ConservativeHome's ToryDiary

Soldiers in Afghanistan and Iraq get smaller bonuses than MoD bureaucrats

Questions from Theresa May MP have exposed the fact that 181 Ministry of Defence civil servants received average bonuses of £6,511 but servicemen in Iraq and Afghanistan only received operational bonuses of £2,240 on average.

The Shadow Leader of the House of Commons told The Sun:

"At a time when our troops are up against equipment shortages and face personnel cutbacks, these bonuses for bureaucrats beggar belief.  Our service men and women do their jobs with great skill and bravery and fight for our freedom. They deserve better.”

Theresa May begins a weekly column for ConservativeHome this coming Friday.

'Parent power' is crucial to ending educational failure

Yesterday we had the Social Justice Policy Group's proposals on debt.  Tomorrow the focus will shift to drug and alcohol addiction before culminating at the start of next week with policy ideas for the voluntary sector and for the family.

At the heart of the SJPG's educational recommendations is the idea that "parents are primarily responsible for ensuring their children work hard, behave well and attend school."  A YouGov poll for the SJPG finds that 79% of Britons are in agreement with that contention.

With this idea at its core the SJPG recommends:

• A new wave of 'Pioneer Schools' set up and run by parents and charities but funded by the taxpayer at £5,500 per pupil, per year.  The idea is inspired by the US charter schools movement - a model of supply-side revolution that the party leadership has already indicated it is interested in embracing.  Pioneer schools would be free of local authority control and enjoy charitable status. They would have freedom to set their own pay rates and should, the report says, be helped in this freedom by receiving premium rate funding from a special fund earmarked for attracting quality teachers to disadvantaged communities.  There would be minimum bureaucracy associated with 'Pioneer Schools' - in contrast, the report argues, with the Government's City Academies process.
• A system of compulsory home-school charters would underline parental responsibilities and there would be Be A Credit To Your Child courses to help parents understand how they can help their child succeed at school.
• New tax breaks to encourage businesses to invest in schools.

The new frontbench

After all the speculation and gossip the frontbench has finally been confirmed:

TREASURY - George Osborne

Philip Hammond
David Gauke
Mark Hoban
Justine Greening

HOME AFFAIRS - David Davis

David Ruffley
Damian Green
James Brokenshire
Andrew Rosindell

FOREIGN AFFAIRS - William Hague

David Lidington (can attend Shadow Cabinet)
Mark Francois
Keith Simpson

Click continue to see the full list....

The Three Chairmen

Monday's reshuffle saw Caroline Spelman become Party Chairman but it also saw many of the powers traditionally associated with her office given to George Osborne.  David Cameron has given the man who successfully chaired his 2005 leadership campaign the oversight of General Election planning.  George Osborne's personal and professional closeness to the Tory leader will mean that the two men will make many of the big strategic decisions on major campaign themes and tactics - along with key political advisers Steve Hilton and Andy Coulson (who begins work on Monday).

But if many of the Chairman's traditional roles have been transferred to the Shadow Chancellor, Caroline Spelman will also have a formidable new power working alongside her at the Millbank headquarters of the party.  Lord Ashcroft, who will retain his Deputy Chairman title, will oversee an enlarged team at Central Office that will oversee the party's target seats campaign, party agents, the William Hague-led efforts to rebuild the party in the north and opinion research.  Lord Ashcroft will bring his own staff into CCHQ - including Stephen Gilbert, Gavin Barwell and Kevin Culwick and the existing CCHQ staffers working within the areas of his responsibility will start reporting directly to him.  Michael Ashcroft will be at least as powerful as when he was Treasurer during William Hague's leadership and when the party was heavily in debt.

The other major function at Central Office - fundraising - will partly be Caroline Spelman's responsibility but Party Treasurer Michael Spencer works directly with the leader on most big donor issues.

A few thoughts on this:

• This is Francis Maude's work.  His final act as Chairman.
• Michael Ashcroft and his coterie of modernisers re-emerge as a very powerful force in the party.  Some will welcome this.  Others won't.
• Having all operations under one roof is better than having a freelance campaigns operation of the kind that Lord Ashcroft ran before the last General Election.  LA believed that his money could be better spent if he had control of it.  As successful as his freelancing was, it was not fully coordinated with the centre.
• The Two Chairmans experiment (Liam Fox and Maurice Saatchi) ran by Michael Howard was not a great success.  The dangers associated with having effectively three Chairmen will need to be avoided.

The mugs are on their way!

