Noisy Zulu warriors greet the return of the quiet man

Good week: Iain Duncan Smith. The former Tory leader's 188 recommendation report into tackling the problems of 'broken Britain' was well received by most observers - including the centre right press.  What was an eventful week for the Centre for Social Justice was summarised yesterday by our new Saturday columnist, Cameron Watt.  The ConservativeHome video below captures two minutes of a performance by God's Golden Acre - a charity awarded at the CSJ's third annual awards evening on Wednesday night.  Iain's week ended with an after dinner speech to Grantham and Stamford Conservatives.  IDS was due to celebrate twenty years of Quentin Davies' time as an MP.  Instead the event became a fundraiser for the local party.

The Tory campaign in Ealing Southall also had a good week.  Today's two Tonies photo about our candidate being photographed with Mr Blair was unhelpful for momentum but is unlikely to prevent a good result.  The likelihood of an encouraging result was given a big boost at the start of the week by the defection to the blue corner of five Ealing Labour councillors.

Bad week: The gambling industry.  Reacting to the family-friendly Tories' successful wooing of The Daily Mail, Gordon Brown fought for a foothold on the moral high ground by overturning Tony Blair's supercasino plans. More here.  Brown will fight hard to prevent the Tories' newly-arrived communications supremo, Andy Coulson, from building a good relationship with Paul Dacre's newspaper.

Roundabout week: The transatlantic relationship. Earlier in the week Labour ministers Douglas Alexander and Mark Malloch Brown appeared to suggest that the UK-US relationship would be downplayed and institutions like the United Nations would become more important.  Gordon Brown instructed his chief of staff to write to all Cabinet ministers to tell them that there would be no downplaying.  David Miliband went further in today's News of the World - promising "no change" in the special relationship.

Non-event of the week: The LibDems' publication of their tax plans. Menzies Campbell simply isn't box office.  The next week may see a leadership challenge get underway.  One journalist who had been ringing LibDem MPs for criticisms of their leader kept being told to call back after Thursday's by-elections.  If the LDs do badly in Ealing and Sedgefield expect Operation Clegg to get underway.

Comments

[Dave's Moobies]

Sorry Editor. Just what planet are you on?? Today's press revelations about Mr Lit are nothing short of catastrophic. While we could get away with this sort of nonsense during a general election - the intense media focus on this one campaign means we will have this story around our necks until polling day with all the consequences that will entail.

[TFA Tory]

I have abandoned plans to help the Labour-donating imposter who is our "candidate" in Ealing Southall. That photo of Lit with Bliar made me puke.

[Cardinal Pirelli]

TFA Tory - you are the sort who is losing votes as it is so your non appearance will be most welcome. IDS may have had a good week for himself but he hasn't done the party much good according to the polls has he?

[TFA Tory]

I just want a party member who has not donated thousands to our opponents as a candidate. Is that too much to ask?

PART OF COMMENT OVERWRITTEN BY THE EDITOR.

[TFA Tory]

From today's Sunday Telegraph article -

"Tony Lit, 34, the wealthy head of an Asian radio station, became a member of the Conservative Party only days before he was unveiled as their surprise choice to fight the vacant seat of Ealing Southall later this week.

As they paraded him on June 28, Tory campaigners hailed Mr Lit as the perfect candidate, with good looks and charm and a high profile in the west London constituency, where they hoped he could secure a massive coup by routing Labour from the safe seat.

But it has now emerged that, just a week earlier, he donated £4,800 to the Labour Party and attended a glittering Labour fundraising dinner at the Riverbank Plaza on London's Albert Embankment....

During an auction, the Sunrise table also successfully bid £4,000 for a weekend trip to Atlanta, the highlight of which was two places at a fundraising dinner for Hillary Clinton....

Just days after the dinner, however, Mr Lit - at that point not a member of the Tory party - was approaching Mr Cameron's team to say he would like to be their candidate in Ealing Southall...He was parachuted into the seat by the then Tory chairman Francis Maude".

