ConservativeHome's ToryDiary

First reactions to the return of Ken Clarke

Most reactions to Ken Clarke's return on last night's thread were positive.  The same is true of reactions from bloggers and commentators.  Arranged below are key arguments.

The economic times are so serious that David Cameron is correct to bring such a successful former Chancellor back to the frontbench: "The world has changed, and if in response to the resulting tumult Barack Obama can do a deal with Mrs Clinton and Gordon Brown can rediscover his friendship with Peter Mandelson, then surely the Tories should be able to bury the hatchet (in their opponents rather than each other) in order to turf out Labour?" - Iain Martin

His time as Chancellor remains respected (even to The Independent): "His tenure at the Treasury remains highly regarded – something that cannot be said of all former Chancellors."

 Ken Clarke can make complex economic issues understandable: "He may also be the Tories' Vince Cable. What Cable does is talk about economics in clear English - not using Brown's jargons, nor the soundbites Osborne often uses. To Clarke, economics is easy - and, like Cable, he makes it sound easy. It has been a joy listening to him on the economy recently." - Fraser Nelson

Clarke's pro-European views may create tensions: "Mr Clarke's pro European views - in particular, his support for Britain scrapping the pound and joining the Euro - have alienated him from the mainstream of his party. The issue of Europe is still a live one since some now argue that the current economic crisis demonstrates the case for the Euro. Also, the Tories are opposed to the Lisbon EU Treaty which Clarke has backed and they are committed to holding a referendum on it which could lead to a Cameron-led government Britain re-negotiating Britain's relationship with the EU." - Nick Robinson

Ken's European views will be submerged within his acceptance of shadow cabinet responsibility: "To those Tories who recoil in horror at the return of Ken Clarke, I'd say this. Few of us agree with his views on Europe, but they should not be allowed to colour the fact that he is a big hitter and is very popular with people who are either soft Tories or not Tories at all. He will have to abide by the same collective responsibility as the Shadow Cabinet and will know that." - Iain Dale

The Conservatives have invited a very loose cannon into their highest ranks: "Mr Clarke has always said precisely what he thought on matters relating to the EU, having appeared on platforms with his political opponents to the detriment of the Conservative Party and to the embarrassment of the Leader. Indeed, he even favours a coalition with the europhile Liberal Democrats, and has publicly said so. He is a loose cannon, and regularly defies the Party whip with impunity: indeed, his voting record identifies him as a rebel." - Cranmer

Clarke's return is a boost to those who wish to see the Tories form a deal with the Liberal Democrats: "Let's not forget that Clarke sees coalition with the Lib Dems as a good thing. As he told me three years ago "I'm glad to say the fates could condemn the Conservatives and the Liberals to form a coalition." - Fraser Nelson

And finally... a Conservative MP emailed me this cartoon from 1993.  No further comment necessary:

Tim Montgomerie

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.

Lord Ashcroft returns

Good week: A very good week for Lord Ashcroft who re-emerges as one of the great powers in the Conservative Party.  As we reported on Friday, the former Tory Treasurer will now have a desk at CCHQ from behind which he'll direct the marginal seats campaign, opinion research, 'Campaign North' and the work of party agents.  George Osborne also emerged a big winner of the week - gaining oversight of General Election planning.

David Cameron had a good week, too.  The reshuffle smacked of A-list politics - particularly the appointment of Sayeeda Warsi - but the Brown bounce has deteriorated to being little more than a big blip (hat-tip to Tory T) and he beat the new PM twice in the Commons - once responding to Brown's statement on the Constitution and then at PMQs. 

William Hague overtakes David Davis as members' favourite member of the shadow cabinet.

Tony Lit.  Lots of good coverage of the Tories' Ealing Southall by-election effort.  Every report from the constituency suggests that there's a real buzz about the Grant Shapps-led campaign.

Andrew Porter - who has been appointed the new Political Editor of The Daily Telegraph.

Bad week: Hugo Swire for being sacked from the shadow cabinet - probably because of the museums charging row.

The non-elevation of Ed Vaizey to the shadow cabinet is also put down to his alleged role in the whole museums business.  It can only be a matter of time before Mr Vaizey joins the party's top table table however.

Right turn?  David Cameron seemed a little more right-wing this week.  In his first parliamentary encounter with Gordon Brown he chose to emphasise broken promises on tax, the broken promise on an EU Treaty referendum and English Votes for English Laws.  At PMQs there was lots of talk of border police and action against extremists.  Good stuff!

Issue of the week: Will he or won't he? Boris won't rule out running for Mayor. His now likely bid is the talk of the Westminster Village.