Attached to notes apologising for the delay in sending them out - ConservativeHome mugs were today mailed out to all those who had donated the requisite £35.  If you'd like a mug please make a donation here and we'll post one tomorrow (you can see that we have quite a number).  If you have made a donation and don't receive anything by Monday please email us in case our list of donors was incomplete.

The 2005 intake feature prominently in junior appointments to frontbench

We don't have a full list yet but here are some early highlights:

• Adam Afriyie, will join David Willetts' innovation, universities and skills team;
• David Burrowes, a solicitor by background, will work with Nick Herbert at Justice;
• Justine Greening joins the Treasury team;
• Mike Penning to Health; and
• Ben Wallace joins the Scottish team.

These five new frontbenchers are pictured below (alphabetically from left to right):

Five 2005ers join the whips' office: Richard Benyon, Nick Hurd, Brooks Newmark, Stewart Jackson and Jeremy Wright.

The most interesting appointment I have heard so far is of Paul Goodman MP to work alongside Sayeeda Warsi in the communities portfolio.  Paul wrote an article about Islamism for ConservativeHome at the start of the year.  It's one of the best pieces we have ever published.  The development of the Goodman-Warsi partnership will be interesting to watch.

More later.

Cameron encourages more responsibility from music industry

In a speech to the British Phonographic Industry last night, David Cameron promised action against copyright theft and to extend the copyright term to seventy years.  In return he urged the industry to be more socially responsible in its output.  He asked his audience a series of questions:

"Does music help create, rather than just reflect, a culture?

Yes.

Is some music, are some lyrics, are some videos and are some artists, helping to create a culture in which an anti-learning culture, truancy, knifes, violence, guns, misogyny are glorified?

Yes.

Can we see the effects of this on our young people, in our schools and on our streets?

Yes.

Do we think we can combat this culture by government policies, policing and criminal justice alone?

No."

Two hundred policy ideas to convert breakdown to breakthrough

These have been a tough six weeks for Tories but today's PMQs and yesterday's statement on the Constitution show the vulnerability of Gordon Brown.  Over the next few days the Tory fightback will begin in earnest.  The policy review process will start to accelerate and, as just reported on BBC1's Ten'o'clock news, the social justice policy group will present two hundred policy ideas to convert Breakdown Britain to Breakthrough Britain.

Some will approve of the report's contents because it promises to mend a broken society and to provide hope to people with none.  Others will see it as a route map to reducing the massive economic cost of social breakdown.

The social policy group has calculated that the headline cost of social breakdown is £102bn every year:

• £18bn because of educational underachievement
• £24bn due to family breakdown and
• £60bn because of crime.

It's worth noting that the cost to society of family breakdown is estimated to amount to 40% of the cost of crime. Whilst on the face of it crime is much easier for the state to tackle than broken families, it is worth considering the huge disparity in resources devoted to the two problems.

Tory reshuffle (part 2)

The reshuffle of junior frontbenchers is now underway.  Individual MPs are being called in to see David Cameron.  I don't expect we'll know much until tomorrow.  I'm off briefly to The TaxPayer Alliance's 4th July party.  And if you are proAmerican please click here.

Authenticity and breadth

Pasted below is an article I have written for the latest edition of the House Magazine.  It doesn't contain anything that'll be very new to regular readers of this blog but it does summarise a lot of regular themes - not least the need for authenticity and for breadth.

Cameron Vs Brown: Their first PMQs

2.40pm: Earlier on I said a narrow win for David Cameron.  Other observers are suggesting a pretty conclusive win for the Tory leader.  A journalist from the BBC has just used the word "triumph" to me!  Ben Brogan has a good post looking at what went wrong for Brown.

Editor's view: "A narrow win for David Cameron - mainly because of GB's silly defence on Hizb ut-Tahrir that he'd only been in the job for five days.  John Reid's intervention almost belittled the new PM.  This is a tricky time for David Cameron.  He cannot go for Brown's jugular in the way he would if we did not have the security scares.  Overall Nick Robinson says that the Tory MPs have a spring in their step after PMQs.  A good PMQs for Ming, too, because of that joke."

ToryRadio has the audio.

12.30pm: Anne Mcintosh asks about flooding and cuts in flood protection measures.

12.27pm: James Gray repeats Rob Wilson's complaint that the Defence Secretary should not share his workload by also having to be SoS for Scotland.

12.18pm: Rob Wilson asks why the Defence Secretary is now a part-time job. Brown responds with a lame joke.

12.17pm: John Reid urges Brown not to be rushed into precipitate bans on organisations like Hizb ut-Tahrir.

