18 May 2013 09:12:23

Newslinks for Saturday 18th May 2013

Tory Diary: If the Conservative Party is in decline, whose fault is that?

Energy Minister Greg Barker MP on Comment: How this Government is cutting energy bills

Bad news: Prime Minister’s ally - our party activists are “mad, swivel-eyed loons”

“Tory activists are 'mad, swivel-eyed loons', according to one of David Cameron’s closest  allies. The incendiary comment made at a private dinner this week is likely to plunge relations between the Prime Minister and his party to a new low. It offers a rare insight into the disregard and irritation felt by the Prime Minister’s inner circle towards Conservative Party members up and down the country. The senior figure, who has strong social connections to the Prime Minister and close links to the party machine, blamed grassroots members for the rebellion by MPs on Europe this week. Asked about Wednesday’s vote in which 116 Conservative MPs voted against the Queen’s Speech, the figure said: 'It’s fine. There’s really no problem. The MPs just have to do it because the associations tell them to, and the associations are all mad, swivel-eyed loons.' The remarks will worsen the rift between Mr Cameron and his party amid pressure from the Tory Right, who bounced the Prime Minister into publishing a draft referendum Bill on EU membership last week." The Times (£)

• Tories must not self-destruct – Macer Hall, Daily Express

> Today: Tory Diary - If the Conservative Party is in decline, whose fault is that?

> Yesterday:

• ToryDiary: When it comes to Europe, 17% of voters think Cameron is driven by beliefs, but 64% think he's driven by tactical calculations
• Nick Thornsby on Comment:  As a Liberal Democrat, I ask - What are you, our Coalition partners, playing at?

Better News 1) Boost for Osborne as FTSE hits highest level since start of financial crisis

“The stock market last night rose to its highest level since the financial crisis, providing a timely boost for Chancellor George Osborne. The FTSE 100 index of Britain’s biggest blue chip companies ended the day above 6,700 points for the first time since October 2007 – the month after the run on Northern Rock. It comes after Bank of England Governor Sir Mervyn King on Wednesday predicted a ‘modest but sustained’ recovery but warned inflation will remain ‘stubbornly high’” – Daily Mail

• EU bonus cap to catch more bankers – Financial Times

Better News 2) Green shoots for the Tories?

“Wallowing in the mid-term doldrums, bickering over Europe, lacking any sense of vision or direction… by all the normal rules of politics, this should be a time of deep unpopularity for the Tories. Yet remarkably, a poll this week shows the party up two points – lagging only three behind Labour, which has slumped from 38 to 34 per cent” – Daily Mail Comment

Downing Street rebukes Philip Hammond amid leadership bid concern

“Philip Hammond was rebuked by Downing Street on Friday over his criticism of gay marriage, amid concern that the defence secretary could be positioning for a leadership bid. A senior government official said Number 10 was ‘dismayed’ by Mr Hammond’s performance on the BBC’s Question Time, when he suggested that David Cameron was wasting parliamentary time and causing public anger by backing same sex marriages” – Financial Times

> Yesterday:

• Nick Herbert MP on Comment: No-one will be forced to enter a gay marriage. No church will be forced to conduct a gay marriage. The case for the same-sex marriage bill.
• Tim Loughton MP on Comment: If you're gay, you can have a civil partnership. But if you're straight, you can't. What's equal about that?
• The Deep End: Heresy of the Week - Never mind UKIP, it’s young voters Conservatives should watch out for

Hammond: "The grey man who could be David Cameron’s nemesis"

“You may not have heard of Philip Hammond — there’s little reason why you should. After all, the Defence Secretary is not the most charismatic politician…However, behind Mr Hammond’s bank-manager-style exterior lies a man of considerable accomplishment…Some of his friends say that, keenly aware of his own abilities, he harbours a quiet determination to lead his party — which is reason enough to pay particular attention to his public pronouncements at a time when the Tories are facing something close to civil war over Europe. His announcement last weekend that he would vote to leave the EU were a referendum held now was remarkable” – Simon Heffer, Daily Mail

Charles Moore leans one way: "David Cameron isn’t a disaster, yet I long for a radical new leader..."

“I find myself in the odd position of longing for a new leader (I don’t much mind from which party) who can propose – à la Thatcher, Roosevelt, de Gaulle – a quite different way ahead, and yet also feeling that Mr Cameron is not at all a disaster. If only he would bring…clarity to the subject of Europe…He seems to regard the issue as a migraine-inducing matter of party opinion-management rather than for what it is – the main constitutional, strategic and economic question which this country faces. On the subject of Europe, Cameron the great moderniser is painfully 20th century” – Charles Moore, Daily Telegraph

...And Matthew Parris the other: "If Dave cuts a deal with UKIP I’m outta here"

“Along with millions (I believe) of liberal Tory supporters, and millions more still undecided, I will never vote for any Conservative candidates who pay UKIP protection money by signing up to their policies in return for being given a clear run. We must expose any such deals and punish at the ballot box those who connive in them. It’s simple. A vote for a Tory- UKIP collaborator is a vote for UKIP…This week it began to appear that to cut any ice in Tory politics, you have to cut up rough and treat your party like a bar-room brawl. Well, here it is in bar-room language: cut a deal with UKIP, and I’m outta here. And (the Tories would find) outta here too would be millions more” – Matthew Parris, The Times (£)