U-turn of the week: Digby Jones.  The new Labour minister was considering running as Tory candidate for Mayor just a few months ago.

What's next? The coming week is set to be dominated by discussion of Iain Duncan Smith's social justice report and talk of family policy...

Quentin Davies: gone and forgotten

My aim was to produce this review of the week feature every Friday but I have decided to make this an aspiration rather than a commitment!  Anyway, here's my take on one of the busiest weeks in politics for a long time...

Good week: Gordon Brown. He did become Prime Minister after all! He also attracted a Tory MP to cross the floor and three opinion polls put Labour ahead of the Conservatives for the first time in a long time. The terror scares of Friday and yesterday disrupted his 'grid' but security as an issue will probably boost his standing further. Expect next week to be full of announcements, too. Conservatives will continue to struggle in the polls during the Brown honeymoon.

The Tory by-election machine had a very good start.  The party was first to select of any of the parties; Tony Lit in Ealing Southall and Graham Robb in Sedgefield.  For those wanting to help - please visit CampaignTogether and sign up.  Good results in these by-elections are the most obvious way for Team Cameron to kill the Brown bounce. They will also be important tests for Ming. If the LibDems perform badly expect a Clegg or Huhne leadership by the end of the year.

A good week for ConservativeHome with David Cameron endorsing the 'And theory'.

Bad week: The BBC also had a bad week.  Our great public service broadcaster cut coverage of Tony Blair's farewell remarks to Parliament in order to break for some TV trailers for 'Rome' and then a second round Wimbledon match. 

A bad week for democracy with Brown'n'Blair wriggling out of their manifesto commitment to provide the British people with a referendum on the new Treaty.

Something of a bad week for blogging.  Some blogs were more guilty than others but there was lots of speculation about Bercow, Rifkind, Patten and others following Quentin Davies.  It wasn't blogging's finest hour.

Left turn.  Quentin Davies MP. He got his 24 hours in the sun but he'll soon be forgotten. His letter about the weaknesses of Project Cameron will have chimed with some Conservatives but his decision to defect lost him any respect. He'll have a long time to reflect on his treacherous left-turn.

Issue of the week: The return of terror to Britain's streets.

The return of 'Good week, bad week'

During the leadership race the 'Good Week, Bad Week' feature was very popular.  It returns today and every Friday...

Good week: Chris Grayling and Michael Gove were both tipped for higher things. ConservativeHome identified Chris Grayling as a leading candidate to replace Francis Maude as the next Party Chairman and Iain Dale tipped Michael Gove (fresh from his success over HIPS) to replace David Willetts at Education. Monmouth MP David Davies has also had a good week. His blog posts on the Cornerstone site have been must-reads. We have featured two of them on ConservativeHome (on building more prisons and making foreign visitors pay for NHS treatment).  He's written today about enforcing the law against female circumcision.

Bad week: Ming Campbell. The LibDem leader's week began with a 14% opinion poll rating. There was then ludicrous talk of him being relaunched as "the pinstripe radical".  It ended with LibDem MPs furious that he had held secret talks with Gordon Brown about ministerial positions. CCHQ was handed the propaganda gift of being able to present Britain's third party as being instinctively willing to prop up Labour. On GMTV this Sunday Lib Dem MEP Chris Davies will say that there are “real rumblings” about Ming Campbell’s leadership and that the Ashdown-Brown affair had been “a bit messy…the whole thing smells of backroom deals.”

The museums row also made this week a bad week for Hugo Swire.

Roundabout week: Webcameron. The frequency of posting has deteriorated significantly. It took three days to get footage of David Cameron's Tooting speech uploaded. A chat with Michael Heseltine took a similar length of time although yesterday's NHS speech was up more quickly. The site is in danger of making the dead tree press look fast.

Issue of the week: Will there, won't there? Be a referendum that is. The whole row threatens to be a big cloud over Brown's honeymoon.  Dan Hannan is sure that there won't be a referendum from Labour.

PS I wanted to call this feature 'Montie's No-Spin Review Of The Week' but Sam said 'no'.

