ConservativeHome's ToryDiary

William Hague's statement on South Ossetia

"There is a very serious danger that these clashes could develop into a wider conflict between Russia and Georgia. It is vital for both countries to commit themselves to talks and cease fighting immediately."

Peter Bottomley supports call to end MPs' compulsory oath of allegiance to The Queen

A group of 22 MPs, led by Liberal Democrat Norman Baker, and including one Conservative, Peter Bottomley, believe that MPs should be free to choose an oath of allegiance that doesn't include mention of the monarch.  The late Tony Banks MP famously crossed his fingers when he swore the oath.

The group of 22 want members of the Commons and Lords to be able to swear allegiance to their 'constituents and the nation' instead.

Mr Bottomley told The Mail:

"We need to make the oath something that people are offered, rather than required to take. We should make provision for republicans or separatists. I wouldn't drop the oath  -  I would make it optional. I am a subject of the Queen even more than I am a citizen of this country. I'd much prefer a bad monarchy to a good president. But people ought to be able to come to Parliament and argue that they don't want the monarchy."

The suggestion has angered other Tories.  Lord Tebbit said the oath had served the nation "satisfactorily for the past 500 years" and "the fact that a silly group of people at the beginning of the 21st century think they know better seems to me to be a very dodgy proposition."

Geoffrey Cox MP attacked the move as "uncomprehending constitutional vandalism."  He continued:

"The Queen is the centre of the British constitution.  To remove her from the Parliamentary oath taken by Members of Parliament is a covert attempt to republicanise our constitution."

One of Boris Johnson's first acts as Mayor of London was to place a portrait of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II in City Hall.

What would you do with conservatives.com?

Conservatives.com is about to be relaunched.  What would you like to see on it?

I'd offer three overlapping thoughts to guide the relaunch:

1. Today's voters are much more interested in single issues than political parties. If you visit conservatives.com it's currently hard to find where the party stands on tax or immigration or the environment.  The party's campaigning on four or five big issues should be the front-of-house products.
2. The distinctions between newspapers, broadcasters, think tanks, campaigning organisations and political parties are dissolving. Newspapers host video.  Think tanks run campaigns.  Campaigning organisations run blogsites that are as rich in information as newspapers.  Political parties can do almost anything they want.  The Tories do, of course, run webcameron but they haven't yet grasped the possibility of running big campaigns - rivalling Greenpeace, the TaxPayers' Alliance or a newspaper's 'Save our Scottish Regiments' campaign.  We should be running these campaigns NOW and harvesting tens of thousands of emails.  We should aim to have THE best online presence for all people interested in three or four hot political topics.
3. Third parties should write for conservatives.com. The most difficult thing about running a website is to keep it fresh, with lots of new content.  It is also the most important thing.  Keeping the website interesting and regularly updated would be a lot easier if third party organisations were regularly invited to contribute.  Linking the above two thoughts with this thought:

The Tories should run a website dedicated to MRSA and the general state of NHS hospitals.  It should be called MRSAwatch.com or something like that.  It should aim to be the best site for covering the scandalous nature of hospital cleaning standards.  Individual victims of hospital superbugs, and nursing staff fighting superbugs would be invited to write for the site.  People could join a mailing list for the site and donate to campaigns to highlight the problem.  MRSAwatch.com would be 80% about MRSA but the fifth column would be a link to the Conservative Party's other microsites and to further information about Tory health policy and about David Cameron.  But the overall aim of the Conservatives' online presence should be to communicate passion for issues and popular involvement in addressing those issues.

These same principles should apply to local MPs' websites and the websites of candidates.  They shouldn't be JoeBloggsMP.com but BarchesterNews.com.  The sites should all be about local issues with contributions from local vicars, headteachers and charity leaders (who would, of course, promote their contributions to their congregations, parents, volunteers).  The name of the candidate would be prominent - perhaps as editor of the site - but the key message would be a passionate concern for local concerns.

In conclusion: If we don't do these things, Labour will. Because of our current popularity we are best placed to do so. Just because we are sat on excellent opinion poll leads that doesn't mean we shouldn't be maximising our support base. The party's internet strategy - and the harvesting of new supporters and donors - is far from what it could be.