•  UKIP, Britain’s newest political tribe – John Harris, the Guardian
• Women who wear trousers “deliberately making themselves unattractive” says UKIP donor – Daily Mail

Salmond and Farage clash over anti-UKIP protest

“Alex Salmond, Scottish first minister, has mocked complaints from Nigel Farage over his barracking by protesters at an Edinburgh pub, saying Scotland does not need the UK Independence party. In a testy BBC Scotland radio interview, Mr Farage condemned the protesters who surrounded him at a press event on Thursday as ‘fascist scum’ showing an ‘ugly face’ of Scottish nationalism.” – Financial Times

Conservatives float two-tier benefits system in private survey in Labour marginals

“The proposal for a two-tier benefits system is one of a number of Conservative policy ideas in a survey sent to members of the public in marginal seats held by Labour. The five page survey, obtained by Tribune magazine, contains 35 questions grouped under headings such as ‘helping with the cost of living’ and ‘making our welfare and benefits system fair’” – Daily Telegraph

“Bedroom tax” causes huge leap in hardship payments

“The extent of the suffering inflicted by the “bedroom tax” can be revealed for the first time today as figures show a 338 per cent leap in the number of people applying for emergency handouts in the month since it was imposed. In April, more than 25,000 people resorted to applying for discretionary housing payments (DHP) to help cover their rent, according to an analysis of 51 councils by the Independent. There were only 5,700 such claimants in the same month last year” - Independent

• Cameron accused of “scaremongering” over health tourism – Daily Telegraph
• Only 200 pensioners returned winter fuel payment – Sun
• Ed Miliband to risk wrath of Left by embracing limit on welfare – The Times (£)

News in brief

• Cameron’s EU plan raises Paris-Berlin tensions – Financial Times
• EU to ban olive oil jugs from restaurants – Daily Telegraph
• Ministers urged to clarify nuclear power cost overruns – Daily Telegraph
• Stoke City launch investigation after pig’s head found in locker - Independent
• MPs accused of “demonizing” US multinationals over tax – Financial Times
• Litvinenko widow accuses Hague of inquest cover-up - Guardian
• Lib Dem backs plain cigarette packs - Guardian
• How an adopted child fell victim to Oxford sex gang – The Times (£)
• Britons too sceptical to win Eurovision song contest – Financial Times

> Please use the thread below to provide links to news topics likely to be of interest to ConservativeHome readers and to comment on political topics that haven't been given their own blog. Read our comments policy here.

17 May 2013 08:49:30

Newslinks for Friday 17th May 2013

7pm Local Government: Council byelection results from yesterday

6pm Nick Thornsby on Comment: "The actions of Conservative MPsare not only making that elusive Parliamentary majority -- already looking increasingly distant -- unattainable, they are also, jeopardising any hope of returning a Conservative to Downing Street as part of a future coalition." As a Liberal Democrat, I ask - What are you, our Coalition partners, playing at?

4pm Mark Prisk MP on Comment: How this Government is boosting one of the great Thatcher policies - the Right to Buy

2.45pm WATCH: From the Taxpayers Alliance - ‪Income Tax and National Insurance: What are you really paying?‬

1.45pm Max Wind-Cowie on Comment: "We must cease to assume that women are entitled to massively more in the way of parental leave. And courts cannot any longer justify their presumption in favour of women when ustody is being decided." Boys will be boys

10.15am LeftWatch: The truth about Nick Clegg's manifesto referendum pledge  and how he is breaking it

ToryDiary: How Jeremy Hunt plans to improve the NHS (and boost his own standing)

Also on ToryDiary: When it comes to Europe, 17% of voters think Cameron is driven by beliefs, but 64% think he's driven by tactical calculations

As the return of the same-sex marriage bill looms, Nick Herbert MP on Comment says the tide of opinion in the western world is for change…

• No-one will be forced to enter a gay marriage. No church will be forced to conduct a gay marriage. The case for the same-sex marriage bill.

…And Tim Loughton MP makes the case for equality in civil partnerships.

• If you're gay, you can have a civil partnership. But if you're straight, you can't. What's equal about that?

Iain Dale's Friday Diary: Guess which member of my household voted UKIP

The Deep End: Heresy of the Week - Never mind UKIP, it’s young voters Conservatives should watch out for

Local Government: Councils should use imperial measures

A new Tory MP is in the spotlight over Europe. James Wharton, Harold Macmillan's successor in Stockton, will present a Referendum Bill...

