Britannia Radio

Thursday 9th April 2009Britain's leading conservative blog Today's top ConservativeHome features ToryDiary: What is Thatcherism? Philip Dunne MP on Platform: There's nothing invincible about Vince Local government: Cllr Tim Archer: Residents treated with contempt in Tower Hamlets Split among Tory councillors in Birmingham Does your Council website offer an RSS feed? Today's other newslinks Boris Johnson phones in to Today programme to say that Bob Quick has resigned as Met Police's counter-terrorism chief  Assistant Commissioner Quick exposed a document to cameras assembled in Downing Street as he arrived to brief Gordon Brown on a counter-terrorism operation. Chris Grayling comment at 8.45am: "This is the right decision. It is unacceptable for Britain's most senior anti-terrorist officer to have had such an extraordinary lapse in judgement. To put the security of his police officers and the operation at risk has rendered his position untenable." Chris Grayling: Britain is in danger of becoming a society that is scared of its own children "The Tory frontbencher says the "grotesque" incident in Doncaster, which has seen 10- and 11-year-old brothers charged with the attempted murder of two boys aged nine and 11, as a "wake up call for our nation". He said too many law-abiding people feel like prisoners in their own home and it is time to "reclaim our streets"." -Telegraph Dominic Grieve calls on parliamentary vote on Labour plans to give vote to prisoners ""Many people will question whether this is a sensible development. The principle that those who are in custody after conviction should not have the opportunity to vote is a perfectly rational one. Civic rights go with civic responsibility, but these rights have been flagrantly violated by those who have committed imprisonable offences. The Government must allow a parliamentary debate which gives MPs the opportunity to insist on retaining our existing practise that convicted prisoners can't vote." - The Shadow Justice Secretary quoted in The Telegraph Dominic Grieve also attacks Government after figures show seven in ten burglars avoid prison - Telegraph The Independent's Jeremy Warner welcomes George Osborne's commitment to smaller banks "Do we really need banks which are not only too big to fail, but potentially too big to bail, asks Mr Osborne. What's chiefly needed is vibrant competition in banking, together with banks which are too small to pose any systemic threat if they fail. The American model of community banking remains an excellent one for the bog standard business of serving local communities with their utility needs. Too often, the supposed benefits of economy of scale have been used as an excuse for monopolistic and high-risk lending abuse." - Independent Mr Osborne "also said that the measure of inflation used by the Bank of England to set interest rates may need to change in future to reflect housing costs. The current official measure of inflation does not which has sparked fears that interest rates were too low in the past - which fuelled the housing boom." - Telegraph > Yesterday's ToryDiary: Osborne salutes "awe inspiring" achievements of capitalism "The main responsibility for change lies with the management and boards of banks. They must endeavour to create a culture of integrity, prudence and attention to detail within their institutions. Retail banks must exercise greater care in lending. Boards must rein in out-of-control egos. This change of ethos cannot be delegated to regulatory bodies or central banks but must become the personal responsibility of bankers themselves. The change needed is in culture, not a more socialist economic system." - Lord Griffiths of Ffforestfach, Tory peer, writing in The Times, warns against the belief that more regulation is the answer to the financial crisis Andrew Lansley slams massive NHS overpayments to Ireland - Guardian | BBC "NHS funds are always precious and it’s completely unacceptable for the Government to be carelessly diverting £180 million a year out of our NHS. There are so many different ways that money could be spent to provide better care for NHS patients." - Mr Lansley quoted in The Times Nick Clegg prepares to outflank Labour and Tories on expenses "MPs should be forced to sell their second homes and return most of the profits to the taxpayer, under plans to be put forward by the Liberal Democrat leader. Nick Clegg moves to outflank both Gordon Brown and David Cameron today with the toughest suggestions to date in the effort to end the damaging row over MPs’ perks and allowances." -  > On Tuesday ConservativeHome called for Mr Cameron to lead the other parties on reform of allowances.  It is vital that the Conservative leadership do not allow Nick Clegg and the Liberal Democrats to lead on this issue and use it as a campaign weapon against Conservative candidates. The voting habits of teachers "In the run-up to the 1979 election that brought Margaret Thatcher to victory, most teachers told pollsters they intended to vote Conservative. When in 1987 they defected, disillusioned by low spending on schools, they turned first to the Liberal-SDP Alliance, the third party, before coming round to the charms of Tony Blair. In 1997 59% intended to vote Labour, nearly four times more than fancied the Tories. But fewer have voted Labour in each subsequent election. In 2008 the Times Education Supplement, a trade newspaper, found overwhelming disapproval among teachers of Labour’s school policies and a shift in voting intentions (albeit towards the Liberal Democrats rather than the Tories)." - The Economist The Conservatives insist that Sinn Fein should not receive allowances unless it takes its Westminster seats - BBC | Yesterday's ToryDiary "The inequality that festered during the boom years will not be tolerated during a recession transparently made in the boardroom." - Seumas Milne in The Guardian