Neither controlling nor laissez-faire

We don't know who Martin Ball is but he's unimpressed with Tory 'nudging'. This is Mr Ball's letter to today's FT:

"If the Conservative party believes it is the role of government to influence individual and organisational behaviour (“Nudging not nannying to achieve social goals”, August 5) then it clearly clings to the view that the man in Whitehall knows best. No matter what fashionable and seemingly innocuous word is used, this is unmistakable nannying. Either you believe individuals are capable of making the best choices for their lives or you follow your paternalist instincts and direct them. If shoppers and customers believe businesses are not conducting themselves properly, then the power to alter this behaviour is rightfully with them. Any attempt at conditioning from a lofty political perch will not be successful or indeed desirable.

The choice for the Conservative party is clear: either it is a party of individual freedom or it wants to further go down the authoritarian route of the Blair-Brown years. There is a nation wanting to be liberated from state interference and the Conservative party should once again lead the way in setting it free."

But surely there is a middle way between state control of social life and a complete laissez-faire approach?  You could even call it conservatism!  Here's an incomplete list of where the current Tory leadership has been willing to reject both state control and a laissez-faire approach:

• Provision of more support for new parents in the form of maternity nurses and healthcare visitors.

• Support for marriage including a tax allowance of a-yet-to-be-defined kind and more investment in relationship education and counselling.

• Encouragement for firms to act socially responsibly... David Cameron has criticised BHS for its 'Little Miss Naughty' clothes range... W H Smith for selling chocolate oranges at the cashpoint... the music industry for violent messages... and this week Michael Gove questioned the publishers of Nuts and Zoo.

• George Osborne has proposed a cooling-off period between when people sign up for store credit cards and when they can use them.

• Mr Osborne has also proposed higher taxation of alcopops to discourage irresponsible drinking amongst teens and Boris Johnson has introduced a complete ban on alcohol on London's public transport.

• Jeremy Hunt has warned against "damaging gambling liberalisation".

• Ed Vaizey, only yesterday, reminded local councils that they have powers to protect children from violent films.

In today's Telegraph Mary Riddell writes about the party having "staked out a limbo between the Left's command-and-control instinct and the Right's wish to expunge the state from family life."  This isn't easy territory.  There isn't ideological purity but, as Riddell suggests, most people will approve of most of David Cameron's 'limbo choices'.

9.15am: "When Was the Last Time You Heard a Cameroon Mention "Freedom"?" asks Guido

Would you like to sponsor four Tory MPs as they cycle 120 miles to Party Conference?

The Tory Culture, Media and Sport team are to cycle the 120 miles from Westminster to the Birmingham Party Conference in a bid to raise funds for this year's social action project, Welsh House Farm.  The project is profiled in this video.

If you would be willing to sponsor Tobias Ellwood, Ed Vaizey, Hugh Robertson and Jeremy Hunt please send a cheque made out to the ‘Lift Community Trust’ to Office of Jeremy Hunt, House of Commons, London SW1A 0AA.  A ConHome cheque for £20 is in the post.

Tories maintain summer heat on Labour by exposing Britain's vermin-infested hospitals

David Cameron returns from Cornwall next week.  Ahead of a second holiday, in Turkey, he will hold a series of public events and private meetings.   The economy and crime are expected to be his big themes.

He is determined to keep Labour under pressure over the summer and the Tories have announcements planned throughout the period once known as the silly season.  Chris Grayling and Grant Shapps led for the Tories last week with news initiatives on inequality in cities and Labour's HIPS failures.  This week Michael Gove and Andrew Lansley are in the lead.

Mr Lansley's exposure of the appalling extent to which Britain's hospitals are infected with vermin features prominently in today's media.  Here is BBC Online:

"The cleanliness of most NHS hospitals in England is threatened by frequent invasions of rats, fleas, bedbugs, flies and cockroaches, a report claims. Figures released by the Conservatives show that 70% of NHS Trusts brought in the pest controllers at least 50 times over a two-year period. Vermin were found in wards, clinics and even operating theatres. A patients' group said the situation was revolting."

Liam Fox condemns "outrageous" nature of alleged pact between British forces and Basra criminals

The main story on page one of this morning's Times alleges a "Secret deal kept Army out of battle for Basra".

"Outrageous" is the word Liam Fox uses within a letter that he has just sent to his opposite number, Defence Secretary Des Browne.

The letter seeks clarification of whether British intelligence did strike such a deal.  The full text is pasted below.

If true, it is another humiliation for the British military.  Our troops have fought bravely throughout the conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan but their political direction has been consistently poor.  Basra was dominated by criminal groups when Britain retreated and it took the Iraqi armed forces - backed up by US troops - to start to turn that situation around (and here) in what was called Operation Charge of the Knights.  The humiliation is doubly depressing if  our absence from that Operation wasn't for strategic reasons but because of a shoddy deal with Iranian backed terrorists.  When will civilised nations learn that dealing with terrorists only invites more terrorism for the future?