"Conservative MP James Wharton announced he will introduce the Bill in the Commons next month. And the PM slapped a three-line whip on the move in a bid to unite the party after a week of turmoil. Mr Cameron was left bruised after 114 Tory MPs rebelled and backed another Bill slamming the lack of an in-out EU referendum Bill in the Queen’s Speech. But Mr Wharton, 29 — who became the Tories’ youngest MP when he was elected in 2010 — faces an uphill battle to force his Bill through as both Labour and the Lib Dems are opposed to it." - The Sun

• Wharton: an Assocation Chairman at 18 - The Independent

...But Clegg and Labour will oppose it

"But Deputy PM and Lib Dem leader Nick Clegg opposes the Bill, while Labour confirmed it doesn’t back it because now is the “wrong time” to commit to a future referendum. But aides declined to say if Labour leader Ed ­Miliband would order his MPs to vote against the measure. A source said: “We will consider the tactical question when it comes up but we do not want it to go through.”…A YouGov poll shows 43 per cent of British voters want to leave the EU." - Daily Express

• Tory battle over Europe is damaging UK economy, says Cable - Financial Times
• Farage forced to enter pub shocker - The Sun
• Cameron’s strategy to staunch pressure for EU departure is falling apart - Philip Stephens, Financial Times
• Leaving Europe would be bad for British business - John Cridland, The Guardian

Yesterday:

• ToryDiary: Cameron's been likened to Major. More votes like last night's, and the comparison will be with Lord North.
• MPsETC: In public, Conservative MPs are backing rebels. But in private, they're voting for loyalists.
• MPsETC: A list of the 114 Tory MPs who voted in support of John Baron's amendment

Downing Street "planning for Coalition break-up"

'Some of David Cameron’s senior aides are talking through a range of scenarios, including the Lib Dems quitting up to a year before polling day. One such contingency envisages Vince Cable taking over from Mr Clegg and using the opposition benches to reposition the Lib Dems as equidistant between the Tories and Labour. Another scenario involves an “amicable divorce” in which the Lib Dems agree to Mr Cameron leading a minority government and wave through next year’s Budget, but put campaigning distance between themselves and the Conservatives." - The Times (£)

Hammond and Paterson dig in over spending round

"Some ministers failed to provide Mr Osborne with the list of 10 per cent in proposed departmental cuts he ordered before last month’s deadline. One said the chancellor was “asking too much”. Those regarded as being awkward include two rightwing Tories – Philip Hammond at defence and Owen Paterson at environment – along with Vince Cable, the Liberal Democrat business secretary…Mr Osborne and Danny Alexander, his Lib Dem chief secretary, are preparing for weeks of attrition but insist that they will achieve their objective of cutting departmental spending in election year by £11.5bn." - Financial Times

> Yesterday:ToryDiary - An improving economy may rescue Cameron and Osborne, but it won’t deliver them from some tricky questions:

Hunt plans end to written prescriptions

"Jeremy Hunt is to unveil plans for a £260million system that will dispense drugs electronically and, he says, prevent needless deaths. At least 11 people died in the NHS last year because they were given the wrong drugs or incorrect doses. Medicines are being prescribed incorrectly because patients’ notes are lost, while research suggests that eight per cent of hospital prescriptions have mistakes in them." - Daily Mail

> Today: ToryDiary - How Jeremy Hunt plans to improve the NHS (and boost his own standing)

Loughton pushes for straight civil partnerships.  And Miller retreats on them - as the return of the same-sex marriage bill looms

"In yet another U-turn to placate restive Tory backbenchers, the Government has promised a review into the future of civil partnerships five years after same-sex marriage becomes law. It will look at whether the partnerships should be scrapped – or whether they should also be offered to a man and woman as an alternative to marriage." - Daily Mail

• Tatchell sides with Loughton over Government "stalling" - The Guardian

> Today:

• Nick Herbert MP: No-one will be forced to enter a gay marriage. No church will be forced to conduct a gay marriage. The case for the same-sex marriage bill.
• Tim Loughton MP: If you're gay, you can have a civil partnership. But if you're straight, you can't. What's equal about that?

The police must help the media name suspects, says May

"She insists police chiefs must NOT stand in the way of the transparency of journalists’ reporting. Mrs May says reputations can be ruined if a public arrest “turns out to be based on nothing at all”. But crucially she also goes on to say: “There is, however, also a case for making the names of those arrested public. It can also lead to further witnesses coming forward. “And where the press has already identified the suspect, and asked for confirmation from the police, the police should confirm it.” - The Sun

Gove rides to the rescue of Boles in his Keith Joseph lecture yesterday evening

"He criticised people who are fighting development in rural areas, which has been made easier by the Government’s relaxation of planning rules earlier this year. He also claimed that building more homes in the countryside could add to its beauty. “These planning reforms have not been without their critics but no one who believes in social mobility, in aspiration, in pro-family policies, in thrift and in freedom can be anything other than delighted by the release of more land for housing,” he said." - Daily Telegraph

"The row comes after European Commission investigators raided the London offices of oil companies Shell and BP on Tuesday as part of a price-fixing investigation. Tory MP Robert Halfon, who has called for an investigation into alleged cartels and market manipulation in the oil market for the past three years, said there must be a full inquiry." - Daily Mail

• How we are being screwed by big firms - The Sun
• BP asks for Government help - Daily Mail
• Green energy plans will put £600 on bills - Daily Mail
• Grime Squad - Sun Editoral

Nik Darlington: The real Conservative split - safe seats versus marginals

"The average constituency majority of Tory MPs who signed John Baron’s (majority 12,398) amendment last week is greater than 8,000. More than one-third of signatories have majorities in excess of 10,000. Some MPs from marginal (and ultra-marginal) seats backed it but they were few and far between. The names of ringleaders ring familiar, their electoral cushions ring like phone numbers: Nadine Dorries (15,152), Bernard Jenkin (11,447), Bill Cash (13,292), Adam Afriye (19,054), Charles Walker (18,804), David Davis (11,602), Douglas Carswell (12,068)." - Daily Telegraph