ROTW: Gordon Brown's ever fatter state

TOPIC OF THE WEEK... Gordon Brown.  William Hague opened fire on the man who would be Britain's next Prime Minister but the Chancellor won enthusiastic (but slightly ill-founded) billing in this morning's News of the World.  Excellent pieces by Fraser Nelson in The Spectator and a leader in today's Business exposed the client state that Gordon Brown is building:

"Parts of Britain are now almost wholly dependent on the state. In Manchester Blackley, 67% of the electorate are government employees or welfare clients, the figure is 67.5% in Liverpool Walton and a staggering 71% in Cynon Valley. In some areas where old-fashioned manufacturing or mining has long since died out, government has taken its place, leaving ghettos of dependency where there is no room for the market economy to breath. Such places will be forever dependent on wealth being generated in those parts of Britain (largely London and the south-east) which are not yet socialised; no wonder they are staunch supporters of Mr Brown’s ever-expanding state."

A GOOD WEEK FOR... Paul Goodman, Robert Key and Sir George Young.  The WriteToThem website revealed that these three Tory MPs - and Conservative MPs generally - were the fastest responders to constituent email.

A BAD WEEK FOR... Theresa Villers.  The North London MP defended the jailing of David Irving.  Visitors to this site were almost universally unimpressed.

TORY POLITICIANS OF THE WEEK... The 'Times Nine'.  Nine Tory MPs wrote a letter to The Times complaining about the Church of England General Synod and its one-sided decision to boycott companies that make products used by Israel in the Palestinian territories.

PLAY OF THE WEEK... I can't think of anything political in this recess week so I'll suggest Barcelona beating Chelsea and Henry's breathtaking goal against Real Madrid.

CONSERVATIVEHOME POST OF THE WEEK... My suggestion that big donations to the Conservative Party be limited to something like £100,000pa as part of a wider campaign to encourage more diverse funding of the Conservative Party.  Many of you disagreed with me but the discussion was excellent.

EXTERNAL BLOG POST OF THE WEEK... Gerard Baker's expose of the opportunism of too many US politicians - including Bill Frist and Hillary Clinton - over the sale of some US ports to a Dubai firm.

THE POST THAT RECEIVED THE MOST COMMENTS...

• GoldList candidate: Priti Patel (96).  Three more people were added to ConservativeHome's GoldList this week - Priti, James Cleverly and Lee Rotherham.  Iain Dale narrowly missed out and is keeping Adam Rickitt company on the list of rejected nominees.

THE POST THAT RECEIVED THE FEWEST COMMENTS...

• Labour's social exclusion failure (6)

BEST COMMENT OF THE WEEK... Daniel Vince-Archer reacting to the undemocratic Livingstone suspension:

"Has Theresa Villiers started a 'Jail Livingstone' campaign yet?"

ROTW: A better week for Tony Blair

This ROTW is a bit late and I apologise that I missed doing one for last week altogether.  I'll now try and get back on track...

TOPIC OF THE WEEK... smoking.  Parliament passed a total ban on smoking in public places.  The fact that the ban covered private clubs outraged many... including Robert Halfon, who wrote about his concerns for ConservativeHome. 

A GOOD WEEK FOR... Tony Blair.  The week began with David Cameron attacking the PM's 'ineffective authoritarianism' but after recent embarrassments on religious freedom and the 90 days vote Mr Blair won Commons support for his ID cards plan (despite an excellent speech by David Davis demolishing his case) and for the 'glorification' of terrorism.  Mr Brown also accelerated announcing his own non-economic policy agenda.

A BAD WEEK FOR... George W Bush. The Guantanamo Bay and prisoner abuse controversies got new legs with a critical UN report, new photo scandals plus some finger-wagging from William Hague (who delighted Tories with his PMQs performance)... and then there was that little matter of Dick Cheney's shooting accident.  This blog did its own little bit to point out that - on Darfur, tax relief and support for marriage - there remains much to commend America's 43rd president but one is beginning to feel that defending Bush is a lost cause within BBC-land. 

TORY POLITICIAN OF THE WEEK... Liam Fox.  Dr Fox's speech on keeping the military options open on Iran to the Heritage Foundation was much the most relevant of the speeches delivered in Washington by the Tory delegation.  Its focus on Iran was the right, pressing, national security issue for a British Conservative to highlight.

PLAY OF THE WEEK... Iain Duncan Smith.  I am biased, of course, but his campaign to give a state funeral to the last WWI survivor is not only the right thing to do... it is also the sort of non-political thing that captures the public imagination.

CONSERVATIVEHOME POST(S) OF THE WEEK... All those regular visitors who have written personal profiles for the new community blog.  [email protected] is waiting for all you other regulars to submit your own pen portraits...

EXTERNAL BLOG POST OF THE WEEK... The Taxpayers' Alliance on Tories using tax against Gordon Brown:

"The need for lower taxes goes to the heart of the competitiveness debate and it is an area where Gordon Brown is vulnerable - having raised taxes significantly and even having provoked the normally-placid CBI into criticising him. Gordon Brown will not be able to establish ownership of the competitiveness debate if tax is a key factor in that debate."

THE POST THAT RECEIVED THE MOST COMMENTS...

• The four factors that have ended Cameron's honeymoon (100)

THE POST THAT RECEIVED THE FEWEST COMMENTS...

• MPs reinstate "glorification of terror" measure (5)

CELEBRITY COMMENT OF THE WEEK...

Stewart Jackson MP defending David Cameron from Fraser Nelson:

"In my opinion, Mr Nelson's article draws inferences from the thinnest evidential basis. He was obviously tasked with doing a counter-intuitive "Things are going wrong with Cameron" piece. Just one fact: At the equivalent point post-2001 General Election, the Conservatives trailed Labour by 14 points in the ICM poll - we are now 1% ahead, giving an indicative swing of 7% since early 2002. This is enough to garner large seat gains in the local elections and I expect this to happen and Mr Nelson to eat humble pie."

BEST COMMENT OF THE WEEK...

William Norton on possible names for the Cameron baby...

""David" would be the safe option: but surely the Camerons need to take risks at this stage in the baptismal cycle?

"Tony" builds on the Heir To Blair theme, but can they afford to alienate traditionalists?

"Norman" would be a gracious olive branch, but would it raise fears of a reversion to a core vote strategy?

"Winston" plays to the anti-EPP Eurosceptics but won't win friends in Curtisland.

"Kylie" is probably a shade too aggressive in its courting of metrosexual metropolitan liberal support."

ROTW: Hats off to Greg Clark and Paul Goodman

TOPIC OF THE WEEK... energy.  George W Bush said that America must free itself from its oil addiction.  In Britain the oil trading millionaire Alan Duncan appeared to suggest that the Tories were not as enthusiastic about nuclear power as previously thought.

A GOOD WEEK FOR... Greg Clark MP.  During a time when most shadow cabinet ministers are pretty anonymous one Tory MP who is making waves is Greg Clark.  The new MP for Tunbridge Wells is running the economic opportunity team within Iain Duncan Smith's social justice policy group and regularly monsters the quangocrats who appear before the Public Accounts Committee (of which he is a member).  Greg's Protection of Private Gardens Bill was covered extensively in the media - including an interview for Radio 4's Today programme.  The Bill aims to remove brownfield status from private gardens in order to stop developers from buying homes and then building houses in the back gardens.  Greg has been inundated with cases of 'garden grabbing' from across the country since his Telegraph piece appeared last Saturday.   

A BAD WEEK FOR... judicial activism.  The confirmation of Samuel Alito to membership of the US Supreme Court amounts to one of George W Bush's most significant achievements.  Justice Alito is likely to be a strict constitutionalist - interpreting, not making, law.  In the last few decades left-liberals have gone over the heads of voters to US and European courts in the hope that activist judges will give them the rights that they have been unable to get accepted through the ballot box.   American conservatives have begun to turn the tide on such activism but the international left are now using even less democratic and less accountable multilateral institutions like the UN to advance their causes. 

TORY POLITICIAN OF THE WEEK... Paul Goodman MP.   Not only did he seek advice from ConservativeHome bloggers on childcare policy, he corresponded with those who made comments.  Such a willingness to dialogue with Tory members is really welcome.  This blog salutes you Paul!

MISPLAY OF THE WEEK... Hilary Armstrong.  Thanks to her mismanagement Tony Blair lost another crucial parliamentary vote... on religious freedom.  Tony Blair has said that he has full confidence in his chief whip.   It can't be too long before she's on the backbenches then!

CONSERVATIVEHOME POST OF THE WEEK... Martin Sewell's brilliantly-argued case for supporting marriage.

EXTERNAL BLOG POST OF THE WEEK... Guido's Blair Heir.  A 'photo exclusive' that captured a little too much truth for comfort.

THE POST THAT RECEIVED THE MOST COMMENTS...

• Should Tory MEPs sit with the "homophobic" Law & Justice party? (267) - With too many of the comments getting a bit nasty.

THE POST THAT RECEIVED THE FEWEST COMMENTS...

• Bush emphasises homeland security over civil liberties (3)

CELEBRITY COMMENT OF THE WEEK...