The Cameron-Osborne rock

Rachel Sylvester, from her new perch in The Times, suggests that there is "a fundamental disagreement" between David Cameron and George Osborne when it comes to the family. Rachel Sylvester is probably right in saying there are differences. ConHome has heard the same.  Osborne is more socially liberal than Mr Cameron (and also, as a matter of fact, more hawkish on foreign policy) but it's not a "hot" dispute. Mr Cameron began his leadership campaign with a pledge to recognise marriage in the tax system and there'll be no retreat from that pledge. In a recent speech to the Centre for Policy Studies Mr Osborne was emphatic in his support for the party's family policies - recognising that stronger families were essential to reduce the long-term welfare burden.

Given the "hot" tensions between Brown and Blair it is understandable that journalists are keen to see parallels in the Cameron-Osborne relationship (Peter Oborne has done the same).  It is probably true that Mr Osborne is at least as influential as Mr Brown was in the comparative stage of preparing for government.  Mr Osborne as General Election coordinator has made a large share of the biggest strategic decisions over the last year - shaking up Campaign Boris, hiring Andy Coulson, making the inheritance tax promise.  But there isn't the rivalry that existed between Brown and Blair.  The two men get on well and with Andy Coulson and Steve Hilton are members of what Iain Martin has called The Quartet - the group of four that makes all the big judgments about Tory strategy.  It was David Davis' exclusion from the inner circle (not the formal meetings, which he sometimes chaired) that contributed to his decision to resign from the frontbench.

If the two most powerful men in the Conservative Party agreed on everything it would be spooky.  It's good that they see some things slightly differently.  Mr Osborne is more of a hare, Mr Cameron more of a tortoise although the Tory leader is apparently now readier than his Shadow Chancellor to push towards lower taxation.  Ms Sylvester is also unlikely to find the wider party unhappy with Mr Cameron's policy on marriage (Tim Yeo and a few others excepted).  ConservativeHome's own poll of the next generation of Conservative candidates found 93% favoured support for marriage from the tax system.

5pm: With the Daily Mail jumping on to the Sylvester story it's worth noting this line from George Osborne's July speech: "We are committed to introducing a recognition of marriage into the tax system." Seems pretty unambiguous to us.

Boris approaches his 100th day

Big interview with London's Mayor in today's Times in which Boris suggests that his London agenda could significantly inform David Cameron's agenda for Britain.

Phil Taylor has already written for ConHome's Platform about Boris' first months in office.  Here are four quick conclusions of our own:

High points: The audit of London's finances by Patience Wheatcroft and the alcohol ban on public transport.

Low point: The surrender to the race relations industry with the departure of James McGrath.

Hope for the future: The team that Boris Johnson is building. It's high calibre. We think of Tim Parker (most of all), Kit Malthouse, Dan Ritterband, Simon Milton, Anthony Browne (soon) and Guto Harri.  Harri must take some of the blame for the mishandling of the Ray Lewis episode but also the credit for the fact that Boris has two or three good stories - almost every day - in the Evening Standard.

Worry for the future: A bored Boris. Boris goes out of his way in The Times' interview to talk about his "wonderment" at being Mayor but we hear frequent reports of a distracted and sometimes frustrated Mayor.

> GO TO CONSERVATIVEVAULT.COM FOR A TIMELINE OF BORIS JOHNSON'S MAYORALTY

"One of the most profound, but under-appreciated, changes that David Cameron has brought to Conservative politics is a determination to put the strengthening of relationships at the heart of policy."

We've discussed Michael Gove's remarks about Nuts and Zoo but there's much more to this morning's speech to the IPPR.  It's an explanation of David Cameron's Conservatism that sees the quality of relationships as essential to progress in education and the relief of poverty.  It's a statement of the superiority of people-sized institutions - like the family, neighbourhood charity and local school - over state-sized bureaucracies.  It stands very much in the great tradition of To Empower People, the landmark book on civil society by Neuhaus and Berger.  Some highlights from Michael Gove's speech:

The importance of relationships: "Ubuntu is a Bantu word which, broadly translated, means "I am because you are". President Clinton has made it something of a mantra, and deployed it to great effect in his speech to the 2006 Labour Party Conference. It resonated because it spoke to a deep truth. Each of us is defined, and enriched, by our relationship to others. It's the strength of our relationships, the warmth of our friendships, the time we have with our partners, parents and children, the respect we're given in the workplace and by our peers, the achievements we forge collaboratively and collectively, which generate real happiness and fulfilment. We are fully ourselves because others believe in us.  One of the most profound, but under-appreciated, changes that David Cameron has brought to Conservative politics is a determination to put the strengthening of relationships at the heart of policy."