Latest Select Committee push for headlines. Hodge tells Google that it "does evil"

"Margaret Hodge, chair of the public accounts committee, told Google's northern Europe boss, Matt Brittin, that his company's behaviour on tax was "devious, calculated and, in my view, unethical". He had been recalled by MPs after being accused of misleading parliament over the firm's tax affairs six months ago. Hodge said: "You are a company that says you 'do no evil'. And I think that you do do evil." Hodge was referring to Google's long-standing corporate motto, "Don't be evil," which appeared in its $23bn US stock market flotation prospectus in 2004." - The Guardian

• A quarter of MPs say that there's too much drinking in Westminster - The Guardian

Fraser Nelson: We can’t afford a shiny new transport system like HS2

"The High Speed 2 project has ended up being rather less ambitious than Mr Osborne’s imaginings: it might shave 35 minutes from the journey between London and Birmingham, and reduce the Birmingham-to-Newcastle journey time to two hours from three. It is easy to see the appeal of this, but it would come at a cost. At least £35 billion – and spending on such projects traditionally doubles. Would the benefits cover the cost? Would commuters want it enough to pay the higher fare? Might the money be better spent elsewhere? As soon as you ask such questions, the case for HS2 disintegrates." - Daily Telegraph

• "When I asked a transport economist why the BBC couldn't find a member of his profession to defend HS2 on air he said, "because there aren't any"." - Simon Jenkins, The Guardian

> Yesterday:

• Patrick McLoughlin MP on Comment: Why Margaret Hodge and her committee are wrong about HS2
• Cheryl Gillan MP on Comment: A report that underlines the need for a rethink on HS2

Maude v Jenkin: battle continues on civil service reform

"Relations between Westminster and Whitehall are unusually tense, following attacks on civil service “obstructionism” by Francis Maude, the Cabinet Office minister. A number of cabinet colleagues are reported to share his frustration, believing that policies are not being delivered with the speed the government has sought. Mr Jenkin said ministers appeared to have made up their minds that “the civil service was to blame for successive governments’ poor performance”." - Financial Times (£)

Jon Cruddas, the man in charge of Labour's policy review. And how it works.

"Cruddas is determined the policy review does not fall into a mechanistic set of Whitehall prescriptions that is designed to modernise the country but fails to strike the right note with the electorate. With his "Blue Labour" roots, Cruddas insists "it is tackling issues politics have ignored for decades like mental health, fatherhood and the ownership of football clubs or learning lessons from far and wide – even Republican Texans on prison reform"." - The Guardian

News in Brief

• Shock revelation: Fallon opposed Labour's Post Office privatisation plans - Daily Telegraph
• Census shows that Christians have the oldest age profile of all the main faiths while Muslims have the youngest - The Times (£)
• Obama stays cautious on Syria - The Guardian
• Breakthrough in IVF treatment could triple number of births - The Independent
• Donald Trump begins wind farm legal challenge - Scotsman
• Martin McGuinness and Peter Robinson's trips abroad cost Northern Ireland taxpayer £350,000 - Belfast Telegraph
• Sally Bercow McAlpine tweet trial begins - Daily Express
• Legacy use agreed for last of eight big Olympic venues - Financial Times
• Beckham retires - The Sun

> Please use the thread below to provide links to news topics likely to be of interest to ConservativeHome readers and to comment on political topics that haven't been given their own blog. Read our comments policy here.

16 May 2013 08:30:27

Newslinks for Thursday 16th May 2013

6.30pm WATCH: James Wharton discusses his private member's bill for an EU referendum

4.30pm This morning, Patrick McLoughlin defended HS2 on this site after a critical Commons report. Now his former Cabinet colleague Cheryl Gillan calls for the project to be scrapped. She writes on Comment: A report that underlines the need for a rethink on HS2

4.15pm On ThinkTankCentral, Andy Mayer writes: A longer working life means a healthier life – policymakers should take note

3.30pm JP Floru on Comment: Queues at the state Post Offices and the Stockholm Syndrome

3.15 MPsETC: MEP shortlists for the North West and London

3pm Local Government: Four Conservative councillors in Merton threaten to defect to UKIP

12.45pm On ToryDiary, Peter Hoskin writes that an improving economy may rescue Cameron and Osborne, but it won’t deliver them from some tricky questions: "Among those questions is one that the Chancellor hasn’t been fortunate enough to properly consider in the past: what does he do with improving growth forecasts?"

11.30am Transport Secretary Patrick McLoughlin on Comment: Why Margaret Hodge and her committee are wrong about HS2

11am MPsETC: In public, Conservative MPs are backing rebels. But in private, they're voting for loyalists.

ToryDiary: Cameron's been likened to Major. More votes like last night's, and the comparison will be with Lord North.