Dan Hannan MEP defending Poland's Law & Justice party:

"Anti-semitic? I know this is an online discussion, guys, but please don't let's flout the libel laws. The Deputy Prime Minister of Poland, who is the second most senior figure in PiS, is Jewish. No other Polish party has so highly placed a Jewish politician. PiS spent a substantial sum on the holocaust memorial in Warsaw and has strong support from diaspora Jewish groups.  Nor, by the way, are they homophobic. It is bizarre that a British newspaper should be levelling this charge when none of their domestic rivals in Poland does so. Law and Justice is a pluralist party, committed to human rights and the equality of all citizens before the law.  What we are seeing was drearily predictable: any party that comes out against the EU constitution is automatically attacked as extreme, while the crooks inside the EPP are "moderate" because they happen to be federalists. I can understand why the Grauniad wants to take this line, but it is disappointing to see Useful Idiots on this list falling for it.""

BEST COMMENT OF THE WEEK...

Peter Franklin on the difficulties of building a new generation of nuclear power plants:

"What we are talking about here is the mother of all public sector contracts, combined with the daddy of all civil engineering projects, the uncle disgusting of all safety issues and the girlfriend-from-hell of all planning disputes."

ROTW: Harper and Hague are this week's stars

Today ConservativeHome begins a new feature reviewing the political week.  The Review will appear every Friday or Saturday.

HOT TOPIC OF THE WEEK… Tax.  Britain is becoming increasingly burdened by Gordon Brown’s taxes and George Osborne used a speech to acknowledge the economic cost of this burden but he then put “stability” before tax relief in a speech that provoked a lot of energetic commenting on this site.

A GOOD WEEK… for political blogs.  Canada’s blogging Tories performed five main roles for the victorious Stephen Harper:

(1) They helped to expose the corruption of the Chretien/ Martin Liberal Party.
(2) They kept the corruption scandal in the news cycle when mainstream old media moved on to other things.
(3) They fact checked and fisked the outpourings of the mainstream media.
(4) They put out videos, cartoons and other campaign ads that were too edgy for the official Conservative Party but reached voters that tune out of more conventional messaging.
(5) They maintained activist morale.

A(NOTHER) BAD WEEK… for the LibDems.  It began with revelations about Mark Oaten’s use of a male prostitute and the News of the World’s suggestion of sex acts that were too lurid to print.  A LibDem candidate defected to Cam's Cons and then Simon Hughes was outed as having had homosexual relationships even though he had repeatedly denied that he was gay.  The week ended with the LibDems slipping to just 13% in the latest YouGov/ Telegraph poll.

TORY POLITICIAN OF THE WEEK… William Hague.  Members of the ConservativeHome.com Members’ Panel gave him a net satisfaction rating of +83%.  Just 4% of the Panel were dissatisfied with the Shadow Foreign Secretary’s performance.

PLAY OF THE WEEK… David Cameron at PMQs.  Sir Ming may have asked the most worthy question about the west’s failure to help the people of Darfur but the Tory leader delivered the memorable performance.  Cameron wins the Play of the Week for taunting Blair by saying that the CND member of 1983 had gone into politics to "soak the rich and ban the bomb" but had been "sucking up to the rich and dropping bombs" ever since.

EXTERNAL BLOG POST OF THE WEEK… Brendan Simms on the Social Affairs Unit blog – pointing out that David Cameron’s chair of the security policy group - 'Pauline Neville Chamberlain' -  was no neocon.

CONSERVATIVEHOME POST OF THE WEEK… We compared the policies of the AusCons, CanCons and USCons with the CamCons and found Britain’s Tories increasingly out-of-step with their English-speaking counterparts.  BBC World Service interviewed me about the comparison for the People & Politics programme.

THE POST THAT RECEIVED THE MOST COMMENTS...

• More tax anxiety (172)

THE POST THAT RECEIVED THE FEWEST COMMENTS...

• Remembering Darfur (3)

COMMENT OF THE WEEK... Simon C responding to the post on the Assisted Dying Bill.  This is one of four points he made:

"Contrary to their protestations, pro-euthanasia campaigners are seeking to impose their views on others: they are saying that in some cases an active intervention to bring a patient's life to an end months earlier than would otherwise have happened should be regarded as a positive & good outcome. They are saying that medicine is something that you can take to bring about the end of your life, not just to make you better. In short, they are imposing a view that would upturn the established principles on which our medical culture has been based for centuries. As a result people living with life-threatening conditions, who are fighting every step of the way, are having to read in the newspapers or see on television the view that it would be far more dignified of them to take the euthanasia route. There are other ways of dying in dignity. It is quite wrong for the Voluntary Euthanasia Society to suggest that it has a monopoly on dignity by changing its name to "Dying in Dignity" and then applying for trademarks to claim exclusive ownership of that language."