Labour is undermining community relationships: "The Government's approach to the closure of post offices, with its narrow emphasis on economic costs without regard to social benefits, is an erosion of community resilience.  The determination to push ahead with the closure of small GP practices and their replacement by polyclinics is another move in the direction of narrow cost efficiency over enriching personal intimacy... More broadly, the web of autonomous institutions which help bind communities together have found their lives made more difficult in the last ten years. From scouting to child-minding, regulation has driven adults out of roles where they served their communities. School governance and charitable engagement have become much more time-consuming, legally fraught and bureaucratically complex."

Michael Gove attacks "hedonism" of lads' magazines

In a wide-ranging and thoughtful speech later today, Michael Gove will cover schooling, the family, inequality and the "hedonism" of lads' magazines like Zoo and Nuts:

"I believe we need to ask tough questions about the instant-hit hedonism celebrated by the modern men's magazines targeted at younger males. Titles such as Nuts and Zoo paint a picture of women as permanently, lasciviously, uncomplicatedly available. We should ask those who make profits out of revelling in, or encouraging, selfish irresponsibility among young men what they think they're doing."

Mr Gove's remarks fit with the concerns already expressed by David Cameron with regard to gangsta rap and the need for private business to act in more socially responsible ways:

"The relationship between these titles and their readers is a relationship in which the rest of us have an interest. The images they use and project reinforce a very narrow conception of beauty and a shallow approach towards women. They celebrate thrill-seeking and instant gratification without ever allowing any thought of responsibility towards others, or commitment, to intrude. The contrast with the work done by women's magazines, and their publishers, to address their readers in a mature and responsible fashion, is striking."

A leader in The Telegraph welcomes Mr Gove's speech and the attempt to shift the focus away from single women and towards the men who often abandon them:

"Mr Gove is elaborating and extending that most elemental of Tory creeds: the belief that we should take responsibility for our actions. The tenant who won't tidy his garden because he thinks it's up to the council; the young offender who blames the absence of recreational facilities; the adult who won't tick off a misbehaving child because it's someone else's job; the man who beats his girlfriend and says "the pills made me do it" - all are consequences of severing the link between action and consequence."

Mr Gove will also talk about Tory plans for health visitors and maternity nurses.  He released statistics yesterday that showed that half of poor children leave school without a single 'good' GCSE.

11am: Download PDF of full Michael Gove speech.

90% of drop in Labour support has gone to the Conservatives

Sorry to have missed this earlier but there's an ICM poll in the Sunday Express.  ICM normally gives the LibDems their highest rating and this 16% rating will cause heartache at their Cowley Street HQ.  At just 16.6% in ConHome's poll of polls, Mr Clegg has added just 0.4% to the LibDem rating since Ming was ousted.  Approximately 90% of the drop in Labour support has gone to the Conservatives.

Have the Conservatives finally passed 'the Bridget Jones test'?

It was a few years ago that David Willetts said that Tories needed to pass 'the Bridget Jones test'.  The problem for Mr Willetts was our reputation as people as much as our policies.  Mr Willetts quoted these words from Helen Fielding's famous diarist:

"It is perfectly obvious that Labour stands for sharing, kindness, gays, single mothers and Nelson Mandela as opposed to braying bossy men having affairs with everyone shag shag shag left right and centre and going to the Ritz in Paris then telling all the presenters off on the Today programme."

That was the 1990s but it's Labour that now has arguments with Today presenters and engages in leadership crises.  And the Conservatives?  Are we now in a position to pass Miss Jones' test?  If you read today's Observer the answer would appear to be 'yes'.  Carole Cadwalladr notes how the Cameroons have swapped 4x4s for Priuses:

"The Sloanes - and their political wing, the Tories - used to drive 4x4s and liked bloodsports. Now they drive Priuses and embrace cycling, camping, pop festivals, grow-your-own veg and seaside holidays. They've colonised traditional Liberal-Labour territory in an audacious ideological landgrab. How did that happen?"

The decontamination of the Tory brand has happened, it seems, because of the lifestyles modelled by the Cameroons.  A graphic in The Observer pays tribute to their love of cycling, home-made ice cream, friendship bracelets and camping. Helen Fielding snubbed us in 2002. What would she do now?