12.17pm: Ming uses his second question to encourage Brown to reverse Government support for nuclear power stations and to abolish council tax.

12.16pm: Best joke so far... Brown says that his door is always open to the Leader of the LibDems... Ming responds by saying that Brown's door is more like a trap door!

12.15pm: Ming Campbell calls for a fresh start from Brown on withdrawing from Iraq, the BAe arms deal and the one-sided extradition deal with the USA.

12.12pm: The Prime Minister gets the last word in response to DC's sixth summarising question by encouraging the Tories to support the spending that will be necessary for security and says that the best message that Parliament can send out to terrorists is bipartisan resolve.

12.09pm: GB promises to consider DC's recommendation of a national border police force.  In the spirit of bipartisanship he urges DC to embrace ID cards and quotes Dame Pauline Neville-Jones' alleged support for them.  DC responds by quoting Alistair Darling's historical opposition to ID cards.

12.07pm: DC presses GB again - saying that this is an organisation that has supported the killing of Jews.  GB says that he's only been in the job five days.  Cameron says the Government promised to outlaw Hizb ut-Tahrir two years ago.

12.05pm: DC urges the PM to outlaw extremist organisations like Hizb ut-Tahrir.  A plea he made a year ago.   Gordon Brown fails to answer the question.

12.04pm: David Cameron encourages the Government to authorise the use of intercept evidence.  The PM promises co-operation with the Opposition on the issue.

12.01pm: Daniel Kawczynski MP asks Gordon Brown his first PMQs question on the status of Shropshire as a unitary authority.

11.59am: Andrew Neil hands over to live coverage in the Commons and says 'We do not want to miss ANY of this historic occasion?'  What could he be meaning?

11.45am: Nigel Griffiths MP tells the Daily Politics that Gordon Brown does have a sense of humour and recounts a joke that he made at Nicholas Ridley's expense in the late 1980s.  Andrew Neil says that was twenty years ago - has he said anything funny since?!

Four economists review the TRC report

The Institute of Economic Affairs has asked four well-known economists for their verdict on Lord Forsyth's Tax Reform Commission. The TRC was set up by George Osborne and it reported last October, but he hasn't adopted its recommendations as party policy yet (unlike Gordon Brown!).

David Smith and Eugen Mihaita: "Nowadays it comes as a pleasant shock to read a serious, economically literate, analysis from a group associated with a British political party. Unfortunately, the semi-detached nature of the Conservatives’ Tax Reform Commission (TRC) means that it may have lost in political relevance what it has gained in objectivity and analytical quality."

Tim Congdon (UKIP supporter): "The Conservatives’ Tax Reform Commission was trapped in the assumptions of the late twentieth century. In the twenty-first century, Britain, like other European nations, will have to compete with nations – many of them in Asia – with much lower tax burdens. The Commission’s report was a missed opportunity. Mr Cameron’s rejection even of the modest £21 billion tax reduction it proposed reinforces the message that today’s Conservatives have lost the intellectual momentum given them by Lady Thatcher in the 1980s."

Patrick Minford: "In rebranding the Conservative Party, David Cameron has emphasised his commitments to public spending and a desire for tax cuts to pay for themselves in direct revenue cost terms. This is, of course, an absurd  position since, as the Commission points out, there will be substantial dynamic benefits from tax cuts: rising revenues as a result of higher growth, increased labour supply, reduced emigration and less tax evasion. Thus the Commission found the ground cut from under its feet before it could get its views out."

The above quotes are their concluding views of the TRC overall, click here to read in full what they thought about some of the specific recommendations.

Deputy Editor

Meet the new Shadow Cabinet

Webcameron has interviews with three new Shadow Cabinet members, and three of the Shadow Cabinet members with the most senior roles to have changed hands.

Sayeeda Warsi (Community Cohesion - read about her on today's Platform) talks about taking ownership of communities and the Union Flag, Dame Pauline (Security) talks at length about her new role with Vote Blue Go green flashing on the computer behind her, and Jeremy Hunt (DCMS) says he wants Britain to have the best quality of life industries (arts, sport etc):

Caroline Spelman says she is honoured with her new role as Chairman and that she wants "CCHQ to work for you", Nick Herbert talks about getting his teeth into prisons and constitutional reform, and Michael Gove says he couldn't wish for a better job than Children, Family and Schools and would be euphoric if had the portfolio in Government:

First blood to Cameron in Commons blast at Brown

Gordon Brown has told the Commons that he wants to deliver a new "constitutional settlement" for the British people:

• He promised twelve transfer of powers from the Prime Minister and the Executive to Parliament - including the Executive's powers to declare war, request the dissolution of Parliament and key public appointments (including the Governor of the Bank of England and Church of England bishops).
• He promised the creation of a National Security Council - an idea already proposed by Pauline Neville-Jones some months ago (he went on to nick at least two other Tory ideas).
• He promised a new ministerial code overseen by an independent adjudicator.
• He also called for a cross-party debate on a new written Constitution and floated ideas such as weekend voting and a lower voting age.
• In his only clear nod to the LibDems on PR he promised a full report on the success of the new voting methods used since Labour came to power.
• Some civil libertarians would be pleased with his announcement that the restrictions on protests in Parliament Square could be lifted.

David Cameron then had an opportunity to respond - in his first parliamentary clash with Gordon Brown as the new Prime Minister - and his response was very impressive.  In a key passage he said:

"Constitutional change is not the solution because the constitution is not the cause: the cause is broken promises. People will ask how the person who broke this trust can be the person to mend it."

British life is too centralised, the Leader of the Opposition said, and Gordon Brown had been the great centraliser of the last ten years.

The new Prime Minister wants more openness and honesty but as Chancellor, Gordon Brown had levied taxation stealthily and failed to answer questions on the tax credit chaos.

He challenged Gordon Brown to reverse the transfer of power from democratically elected local councils to unelected regional assemblies.

What was the new Prime Minister going to do about the fact that there were two classes of MP in Britain?  MPs for English seats who had no influence on Scottish matters and Scottish MPs like Gordon Brown who could decide how English hospitals and schools were run.

He ended with an attack on Gordon Brown's failure to grant a referendum on the draft European Treaty.  It was, David Cameron said, yet another broken Labour promise.

The Prime Minister responded by joking that he thought David Cameron had wanted to end Punch and Judy politics.  He quoted Ken Clarke two or three times to back up his positions and embarrass David Cameron but this was definitely an exchange won by the Conservative leader.  He will have raised morale on the Tory benches.  It's the first Brown-Cameron PMQs tomorrow.  ConservativeHome will be live blogging it.

Baroness Anelay

Baroness Joyce Anelay is joining the Shadow Cabinet as the Opposition Chief Whip in the Lords when Lord Cope retires on 27th July.

Baroness Anelay has long been active in the Conservative Party, serving as Chairman of the Conservative Woman's National Committee from 1993-96 and as Vice-President of the National Union 1996-97. Made a life peer in 1996 she is one of the last people who will make it to the (Shadow) Cabinet having worked their way to the very top of the voluntary party.

Before being appointed a life peer she had worked as a history teacher and volunteered at Woking Citizens' Advice Bureau (she is now its President) was a Justice of the Peace in North West Surrey and sat on Social Security Appeal Tribunals for 13 years.

In the Lords Baroness Anelay has served as an Opposition Whip on Home Affairs, Social Security and Agriculture; Opposition Spokesman on Agriculture; and Opposition Spokesman for Culture, Media and Sport and, since 2002 Shadow Minister for Home Affairs.

In comments elsewhere on the site former CCHQ Adviser Tom Greeves has said:

"Joyce was on the Culture, Media and Sport team when I was at CCO, and she is quite outstanding. She is a master of detail, a shrewd analyst, and a team player. She's also highly personable, and although this isn't an obvious media role, I think DC would be well advised to get her on the TV as much as possible."

I was a colleague of Joyce's too, at MAFF and DCMS, and would agree with everything Tom has said. She will be a real asset to the Shadow Cabinet.

Andrew Burkinshaw

Why Quentin joined Labour

In justifying his resignation from the Conservative Party Quentin Davies listed a number of criticisms of, and personal grievances with, David Cameron. He said very little, however, about why he had joined Labour rather than go independent. He's attempted to do that in an article for the New Statesman today:

New Labour: "In a sense I agreed with New Labour since its inception. After all its two cardinal principles, a competitive enterprise–friendly economy combined with social justice, are what I have stood for all my life."

Brown's government: "First of all it will reflect many of his own well-known qualities. It will be very serious and very thorough. Some people may at times call it unglamorous and boring. Everyone will have to do their homework – and do it very well. The idea of tossing out policy initiatives to suit a PR agenda will be inconceivable. It will also be very straightforward. And there will be a strong sense of purpose and direction."

Threatening times: "There are probably only three Prime Ministers since the Second World War who have faced major physical threats to the country and to our people and territory, Churchill himself, Attlee (who helped to found NATO) and Thatcher (who retook the Falklands). When it comes to the qualities needed to face a really major crisis Gordon Brown is in exactly that tradition."