The article has a photograph of Sunrise Radio's cheque that was made payable to the Labour Party. No self-respecting Tory would attend such a dinner, make such a payment or bid to attend a Hilary clinton fund-raising dinner.

Perhaps "Cardinal Pirelli" can explain why my description of Tony Lit as a "Labour-donating imposter" is inaccurate. He should resign as the Conservative candidate.

[Cardinal Pirelli]

Editor - I'm sure you know the acronym that TFA tory used and that that sort of language is unacceptable on here (even though it might be when used among his army pals), this is especially the case from someone who clearly agitates against the conservative party.

[TFA Tory]

What army pals?

I am not agitating against the Conservative Party, just a candidate who has been exposed as a Labour donor.

[Cardinal Pirelli]

You were using army slang, my apolgies for giving you an undeserved status in that case.

[Editor]

I've overwritten the offending part, Cardinal P.

TFA: I won't warn you again - if you can't debate without getting personal I'll have to delete your comments as a matter of course and take action to ban you from commenting at all.

[Cardinal Pirelli]

Thank you Tim, I appreciate robust debate but I draw the line at swearing at each other, however coded.

[TFA Tory]

Cardinal, you whine to the Editor like the pathetic Justine Hinchcliffe. Perhaps you are related. Here is an other "Lit" from today's Observer.

"A Tory spokesman denied their candidate had done anything wrong by attending the dinner, pointing out that he was then in his radio job, before he gave it up a week later to stand in the by-election. 'It's normal for businessmen to do this kind of thing,' he said. 'He'd been at a Conservative party event two weeks before which was also held for the Asian community. Given the importance of Sunrise Radio, it would be odd if he hadn't gone to the dinner.' The spokesman said that they had not yet received an invoice for the £4,000 pledge, which he said would be paid for by Sunrise. He added the Lits had been told the fund-raising event was organised by Labour MP Keith Vaz, and that the money would be going to his charity, Starline, which helps disadvantaged children."

The £4,000 pledge referred to the auction "prize" of the Hilary Clinton fundraising dinner. The Sunday Telegraph published Sunrise's payment of £4,800 for the dinner.
So why would Mr Lit think that the dinner was in aid of the Vaz charity?

Mr Lit appears to have been "economical with the truth" in his discussions with CCHQ. He should resign now to avoid further embarrassment for the Party that he has just joined.

[TFA Tory]

In the above post, I should have made it clear that the Sunrise cheque for £4,800 was made payable to the Labour Party.

[Tory T]

"like the pathetic Justine Hinchcliffe"

Justin Hinchcliffe is a man and a long-term contributor. You referring to him with a woman's name is just another personal insult. I hope the Ed overwrites that one too.

And for the millionth time, it was Avtar Lit, NOT Tony Lit, who wrote the cheque.

[TFA Tory]

COMMENT OVERWRITTEN BY THE EDITOR AND COMMENTER NOW SUBJECT TO AN IP BAN FOR REPEATED PERSONALISATION OF THREADS.

[Ed]

If IDS' comments about yet more state interference in family life are "a good thing" then I am seriously worried about what the Conservative party stands for in 2007. Is the way to fight socialist social engineering yet more social engineering?

[Dave's Moobies]

Tory T

Sunrise is not ICI or BP...just because director 'A' signed a cheque, I cannot believe that in a company of this size, director 'B' - his son - was not unaware that payments had been made to the Labour party. As always in these cases it's not a question of legality..it's a question of judgement...and here it was sadly lacking.

[TheRadicalTory]

I really do think it a bit rich that Ken Clark, the Labour organiser extraordinaire has the audacity to talk about 'clear breaches of electoral law'. This man has stood for local election in Thurrock and Havering on dubious claims of local residency just so he could be a candidate. That could be construed as making a false statementon nomination papers - an election offence.

Don't know why Labour put such great store on him. He led the Labour campaign in Thurrock in 2004, which saw a Labour majority of 33 become a Tory one of 7 and the then lost Labour's safest seat in Havering in 2006 to the BNP by 1 vote