Kite and her colleagues could, perhaps, hope that the offending newspaper might publish a letter of correction in a subsequent edition.  Now the scrutiny of lazy journalism is fast and sometimes too furious.  I say "sometimes too furious" because Ms Kite is right to complain about the nastiness of some of the comments that appear on some blogs.  I would say, however, that the comment threads of her own Telegraph and of other major newspapers can also be nasty and I would defend ConservativeHome by noting that our comments policy means hateful and personal comments are usually deleted and result in a IP ban for their originator.  Ms Kite's tactic of quoting blog comments from one permissive blog and trying to smear all Tory blogs is consistent with her behaviour from day one of this little exercise.  She is a journalist who is hating being held accountable.

There is a real need for the still-young-blogosphere to grow up (and tomorrow ConservativeHome will be announcing an initiative to help this site to be a trusted publisher) but there is also a need for Ms Kite to grow up.  Time will prove that Melissa Kite's 6th May piece was "shoddy".  Journalists who have long held politicians to account can now expect much more scrutiny themselves.  Ms Kite's noisy response to the Tory blogs won't change that.

And, Ms Kite, as for your claim that "Tory blogging is close to death" -  ConservativeHome is set for our busiest ever month.

Women to remain half-members at the Carlton Club

The self-described "oldest, most elite, and most important of all Conservative clubs" will retain its membership rules after modernisers didn't get enough votes to reform them.

Led by current Chairman Lord Cope of Berkeley, who is also the Conservatives' Chief Whip in the Lords, most votes were in favour of the change but they didn't quite reach the two-thirds majority needed to effect it.

The result will frustrate David Cameron's team who have been pushing for more female representation throughout the party, but they were smart enough not to back the failed motion as publicly as Hague did in 2000. Cameron does of course frequent Whites club just down the road which completely excludes women.

The Carlton Club hasn't always been "men only", the woman who many of you believe to be the greatest living Briton began the erosion of its tradition by earning membership ex officio of her job.

Deputy Editor