Click here for the full text.

Deputy Editor

Today's Constitutional announcements are all about Labour-LibDem relations

Later today Gordon Brown will speak to the Commons about his plans for Constitutional reform.  The BBC predicts that he is likely to propose a British bill of rights and to give Parliament the decisive say on going to war and on the scrutiny of more political appointments.  These are all ideas also associated in various forms with David Cameron.  We do not know for sure what Brown is going to say because he is emphasising that he wants to tell Parliament first.  It'll be interesting to see how long that lasts!

Delayed by the terror scares this will be Brown's first substantial announcement as Prime Minister.  The Today programme have trailed it as being his big idea.  Constitutional reform is unlikely to get voters very excited so why is Gordon Brown making such a big deal of it?  It must be all about preparing the way for the possible need for a LibDem-Labour coalition after the next General Election.  Staying in Number 10 is Gordon Brown's real big idea and Constitutional reform is the big carrot he will dangle before Ming or whoever is LibDem leader after the next polling day.

The Express is speculating that Gordon Brown is secretly plotting to change the voting system for Westminster.  A more proportional voting system for MPs would certainly win the backing of LibDems.  I wouldn't expect anything so bold from Brown but hints of PR for the Lords or even local government might be enough to snare them.  We'll blog on the Commons statement later.

Cameron's standing with grassroots yet to recover from grammarsgate

After satisfaction with the Conservative leader slumped at the end of May to 61% and dissatisfaction rose to 39% (following the grammar schools row), there has been another very slight deterioration in June.  Just 58% of Tory members are now satisfied with David Cameron and 40% are dissatisfied with their leader's performance.  In January 2006, 82% were satisfied with David Cameron and just 16% dissatisfied.

The Brown honeymoon may have contributed to David Cameron's continued difficulties with grassroots members.  52% now think it likely that David Cameron will be Prime Minister after the election.  That compares to 72% in January 2007 and 77% in January 2006.

David Davis has lost his place as the most popular member of the shadow cabinet but only by a handful of members' votes.  In round percentages William Hague and David Davis each have a net satisfaction rating of +74% (86% satisfied, 12% dissatisfied).

Two of the least popular shadow cabinet members were Francis Maude and David Willetts.  46% of members were satisfied with the now former Chairman and 48% dissatisfied.  David Willetts' ratings slumped last month and have not recovered.  36% were satisfied and 59% were dissatisfied by the end of June.

Hugo Swire's ratings fell very sharply in the last month.  In May 40% were satisfied and 23% dissatisfied.  By the end of June only 29% were satisfied and 40% dissatisfied.

1,316 Tory members took part in the ConservativeHome survey which was conducted from 29th June to 2nd July.

Labour 37% to 34% ahead in Populus survey

More soon on this Populus/ Times opinion poll.

10.25pm: Another opinion poll suggests the 'Brown bounce' continues but it is more modest than many Tory strategists feared.  Populus put Brown's Labour Party ahead by 3%.  The fieldwork was carried out from 29th June to 1st July.

77% regard Gordon Brown as strong compared to 43% who regard David Cameron as strong.  57% say that Mr Brown has what it takes to be Prime Minister compared to 37% who say the same of Gordon Brown.

10.30am update on 3 July: This from today's Times:

"The initial public response to the Brown Government is pretty positive, with 82 per cent being hopeful that Mr Brown’s team “will really get to grips with the most important issues facing Britain”. There is, however, an even split (42 to 42 per cent) on whether Mr Brown has “succeeded in bringing freshness and a sense of change and renewal to the Labour Government”.

Mr Brown’s decision to include outsiders as Lords ministers to show that he is creating “a government of all the talents” is seen as improving the way Britain is governed by 46 per cent, making it worse by 7 per cent, and no difference by 40 per cent.

A third (35 per cent) say that it will help to restore voters’ confidence in politics, 9 per cent damage it and 49 per cent make no difference."

Ten thoughts on the reshuffle

Hague and Osborne emerge strengthened from the reshuffle.  George Osborne is now to Cameron what Brown was to Blair with significant responsibilities for General Election strategy.  Hague's old PPS David Lidington becomes his Number 2 in a significant strengthening of the foreign affairs team.  David Lidington, who will still attend shadow cabinet and will be missed by the NI Conservatives, will effectively be Hague's CEO with Hague undertaking more campaigning.  David Davis is slightly diminished by the reshuffle with Nick Herbert, Sayeeda Warsi and Pauline Neville-Jones all taking chunks from his empire.  The other big beast - Liam Fox - remains in post.

Caroline Spelman goes to CCHQ but as the Harriet Harman Chair.  With George Osborne taking on General Election planning the Party Chairman's role is smaller for Caroline Spelman than it was for Francis Maude (who is very unhappy at having to leave CCHQ).  A bit like Harriet Harman being Labour Chair and Douglas Alexander being General Election coordinator.  At the top of her in-tray will be the need to reconnect the party leadership with the grassroots.  I am not optimistic she is the right person to be able to do this but I hope I'm wrong and wish her luck.

This was a reshuffle for women.  Promotions for Caroline Spelman, Theresa Villiers (to Transport), Sayeeda Warsi and Pauline Neville-Jones are signs of David Cameron's determination to feminise the shadow cabinet.  Seven of 29 shadow cabinet members are women (including Baroness Anelay when she succeeds Lord Cope).

Balls versus Gove is the most delicious match-up. Education policy and family are set to be central issues in this Parliament and David Cameron's decision to put Michael Gove, his own intellectual defender, up against the PM's Ed Balls at schools and family will be a fascinating clash of two great minds.   The hawkish Gove is, however, kept away from a foreign affairs brief because...

Pauline Neville-Jones and Sayeeda Warsi's appointments signal the return of realpolitik/ the establishment view on foreign policy.  James Forsyth has two excellent posts explaining why on the Spectator blog.  Warsi has spoken foolishly about Britain being a police state and Pauline Neville-Jones was part of the Hurd-Rifkind establishment view during the 1992-1997 period of deadly non-intervention. Thank goodness we have Kouchner and Sarkozy over the Channel.

Owen Paterson's appointment is a nod to the right. Gordon Brown uses the Northern Ireland post to reward Tory defectors and David Cameron uses the post to try and keep Cornerstone happy.  Owen Paterson did great work as shadow roads minister and I hope that work will not be lost.

The ones that were not promoted.  Dominic Grieve can be most disappointed.  One of the nicest and most able men in politics he was an obvious choice for the Justice post (although Nick Herbert will likely do well there).  Ed Vaizey did not get the promotion many expected.  If talent and diligence were the key qualifications for promotion you would expect Greg Clark, Paul Goodman and John Hayes to be around the top table but they are not.

Cameron did not have to shed much blood.  Cameron has not only matched Gordon Brown's Cabinet (an enlargement on the Blair Cabinet) but he also has Dame PNJ in his 29-strong team for the homeland security brief.  The only casualties were Oliver Heald and Hugo Swire.  I'm not sure if they'll get junior frontbench jobs.  We'll know tomorrow.

Team Cameron want us to see this as the 'new talent' reshuffle.  CCHQ is emphasising the promotions for Michael Gove, Nick Herbert and Jeremy Hunt from the 2005 intake.

Does David Cameron intend to hit Brown hard on pensions?  Chris Grayling's move to Work and Pensions may signal an intention to make pensions a big election issue.  Mr Grayling has an enormous appetite for campaigning (including the negative variety) and expect an onslaught on Gordon Brown's record on pensions.  Let's hope so anyway.

10.30pm related link: Fraser Nelson has his own ten thoughts

CCHQ press release on the reshuffle: "New Talent promoted in the Shadow Cabinet"

"David Cameron has today made changes to his Shadow Cabinet, promoting new talent, strengthening the campaigning ability of the Party and appointing a new Shadow Security Minister and National Security Adviser to the Leader of the Opposition.

Three MPs from the 2005 intake enter the Shadow Cabinet.  Nick Herbert becomes Shadow Secretary of State for Justice, Jeremy Hunt becomes Shadow Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport and Michael Gove becomes Shadow Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families.  David Willetts will become the new Shadow Secretary of State for Innovation, Universities and Skills.

In other appointments, Dame Pauline Neville-Jones has been appointed Shadow Security Minister in the Shadow Cabinet and National Security Adviser to David Cameron.  Sayeeda Warsi enters the Shadow Cabinet as Shadow Minister for Community Cohesion.

Following an invitation from the Prime Minister to nominate candidates for life peerages, David Cameron has put forward Dame Pauline Neville-Jones and Sayeeda Warsi for consideration by the House of Lords Appointments Commission and, in due course, for onward recommendation to Her Majesty The Queen at the appropriate time.

Caroline Spelman becomes Party Chairman.  Eric Pickles joins the Shadow Cabinet as Shadow Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government.  Francis Maude takes over the role of Shadow Minister for the Cabinet Office in the Shadow Cabinet, looking at the implementation of our programme for government.

George Osborne takes on the additional role of General Election Campaign Coordinator in addition to his responsibilities as Shadow Chancellor of the Exchequer. 

David Cameron said:

“These changes strengthen the Shadow Cabinet team and harness new talent within the Party as we prepare for the next General Election.

“Two of the big challenges facing this country today are security and community cohesion and we now have two leading experts in these fields in Dame Pauline Neville-Jones and Sayeeda Warsi.”

The full Shadow Cabinet after the re-shuffle is:

David Cameron
Leader of the Conservative Party

William Hague
Shadow Foreign Secretary

George Osborne
Shadow Chancellor of the Exchequer
General Election Campaign Coordinator

David Davis
Shadow Home Secretary

Liam Fox
Shadow Secretary of State for Defence

Lord Strathclyde
Leader of the Opposition in the House of Lords

Caroline Spelman
Chairman of the Conservative Party

Philip Hammond
Shadow Chief Secretary to the Treasury

Francis Maude
Shadow Minister for the Cabinet Office and Shadow Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster

Andrew Lansley
Shadow Secretary of State for Health

David Willetts
Shadow Secretary of State for Innovation, Universities and Skills

Peter Ainsworth
Shadow Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

Andrew Mitchell
Shadow Secretary of State for International Development

Alan Duncan
Shadow Secretary of State for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory reform

Theresa May
Shadow Leader of the House of Commons

Oliver Letwin
Chairman of the Policy Review and Chairman of the Conservative Research Department

Chris Grayling
Shadow Secretary of State for Work and Pensions

Cheryl Gillan
Shadow Secretary of State for Wales

David Mundell
Shadow Secretary of State for Scotland

Theresa Villiers
Shadow Secretary of State for Transport

Dame Pauline Neville-Jones
Shadow Security Minister and National Security Adviser to the Leader of the Opposition

Eric Pickles
Shadow Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government

Michael Gove
Shadow Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families

Sayeeda Warsi
Shadow Minister for Community Cohesion

Nick Herbert
Shadow Secretary of State for Justice

Owen Paterson
Shadow Secretary of State for Northern Ireland

Jeremy Hunt
Shadow Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport

Patrick McLoughlin
Opposition Chief Whip

Baroness Anelay of St Johns will replace Lord Cope of Berkeley as Opposition Chief Whip in the House of Lords when he retires on the 27th July 2007

Attending Shadow Cabinet:

Grant Shapps – Shadow Housing Minister
David Lidington – Shadow Foreign Office Minister."

Andrew Porter to be Telegraph's Political Editor

34yr old Porter will take over from George Jones in October. He is The Sun's Deputy Political Editor, and previously was the Deputy Political Editor of The Sunday Times, Telegraph Editor Will Lewis' former paper.

Deputy Editor

Shadow Cabinet Reshuffle Underway

7.25pm: It appears that Oliver Heald has been chopped.

7pm: Hammond is new Shadow Chief Secretary.

6.46pm: Alan Duncan and Andrew Lansley staying put.

6.45pm: Villiers moves to Transport and Grayling to Pensions. What has happened to Hammond?

6.40pm: There is some confusion but we've now had confirmation that both Sayeeda Warsi and Neville-Jones have been recommended for the Lords.

6.17pm: Ben Brogan says that Osborne and Hague, who don't have insignificant roles as it is, are getting additional responsibilities - overseeing campaigning and policy making respectively.

6pm: Sayeeda Warsi is going to the Lords, Neville-Jones is not (although the BBC says she is too).

5.56pm: James Forsyth highlights this article by Dr Brendan Simms about Pauline Neville-Jones' antiquated approach to foreign policy. She was dubbed "Pauline Neville-Chamberlain" by the Americans for her constant appeasement of the Serbs (she opposed intervention in Bosnia and later did business deals with Slobodan Milosevic).

5.44pm: Hague, Osborne and Davis confirmed in position.

5.23pm: Owen Paterson is new Shadow Northern Ireland Secretary.  David Lidington becomes Number 2 to William Hague.  Eric Pickles replaces new Chairman Caroline Spelman as Shadow Local Government Minister.

5.20pm: Francis Maude to stay in shadow cabinet - shadowing Ed Miliband's Cabinet Office role.

5.17pm: Jeremy Hunt is new Culture, Media & Sport spokesman.  Swire out of shadow cabinet - perhaps off frontbench.

Nick Herbert goes to Justice.

5.10pm: Dame Neville-Jones to join shadow cabinet as Security spokesman and Sayeeda Warsi to go to Lords and have responsibility for community relations.

Nick Herbert also promoted to shadow cabinet.  Not clear to what.

David Willetts and Michael Gove to share schools and skills brief.

5pm: Liam Fox to stay in post.

4.27pm: Announcement of major appointments promised by 5pm today.

4.24pm: The Evening Standard says that Maude will be demoted (Ben Brogan thinks he may be promoted) and that Willetts will be moved - although the splitting of the DFES makes that a necessity.

4.15pm: It is reported that a Shadow Cabinet Reshuffle is underway. Ben Brogan reports that George Osborne will not be moved and Iain Dale earlier said that Caroline Spelman will be chairman in 24 hours.

‘Acquaintanceship’ with Syria is hallmark of new Tory Middle East policy

William Hague has this lunchtime spoken to a meeting of Michael Ancram's Global Strategy Forum.

This post republishes some key extracts from the Shadow Foreign Secretary's speech.

I will mention first of all that I did ask William Hague during the Q&A period if the Conservative party had a strategic sense of the necessary future size of our armed forces.  A recent poll said that defence was the top spending priority of Tory members.  William said that he could not make any commitment on the future size of our armed forces without upsetting the Shadow Chancellor.  Given that our armed forces - both in personnel and equipment terms - were currently overstretched, however, he said that there was no short-term sensible alternative to some reduction in commitments.

The current importance of foreign policy: "The foreign policy challenges which they face now, and which those of us in her Majesty’s Opposition may well face after the next general election, are perhaps more complex and difficult than any faced by their predecessors at any time since 1945. As a country we are engaged in extremely challenging NATO operations in Afghanistan, in stabilising Iraq, in trying to breathe new life into the stalled Doha trade round, in pushing forward international action on climate change, in trying to bring peace and stability to the tragedy-struck people of Darfur, and, wrongly in my view, trying to get away with a new European Treaty without honouring the pledge to consult the people of this country in a referendum."

Conservatives seek a bipartisan foreign policy: "Our foreign policy is more effective and better understood abroad when it is bi-partisan and pursued consistently over the long-term by both main political parties. As the Opposition, we welcome it if the themes and ideas we have developed are taken up by the government: it will make it that much easier for us to pursue those ideas when it is our own job to do so. This is a timely moment to give an up-to-date view of the actions we believe the government should take in relation to the Middle East and to invite it to take them."

Both sticks and carrots for Iran have to be more meaningful: "The EU should adopt measures that the US has taken to deny certain Iranian banks access to the US financial system, which have had more impact on Iran than any of the sanctions agreed by the UN so far. It should ban new European export credit guarantees to Iran, and begin targeted action to restrict European investment in Iranian oil and gas fields. Merely setting out a clear European willingness to implement a graduated programme of economic and diplomatic sanctions over time would cast the costs to Iran of continuing on its current path in the clearest possible light.  In exchange the US could state its willingness to revisit some of the terms of the incentives put to Iran, many of which currently begin with the word “possible”, and it could improve the prospect of exploratory talks with Iran."

'Let Bartlet Be Bartlet' (and 'Let Cameron Be Cameron')

Bruce Anderson criticises David Cameron today for failing to deliver the grittier Conservatism promised at the new year.  The failure to deliver that grit means, he writes, the party has lost momentum.  When Fleet Street's leading defender of Project Cameron - Daniel Finkelstein excepted - becomes critical, Team Cameron should take notice.

Mr Anderson's critique is not as powerful, however, as that from Janet Daley in today's Telegraph:

"The most significant mistake of the Tories' campaign to change their image is precisely that it has been so explicit and self-conscious. They have, in as many words, told the nation that they are utterly obsessed with appearances. They have announced, so repeatedly as to be risible that their top political priority - their primary objective for the immediate and medium term - is to change the way they are perceived. Now why do you suppose that the public, subjected to this relentless make-over show, should have got the impression that they are "all style and no substance"? Perhaps because they are simply taking the party at its word. Mr Cameron and his friends tell us endlessly that everything that they are saying is for effect - "change to win", "be the change", "we've got to look like modern Britain", blah-blah - and then they wonder why voters think they are shallow. Being "obsessed with image" isn't an accusation made by Team Cameron's enemies: it is what they say about themselves."

Ouch.  Janet Daley's powerful critique - not dissimilar from that written by Brown's spindoctors for Quentin Davies - needs to be answered and fast.