Britannia Radio

Monday 22nd June 2009Britain's leading conservative blog

Today's top ConservativeHome features ToryDiary: Beckett and Bercow would be wrong choices for Speaker Dr Teck Khong on Platform: The flaws in the NHS must be addressed by rebuilding it from its very core Local government: £78 million uncollected Council Tax in Wales Diary of a PPC on Seats and candidates: Caroline Nokes balances her political life with work and family duties during a busy week in Romsey Highlights from the weekend ToryDiary: The grim mood of the Parliamentary Conservative Party Tom Greeves on CentreRight defends MPs employing spouses etc: In praise of nepotism Melanchthon on CentreRight: "If Cameron can successfully renegotiate our position within the EU, then there is a chance that the UK will still be a member in thirty years time.  If Cameron chooses not to try to renegotiate, or if he does try but is not taken seriously by our EU partners, then I expect that the UK will have left the EU within ten to fifteen years." WATCH: He'll fix the schools... he'll cool the earth... he's Super Obama Local government: Roger Scruton's solution to the great wheelie bin debate: "Smaller wheelie bins, made out of wood, designed by Leon Krier or Quinlan Terry, embossed with the council coat of arms." Today's newslinks William Hague turns the screw on Iraq Inquiry Why the ex-PM MUST give his Iraq War evidence in public - The Shadow Foreign Secretary writing for the Daily Mail > Tim Montgomerie on CentreRight: Questions that won't (but should) be at the heart of the Iraq Inquiry Tories fear big political hit from second job disclosures "A source said: 'There is a fear that this could be at least as big as the second-home scandal. When we are forced to reveal our rates and the time taken by these jobs, there's going to be trouble.' Previously, MPs only had to reveal how much they were paid for second jobs that had a bearing on their parliamentary roles." - Daily Mail Business escalates its efforts to lobby the Conservatives "The Tories’ policies on planning and airport expansion remain bones of contention with business. "The main issue we have with the Conservatives is their opposition to Heathrow expansion,” David Frost, director-general of the British Chambers of Commerce, said. “I don’t see what their realistic alternative to that is.”" - FT Tobias Ellwood MP hurt in confrontation with youths - Guardian | Yesterday's ToryDiary Delay to ID cards suggests victory for Chris Grayling "The showpiece contract for national identity cards will be held back, prompting speculation that a Tory pledge to scrap the entire scheme may have unsettled its front-running companies." - ContractorUK Ed Balls considers ban on BNP members becoming teachers "The government is investigating a possible ban on British National party members working as teachers in schools in a move that could challenge the legitimacy of the far-right party. A source close to the schools secretary, Ed Balls, said there had been several meetings on the issue with teaching unions which are lobbying for a change in teachers' contracts to prevent them from working if they are members of far-right groups including the BNP... Members of the BNP, National Front and Combat 18 are banned from joining the police or becoming prison officers." - Guardian Alan Johnson says anti-social behaviour will be his top priority "Alan Johnson will revive the crusade against antisocial behaviour after admitting that the Government has been “coasting” on the issue in past years. The new Home Secretary said that too many people on housing estates felt ignored by the authorities and that their worries about yobbish behaviour were not taken seriously." - Times The new Speaker should take a firm grip on Prime Minister's Questions - Roy Hattersley in The Times Yasmin Alibhai-Brown: The Left must make tough spending choices "Refusing to consider means-testing for child benefit and transport for the retired is perverse and will mean the most needy will suffer more terribly the effects of the coming hard times." - Yasmin Alibhai-Brown in The Independent Free NHS cannot survive, doctors told - Scotsman If Britain scraps Trident it will may lose its place on the UN Security Council "The five permanent members of the UN Security Council (the US, Russia, China, Britain and France) achieved their positions by being the victors of the Second World War. But they now retain those seats only thanks to their possession of credible nuclear deterrents... Anyone who does not think the seat valuable should be open enough intellectually to assess the diplomatic value of a Security Council veto. Germany, Japan, India all want and - on most measures - deserve a permanent seat more than Britain. Cancel Trident's replacement and we join the second rank of European countries, on a par with Italy or Spain economically and militarily." - Sash Tusa in The Times Labour delaying the election might secure the passage of Lisbon "Lisbon is genuinely a federalising treaty, a rewriting of the European constitutional treaty, which was rejected by France and the Netherlands in their national referendums. The treaty transfers power from national parliaments to the Brussels bureaucracy and would make Britain a province of a European state with a European president. The British do not support such a treaty, but have never had the opportunity to vote on it. October 2009 would be the best window of opportunity for Labour. Will Labour sacrifice their best election chance to protect the Lisbon treaty?" - William Rees-Mogg in The Times And finally... "On Thursday, the public relations magazine PR Week published an article profiling [Tory Adam Afriyie MP]. On Friday, its editors received an email. "Would you mind taking on board one correction?" wrote Mr Afriyie's chief of staff, Russell Walters. "You say he is worth £13m but this is a significant understatement," continued the email, seen by The Independent."