Also on ToryDiary: Lewis Sidnick to be a Contributing Editor to ConsevativeHome

Andrew Gimson writes this week's Culture Column: Let Jesse Norman be your guide through the life and work of Edmund Burke

James Duddridge MP on Comment: We must do all we can to make sure Zimbabwe's elections are fair elections

Also on Comment, Charles Walker MP says that Andrew Gimson is wrong about Grant Shapps – he's the best man to do the Job from Hell

MPsETC update: A list of the 114 Tory MPs who voted in support of John Baron's amendment 

George Grant on Local Government: Green Party civil war in Brighton shows the clash when the Left is faced with reality

The Deep End: Drone warfare isn’t very nice, but that’s mainly because of the warfare not the drones

Not technically a rebellion, but still a blow for David Cameron: 114 Tories vote for the Baron amendment

"A total of 130 MPs, including 12 Labour rebels and DUP members, backed an unprecedented motion expressing 'regret' that last week's Queen's Speech did not include legislation paving the way for a referendum. ... In all, 114 Tories – more than half the party's backbenchers and one in three of its MPs – backed the amendment ... the scale of the Tory rebellion was a significant blow for David Cameron, who had tried on Tuesday to take the sting out of the vote by unveiling draft legislation." - Daily Mail

• "The secret of David Cameron’s Europe strategy: he doesn’t have one" - James Forsyth, The Spectator
• "Eurosceptic Tories are damaging the national interest - and their chances of winning the next election" - Ed Davey MP, New Statesman
• "If the 'outs' get their way, we'll end up like Ukraine" - Vince Cable, Guardian
• "Who’s the odd one out in Europe? Not us" - Andreas Whittam Smith, Independent

> Today: 

• ToryDiary: Cameron's been likened to Major. More votes like last night's, and the comparison will be with Lord North.
• MPsETC update: A list of the 114 Tory MPs who voted in support of John Baron's amendment

> Yesterday:

• ToryDiary: Do Conservative MPs really want to win the next election?
• ToryDiary: How today's referendum row could change the rules of the game in 2015
• Lottie Dexter on Comment: Stop bickering about Europe. Start talking about what matters - such as the fact that one in five young people are unemployed
• Robin Walker MP: As an MP in a marginal constituency, I say that Tory MPs should buckle down - and back Cameron
• Martin Vickers MP: Voters are ahead of the game on Europe. They don't want to wait four years for a referendum.

Mr Cameron joins Robert Halfon in exerting pressure on oil bosses

"The Prime Minister said he will urgently look at 'extending criminal offences' to cover market manipulation in the energy sector, after BP and Shell were raided by European authorities on suspicion of rigging oil prices. ... Robert Halfon, MP for Harlow, said he has also written to the Serious Fraud Office and City of London Police to ask whether they have any scope to investigate." - Daily Telegraph

• "If oil executives have fixed prices there should be a windfall tax and jail sentences" - Robert Halfon, The Times (£)
• "Robert Halfon, the MP for Harlow, is a doughty crusader for consumer rights: his call for any executives found guilty of rigging the petrol market to be slung into prison and a windfall tax imposed on their firms will have strong popular resonance." - Daily Telegraph editorial
• "If found guilty, we agree with David Cameron that those responsible should face jail. ... Their companies should also be hit with massive fines, with the money being used to slash fuel duty." - Sun editorial
• "Should evidence of fraud be found ... the implications are difficult to overstate." - Independent editorial

> Yesterday on ToryDiary: Political lessons from the fuel price war

And hints that he wants to offer RBS shares to the public

"David Cameron on Wednesday gave the strongest hint yet that he wants to reprivatise Royal Bank of Scotland by offering shares to millions of voters, in a process he hopes to begin before the next election. ... Speaking in New York, Mr Cameron said for the first time that he was open to the idea of 'involving people in owning this bank in a genuine way' – an echo of the 'Tell Sid' privatisations of the 1980s." - Financial Times

But resists pressure to publish a list of Lynton Crosby's clients

"The prime minister has in the past called for more transparency with regard to the lobbying industry, saying that sunlight was 'the best disinfectant'. ... But Mr Cameron has dismissed suggestions that there could be any conflict of interest in having Mr Crosby, an Australian pollster and lobbyist, from working part-time for the Tory party while still advising his private clients." - Financial Times

• "David Cameron has appointed George Eustice, his former press secretary and former Ukip candidate, as his new adviser on Energy and Climate Change issues" - Independent

Nadine Dorries: I want to be the first Tory-UKIP candidate

"There are members in my association who approached me recently who are confused. They have always been Conservative and will never change their allegiance but feel very much as though they have a huge amount of empathy with Ukip. I feel it would be a travesty if Ukip came in and took the seats off our councillors or indeed me when actually their policies and their beliefs are very much Ukip. Because what we have done, we have thrown clothes off and they have picked them up and put them on." - Nadine Dorries, interviewed in The Spectator

"The Conservatives would reject Nadine Dorries again if she decided to stand on a joint ticket with Ukip at the next election, the party suggested night." - Daily Telegraph

• "...a lot of rural/suburbab Tory-Ukippery just doesn't make sense in the big, competitive, changing world." - David Aaronovitch, The Times (£)

> Yesterday:

• Jackie Doyle-Price MP on Comment: My pro-UKIP MP colleagues should join Farage - or shut up
• Local Government: UKIP spurn county coalitions with Conservatives

The New Statesman wonders whether Boris Johnson and Michael Gove are the Tory dream ticket

"Johnson’s casual Euroscepticism is not the reason he is toasted as the king over the water by many Tories but Ukip’s rise has nonetheless enhanced that status. The colourful persona that is “Boris” – unusual in being on first-name terms with the electorate – is the only figure who can match Nigel Farage in the effortless bonhomie that passes as distinction from conventional politics. ... By contrast, gravitas and intellectual rigour are what distinguish Gove’s ambitions." - Rafael Behr, New Statesman [no link yet available]

• "Speaking to MPs on the Education Select Committee, Mr Gove said he welcomed comparisons with Mr Blair for his approach to winning political arguments. ... He then clarified his remark, saying: 'Tony Blair will decide who his heir is but I am a great fan.'" - Daily Telegraph
• "GCSE grades could be ditched in favour of a number-based system, Michael Gove suggested yesterday." - Daily Mail

George Osborne will be cheered by Mervyn King's parting optimism

"In a welcome break from six years of persistent gloom, Sir Mervyn King announced that 'a modest and sustained recovery' is on its way. ... Last night George Osborne welcomed the improved economic outlook." - Daily Mail

"[Sir Mervyn] accused the previous Government, under Gordon Brown, of ignoring his advice to deal more decisively with the banks and claimed that Britain would be enjoying a stronger recovery if Labour had injected more money into the banks." - The Times (£)

"The Chancellor told the CBI's annual dinner in London: 'Now is not the time to lose our nerve. Let's not listen to those who would take us back to square one. Let's carry on doing what is right for Britain. Let's see this through.'" - Independent

• "King wants this triumph over the forces of inflation, as well as his robust actions to head off depression after the financial crisis of 2007-09, to be seen as his lasting legacy." - Alex Brummer, Daily Mail

Patrick McLoughlin defends HS2 from the National Audit Office

"Ministers have got their sums wrong and left the  controversial high-speed rail scheme with a £3billion funding gap, a report revealed yesterday. ... Transport Secretary Patrick McLoughlin hit back by rejecting the report’s ‘core conclusion’ and said there was a clear case that HS2  would generate hundreds of thousands of jobs and billions of pounds worth of economic benefits." - Daily Mail

"Body-mounted cameras could help police on the beat to convict more criminals, Theresa May said yesterday." - Daily Mail

• "Police chiefs who keep arrests and charges secret were slammed by David Cameron last night. ... Mr Cameron intervened to back Home Secretary Theresa May in her stand-off with chief constables over the issue." - The Sun

Sue Cameron warns that Francis Maude faces a "mauling" over his plans for civil service reform

"An unholy alliance of MPs and senior civil servants is expected to launch a serious bid to wrest control of the entire reform agenda from his grasp. They are calling for an all-party parliamentary commission to be set up to examine the future of Whitehall." - Sue Cameron, Daily Telegraph

Stephen Barclay joins in the calls for action over tax avoidance

"Amazon's main UK business was given more in government grants than it paid in corporation tax last year, it emerged yesterday ... Stephen Barclay, a Conservative MP on the committee, said the Government needs to do more to close loopholes to stop multinationals avoiding the 'spirit of the legislation' and treating corporation tax as a 'voluntary payment'." - The Times (£)

• Nine of the biggest firms failed to disclose use of offshore tax havens - The Times (£)

Nick Clegg versus Sri Lanka

"He pledged consequences if the country did not address reports of politically-motivated trials, assaults on lawyers, and ‘suppression of Press freedom’. .. But he may have been unaware that a body representing editors in Sri Lanka has highlighted the threat to freedom of expression posed in Britain by the Royal Charter proposed by political parties and the Hacked Off lobby group." - Daily Mail

> Yesterday on ToryDiary: Nick Clegg enjoys standing in for David Cameron and denouncing Labour

"Have MPs learnt a thing since 2009?" asks Peter Oborne – "Their greed suggests not"

"The public is entitled to view all this with disgust. Our standard of living is falling, our services are being cut back, the risk of unemployment grows ever greater. But politicians continue to live in a different world, with a separate set of standards." - Peter Oborne, Daily Telegraph

Concerns that not all NHS whistleblowers are equal, after Sir David Nicholson letter

"[Sir David] told MPs on the Health Select Committee two months ago [that exposing abuses] was not only a legal duty but ‘vitally important to patient safety to make it happen’. ... But doctors have described his pledge as a sham after a letter emerged, written days later, in which he tells an NHS employee he cannot help them speak out because a ‘legal process’ had concluded foundation trusts are ‘separate legal bodies’ from the Department of Health." - Daily Mail

• "Doctors must have nothing to do with suicide of patients" - Baroness Finlay, The Times (£)

News in brief:

• The number of Romanians and Bulgarians working in Britain has risen by 15% in a year to 103,000, even before restrictions are lifted - Daily Mail
• The High Court has been asked to consider the legality of the "spare room subsidy" - Financial Times
• Draft bill to stop millionaires ‘buying’ British politics - Financial Times
• The deputy editor of the Guardian is put in charge of Newsnight - Daily Mail
• France is back in recession - Daily Mail

> Please use the thread below to provide links to news topics likely to be of interest to ConservativeHome readers and to comment on political topics that haven't been given their own blog. Read our comments policy here.

15 May 2013 08:30:55

Newslinks for Wednesday 15th May 2013

11.30pm ToryDiary: Cameron's been likened to Major. More votes like this one, and the comparison will be with Lord North.

7.30pm MPsETC: 114 Tory MPs vote for the Baron amendment

5pm ToryDiary: Political lessons from the fuel price war

3.45pm Lottie Dexter on Comment: Stop bickering about Europe. Start talking about what matters - such as the fact that one in five young people are unemployed

2.30pm ToryDiary - Andrew Gimson's sketch: Nick Clegg enjoys standing in for David Cameron and denouncing Labour 

1.45pm As the Commons vote on a referendum bill approaches, three Conservative MPs in less safe seats have their say:

• Robin Walker MP: As an MP in a marginal constituency, I say that Tory MPs should buckle down - and back Cameron
• Martin Vickers MP: Voters are ahead of the game on Europe. They don't want to wait four years for a referendum.
• Jackie Doyle-Price MP: My pro-UKIP MP colleagues should join Farage - or shut up

1.30pm ToryDiary: How today's referendum row could change the rules of the game in 2015

10.15am Greg Clark MP writes the latest Weekly Letter from a Treasury Minister: Some questions for Ed Miliband about his “temporary rise in borrowing”

ToryDiary: Do Conservative MPs really want to win the next election?

Also on ToryDiary, Andrew Gimson advises David Cameron to replace Grant Shapps with a Chairman who can cheer the troops

Henry Hill's latest Red, White and Blue column: Scotland's serious choice, UKIP's Ulster prospects, and history's lessons on devolution

Karen Allen, the Conservative candidate in the recent the South Shields byelection, writes on Comment: I see signs of hope for the Conservatives in the north-east

Local Government: UKIP spurn county coalitions with Conservatives

The Deep End: Stimulus versus austerity: What if both sides are wrong?

WATCH: Lookalike dolls for David Cameron and Prince Harry

David Cameron reveals his EU Referendum question and says "I'm not panicking!"

"David Cameron was last night forced to deny he was panicking over Europe as he unveiled the question that will be posed in a referendum on Britain’s future membership of the EU. ... The Conservatives published draft legislation pledging a straightforward vote on the question: ‘Do you think that the United Kingdom should remain a member of the European Union?’ ... It said the referendum would take place by December 31, 2017 – by which point Mr Cameron says he will have attempted to negotiate a looser, trade-based relationship with Brussels if he remains in Downing Street." - Daily Mail

"David Cameron has ruled out any  further concessions to his hardline Eurosceptic MPs as they prepared to defy him by staging a Commons revolt today ... Philip Hollobone, Tory MP for Kettering, predicted that about 100 Tories would support the amendment and said Mr Cameron should overrule Nick Clegg by bringing in the Bill as a government measure – even if that ended the Coalition." - Independent

• "...the events of the past 48 hours have marked a new low in Mr Cameron’s leadership." - Iain Martin, Daily Telegraph
• "This rebellion is Cameron's Maastricht. He should have seen it coming." - Melissa Kite, Guardian
• "To the public, all this must seem a bewildering distraction from Britain’s enormous economic challenges." - Dominic Sandbrook, Daily Mail
• "Ed Miliband is not actually positioning Labour as the pro-European party. He's positioning it as the anti-referendum party." - Dan Hodges, The Times (£)
• "Britain could reshape Europe if it would only try" - Charles Grant, Financial Times

> Yesterday:

• ToryDiary: A failure of leadership that leaves Cameron as a latter-day John Major
• ToryDiary: David Cameron's Referendum Bill pledge had some success - but why didn't it happen last week?
• Philip Cowley and Mark Stuart on Comment: This Parliament remains on course to be the most rebellious since 1945
• WATCH: Professor Philip Cowley analyses the coalition's record of rebellions

(And takes on the UN's new, proposed development goals)

"David Cameron is fighting plans to place a commitment to reducing income inequality in the developing world into a major UN report that will set out a series of targets to replace the Millennium Development Goals." - Guardian

• Actually, let's focus on inequality, say Labour - Guardian

Grant Shapps pushes Nick Clegg to back the draft EU Referendum Bill

"The dispute about Europe intensified on Tuesday as the Conservative party co‑chairman Grant Shapps challenged Nick Clegg to show courage and back a draft in/out EU referendum bill, accusing the Liberal Democrats of 'complete disdain' for the views of the British people. ... Tory officials pointed to what they described as the hypocrisy of Clegg's abandoned promise in 2010 for a referendum on Europe." - Guardian

> Today on ToryDiary: Replace Grant Shapps with a Chairman who can cheer the troops

Tory MPs in marginal seats warn against "banging on" about Europe

"Conservatives in marginal seats have warned Europe-obsessed colleagues that 'banging on' about Brussels would do little more than consign the party to opposition come 2015, as they urged MPs to fall into line with the leadership. ... David Mowat, chair of the 40 Group of Tories in the most marginal seats, said continued speculation over Britain’s future in Europe was 'damaging'." - Financial Times

• "Given the importance of the issue to this country’s future, it is entirely appropriate to 'bang on about Europe'." - Daily Telegraph editorial
• "Once a leader who warned his party to stop 'banging on about Europe', David Cameron is now a laggard – running up the rear of his troops with a Eurosceptic drum, which he keeps bashing a little too late." - Guardian editorial
• "The tactics have been a mess and the Conservative Party has paraded itself in an unflattering light." - Times editorial (£)
• "A strain of collective madness has descended over the Conservative party in recent days, with backbenchers vying to trample on David Cameron’s European policy." - Financial Times editorial

> Today on ToryDiary: Do Conservative MPs really want to win the next election?

And, ahem, an EU budget increase leaves Britain facing a €1 billion bill

"Finance ministers have agreed to top up this year’s EU budget by €7.3bn – and possibly more – in a move to appease the European parliament that also risks alienating the UK and other countries pressing for tighter spending." - Financial Times

Treasury to consider making RBS shares available to the public – for no upfront cost

"Treasury ministers are to consider a 'big bang' plan to offer the public shares in Royal Bank of Scotland that would they would not have to pay any money upfront. ... Between 50 per cent and 70 per cent of the bank's share – potentially worth between £15 billion and £25 billion – could be offered to Britons, who would benefit then if the share price rises." - The Times (£)

Life will mean life for cop killers, says Theresa May

"Mrs May will pledge to change sentencing rules so that life really does mean life for thugs who murder police officers. ... She will raise the starting point from the current 30 years’ jail to a term where they are kept behind bars until they die." - The Sun

Liam Fox tells his colleagues not to condescend ethnic minority voters

"He told a meeting of Blue Collar Conservativism in the House of Commons: 'People ask "what are you going to do for Asian Conservatives". ... I don’t recognise Asian Conservatives, just Conservatives. You want what we want then come to our party? I know it is meant well, and it is trying to connect, but it is very easy to go from trying to connect to being condescending.'" - Daily Telegraph

Robert Halfon calls on oil companies to come clean over prices

"Tory MP Robert Halfon, a long-time campaigner against high petrol prices, said: ‘These latest allegations underline why action is required urgently in the UK. High oil prices are crushing families across Britain. Motorists are being taken for a very expensive ride.’ ... Oil companies ‘must come clean and show some responsibility for what is happening to the international oil price’, he added." - Daily Mail

Nicola Blackwood: The Oxford sex gang is a product of defeatism and ignorance

"Defeatist because the prevailing attitude was that girls who did not see themselves as victims could not be helped if they would not help themselves. ... Ignorant because too many times social workers, teachers and police did not believe the few victims who did ask for help." - Nicola Blackwood, The Times (£)

Alistair Darling urges Labour to spell out its economic plans

"Ed Miliband must spell out his economic plans this year if he wants voters to trust Labour with the nation’s finances, Alistair Darling said yesterday. ... Mr Darling said the party must come clean about what it would spend in 2015/16 once the Government’s spending review is completed on June 26." - Daily Mail

• "Labour must decide its policy on welfare soon or be forced to dance to the Chancellor’s tune" - Mary Riddell, Daily Telegraph

> Yesterday on LeftWatch: Europe, public spending, union power grabs...Labour have plenty of splits of their own

Daniel Finkelstein: 2015 will be the red line election

"It will be one defined not by policy pledges but by how robust those pledges are. Beyond the normal manifestos there will have to be negotiation positions, 'red line' manifestoes as it were. Leaders will be pressed on how much they are willing to give." - Daniel Finkelstein, The Times (£)

Police Federation chief warns about the Leveson effect

"The latest crime figures showed a 5 per cent fall in crime but, based on the anecdotes I’m getting, I am not sure that is the case,’ he said. ... ‘I do not think the true story is getting out because of the “fear factor” in the wake of Leveson about the effect going public would have on officers’ careers.’" - Daily Mail

• "The public’s right to know has never been more vital – and never has it been under greater threat." - Daily Mail editorial

News in brief

• "Ministers are in discussions with pressure groups about a groundbreaking change in marriage law which would give 'non-religious' wedding ceremonies legal status." - Independent
• "A third of young Brits who failed to get good GCSE grades are jobless" - The Sun
• The 95 Falklands veterans who have committed suicide - Daily Mail
• Did Bloomberg spy on the Bank? - Daily Mail
• Chris Huhne: free, eating a full English, and interviwed by the artist Grayson Perry - Daily Mail
• MPs' anger over the Beeb's relocation spending - Daily Mail
• UKIP councillor quits after posting offensive messages online - Daily Mail
• Barclays has “repeatedly let down society”, says the Church of England - Financial Times

And finally... all dolled up

"Prince Harry was bussed into New York with David Cameron to plug UK firms in America yesterday — on a London double-decker. ... They rode through the city on the Routemaster as part of a campaign to showcase British commercial and cultural successes. ... The pair were also presented with 'mini-me' dolls of themselves." - The Sun

> Today's video to WATCH: Lookalike dolls for David Cameron and Prince Harry

>Yesterday on The Deep End: America versus China in the 21st century - bet on the eagle, not the dragon

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