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Tuesday 9th June 2009Britain's leading conservative blog Today's top ConservativeHome features ToryDiary: The Conservatives are "on track" to form new eurosceptic alliance in Brussels Rowan Cole on Platform: A failure by mainstream politicians to restore confidence in the political system will result in ill-educated thugs being elected to Parliament Selby and Ainsty's Nigel Adams in Seats and Candidates: How my website redesign was inspired by candidates running for the US Congress Local Government: Nick Seaton: Teaching about sex and relationships should be left to parents New Tory MEP to remain as Bristol city councillor Labour force Warwickshire council by-election on a technicality The £800-a-minute councillor in Tower Hamlets WATCH: Jim Nicholson says he is "back in style" after being re-elected an MEP under the joint Conservative and Unionists banner Tessa Jowell defends Gordon Brown as a poll suggests that dumping him could 'transform' Labour's prospects Stephen Byers and Tom Harris are the latest Labour MPs to call on Gordon Brown to go Today's other newslinks David Cameron warns Conservatives against over-confidence... "David Cameron cautioned his party on Monday against concluding that the general election was “in the bag” following the Tory victories in the local and European elections... “Let us not sit back and think that the [general] election is in the bag for us, it isn’t. We are going to have to work our socks off over the coming weeks and months to prove that we are worthy of the trust of the British people,” the Conservative leader told supporters in Wales, where his party scored a historic win in the European elections by beating Labour into second place." - FT ...but mocks Labour for being locked in a "slow dance of political death" "These results reflect appalling weakness and division and ineffectiveness in the Labour party," Cameron told supporters in Cardiff. He insisted that the Tories were once again a one nation party after winning in Wales, where they lost all their Westminster seats in 1997. "We have an extraordinary situation where [the prime minister] can't seem to reshuffle his cabinet but they can't seem to organise a coup. They are, if you like, locked together in this sort of slow dance of political death that is so bad for our country." - The Guardian > Yesterday's ToryDiary: No room for complacency but plenty of grounds for optimism A Tory victory would be denied if Alan Johnson were leading Labour "Alan Johnson would deny David Cameron an overall majority at the next general election if Labour ditched Gordon Brown and installed him as prime minister, according to a new poll for The Independent. The ComRes survey provides the first evidence that a change of leader could dramatically transform Labour's prospects." - The Independent > Last night's ToryDiary: Poll suggests Alan Johnson could stop Cameron winning majority George Osborne suggests that Labour infighting risks destabilising the British economy "The Conservative shadow chancellor will today warn that jitters in the markets over the Government's stability can have damaging consequences for the British economy. In a speech to financial executives he will say: "Labour's leadership crisis is bad for the country and bad for the economy. It's not just Gordon Brown's job that is at stake in this Labour civil war, but the jobs of thousands of British people." - Daily Telegraph Gordon Brown "sees off" rebels at PLP meeting... "A chastened Gordon Brown yesterday promised his backbench critics that he would learn from his mistakes, as he survived Labour's worst national election results since 1918 and some of the most personal attacks ever mounted on his governing style. At a private inquest staged only hours after the party came third in the European parliamentary elections, with less than 16% of the vote, a rebel attempt to call for a secret ballot on his leadership was seen off by party loyalists."  - Guardian ...so what now for the Prime Minister? "This is a government of the living dead, a zombie administration, devastated, divided and directionless. The Prime Minister has been wounded but not killed. He limps on, disrespected by ministers, resented by backbenchers, disliked by the electorate. He is in office but not in power, strong enough to see off a cack-handed coup but too weak to appoint a chancellor of his choice." - Rachel Sylvester in The Times "Even though Brown has defied his tormentors yet again he is much more vulnerable than he was even a week ago. He will get the space to continue until the autumn. If he makes no headway in the polls between now and then, he will not lead Labour in to the next election and, I suspect, would not try to do so." - Steve Richards writing in The Independent > Tim Montgomerie on CentreRight last night: It looks like Brown will survive (at least for now) Conservative and Unionist force receives "major backing" in Northern Ireland "Sir Reg Empey’s bold tryst with the Tories to form the Conservatives and Unionists ‘new force’ has received major backing from voters. For the first time, veteran candidate Jim Nicholson, facing the two parties’ first electoral test together, jumped from third to second position in the European election race." - Belfast Telegraph | Daniel Hannan's blog > Yesterday's ToryDiary: 26th Conservative MEP elected - in Northern Ireland Final Euro-election analysis from John Curtice: Labour hurtles into history's abyss "When the secrets of the European ballot boxes were unveiled on Sunday night, they contained one message: the electorate has fallen out of love with Labour. The results were remarkable for the similarity of the outcome to the result of the last Euro election, but for one exception – a precipitous fall in Labour support. At 23 per cent, the 2004 baseline that Labour was defending already constituted the party's worst performance in a nationwide election. It seemed like a floor below which the party's support could not possibly fall. Yet this year it fell by no less than seven points, to a little under 16 per cent." - Professor John Curtice writing in The Independent Alistair Darling: Labour to blame for BNP success "Alistair Darling has said Labour was to blame for the success of the British National Party at the European elections... "People felt disillusioned with us and didn't vote for us. That's our fault. We should be able to inspire confidence", he said." - Daily Telegraph "It was the collapse of Labour's vote in areas it considered its fiefdom that let in the BNP." - Philip Johnston in the Daily Telegraph > Yesterday's ToryDiary: Labour are to blame for the rise of the BNP Mark Francois slams the farcical appointment of Glenys Kinnock as Europe minister "Glenys Kinnock's appointment as Europe minister descended into farce yesterday after it emerged that she could not do the job because she was still an MEP. Under EU Parliament rules, Mrs Kinnock is not allowed to serve as a minister in a national Government until she steps down as an MEP on July 14... Tory Europe spokesman Mark Francois said: 'Today's confusion regarding Glenys Kinnock is symptomatic of the kind of chaos which now reigns in Downing Street, whereby even Ministers of the Crown do not appear to know whether they are Ministers or not'." - Daily Mail Jeremy Hunt raises questions about Alan Sugar's impartiality "Culture Secretary Ben Bradshaw denied there was a conflict of interest in Sir Alan Sugar taking up a Government role in promoting enterprise and presenting The Apprentice show on television. Shadow culture, media and sport secretary Jeremy Hunt questioned how Sir Alan could combine the two jobs after his appointment in Gordon Brown's emergency reshuffle on Friday." - The Independent Boris Johnson attacked by top Home Office civil servant... "A leading civil servant yesterday made an unprecedented attack on Boris Johnson. Despite the convention that Whitehall workers remain politically neutral, Sir David Normington said he was 'shocked and disappointed' to see Metropolitan Police chief Sir Ian Blair forced out by the Tory Mayor of London." - Daily Mail ...as the London Mayor blasts the RMT over 48-hour strike scheduled to begin tonight "Londoners and commuters trying to do their level best to cope with the most challenging economic climate for a long time will be furious at this decision. It is quite simply outrageous for the leadership of the RMT to ask their members, the majority of whom did not vote for this strike, to take part in this ludicrous and unnecessary disruption to our city." - Boris Johnson quoted on ananova.com Businessman who resigned as Boris's Olympics Adviser returns to back World Cup bid - The Times Grandmother-of-four gets down to work as new Tory leader of Nottinghamshire County Council  - Nottinghamshire Evening Post Green Party "better positioned than ever" to gain a Commons seat - Independent