Boris and Dave both seek to gain from the 'Obama effect'

Boris Johnson endorsed Hillary Clinton last year and has now backed Barack Obama according to today's Evening Standard.  London's Mayor is reported as saying: "John McCain has many, many wonderful qualities, but I think a Barack Obama victory would do fantastic things for the confidence and the feelings of black people around the world."

David Cameron has also sought to benefit from Senator Obama's massive popularity in the UK.  UK citizens that have been Googling 'Barack Obama' in recent days will have been presented with a Google ad for the video of the Tory leader meeting the Democrat nominee.  CCHQ won't tell us how much their Google ad campaign cost but insists that it is a "very cheap" campaign and has contributed to the more than 15,000 views of the video.  Advisers to the Tory leader expect Senator Obama to become the President and are preparing for a period of six years where they would both lead their respective nations - should both men secure election and re-election.

A recent survey found that up to a third of Tory MPs may be backing Barack Obama.  Liam Fox remains loyal to the Conservative Party's traditional ally, the GOP, however and will be leading a delegation to the Republican Convention in September.

Jonathan Isaby to join ConservativeHome from The Telegraph

Tim Montgomerie writes:

"I am delighted to announce that Jonathan Isaby will be joining ConservativeHome.  Jonathan was offered the post of co-editor yesterday by Stephan Shakespeare, ConservativeHome's publisher, and he has accepted.  164 applications were received to succeed Samuel Coates, who was recently appointed as a speechwriter to David Cameron.  Sam formally ceased to work for ConservativeHome last Saturday.  A start date for Jonathan has not yet been fixed.

Jonathan has been writing about politics at The Daily Telegraph for five years, latterly as editor of the paper's Three Line Whip column and a regular contributor to the Three Line Whip blog. Before joining the Telegraph, he was a senior political analyst in the BBC's Westminster newsroom. He also writes a monthly column for GQ magazine and his first book, Boris v Ken: How Boris Johnson Won London, was published in June. Jonathan is a former chairman of the University of York Conservative Association and was on the founding national committee of Conservative Future in 1998-99.

There is still a little room left in the ConservativeHome budget for the employment of some part-time help but this money won't be allocated until Jonathan and I have had a chance to talk about how we wish to develop the site over the next year.  You cannot afford to stand still in the blogosphere and we have big plans for expansion in the autumn.  We look forward to sharing them with you in the coming months."

Prime Minister Cameron's early decisions

Over at Coffee House, Daniel Korski looks at how Prime Minister Cameron might operate (should he be elected!). He suggests that Mr Cameron might appoint a new Cabinet-level Secretary of State for Veteran Affairs (entirely consistent with the Cameron-Fox emphasis on these issues) and also a Secretary of State for Climate Affairs.  We like the first idea and hope the second idea is unfounded.

Prime Minister Cameron is rumoured to be considering restoring Ken Clarke to the Cabinet.  He will also decide if he wants to restore other big beasts to the frontbench.  David Davis, Iain Duncan Smith and John Redwood are some of the party's biggest hitters.

Prime Minister Cameron's first one hundred days is the focus of the final part of Andrew Grice's five-part series on Project Cameron this morning.

Mr Grice notes the importance of the Implementation Unit under Francis Maude and the Tories' determination to hit the ground running from day one. Although Labour carried out big changes in their early days in power - like Bank of England independence - their more difficult reforms on schools and hospitals, for example, were delayed.  David Cameron doesn't want to repeat that mistake and centrepiece reforms on schools and welfare will come early so that the benefits also come early.  There must be a risk, however, that Labour will leave the economy and public finances in a mess.  George Osborne's first budget could define the early Cameron years in the same way Geoffrey Howe's budgets defined the Thatcher years.

Mr Cameron won't rush to reverse the Hunting Ban (via a free vote). This will probably be a second year action.  The Conservatives will want to appear focused on the bread and butter issues facing the nation.

And the only man who would improve Labour's fortunes is...

...Tony Blair.

That's the conclusion of a YouGov poll for this morning's Telegraph.

These hypothetical match-up polls have to be taken with a large helping of salt, of course.  Voters know Tony Blair but not James Purnell, for example.  Polls in 2005 didn't suggest that a relatively unknown David Cameron would help the Conservatives very much compared to big beasts like Ken Clarke.  But as the leadership process wore on a big lead for Clarke... started to evaporate.

The poll also finds that a whopping 77% of voters do not think Brown is up to the job of being PM.

The Conservatives have a 47% to 25% lead overall but The Telegraph hasn't published a number for the LibDems.  When we get a number for the LibDems we'll publish the usual poll graphic.

9.15am: