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Friday 3rd July 2009Britain's leading conservative blog Today's top ConservativeHome features ToryDiary: Michael Gove insists teachers "must be better" Damian Hinds on Platform: Forget ID cards - it's the National Identity Register we have to worry about CONHOME'S SURVEY OF 144 TORY PARLIAMENTARY CANDIDATES Seats and candidates: Pro-nuclear, gay friendly, barely Unionist, very Eurosceptic... meet the next generation of Tory MPs Local government: Cameron calls on councils to be more transparent Parliament: John Bercow breaks his own rule by leaking announcement to media before making it to the Commons Alan Duncan accused of "bad taste" after suggesting Gordon Brown vandalises despatch box WATCH: Cameron is a bit of a lefty... says England's former number one tennis star Uncomfortable Brown sings 'Old Macdonald had a farm' Today's newslinks Tories set to revive part-sale of Royal Mail - FT Cameron: Cutting now will reduce later pain "David Cameron has urged the government to start making budget savings now to ease the pain of what he said were inevitable deep spending cuts later. The Tory leader said: "I do think that one of the ways to avoid very deep cuts in the future is to make a start now. I do think it is wrong to be going into 2010 with actually quite aggressive spending increases for 2010 when we should be starting to make savings now."" - The Herald The Tories need to find the bottle to cut public spending says Lord Lawson - City AM Cameron urges councils to be more transparent "David Cameron has told council leaders they need to be more open about how they spend public money, urging a "new era of Google government". Councils should publish details of spending on items as small as £500 to inform the public and identify future savings, the Conservative leader said." - BBC | Express David Cameron has reiterated his demand that councils are given a general power of competence - Local Government Chronicle Is the Conservative party planning to revolutionise the corporate tax system, when it comes into power? "Yes, definitely... maybe" says The Telegraph's Tracy Corrigan The Guardian (with zero acknowledgment) and The Independent report on ConHome's exclusive about an Osborne/Cameron HQ in Downing Street "The creation of a Downing St HQ would mean that George Osborne, the shadow Chancellor, would break from tradition and be freed from the confines of the Treasury in order to retain his influence over the party, which he currently wields from his office two doors down from his leader, in parliament's Norman Shaw South building... Mr Osborne's involvement at the heart of the party's strategic planning has meant that Philip Hammond, the shadow Chief Secretary to the Treasury, has been handed much of the number crunching, searching for areas in which money can be saved and the inevitable spending cuts will have to come." - Independent "In a sign of the influence of Barack Obama on Tory thinking, a mini "West Wing" would be created in Downing Street which would see Cameron work alongside George Osborne, his closest ally. Osborne would, as expected, be appointed chancellor, giving him a base in the Treasury. But he would spend much of his time in a remodelled version of Gordon Brown's war room in No 12 Downing Street – which would be given a different name – as he and Cameron work to ensure there is no repeat of the tensions which bedevilled Blair's time in office." - Guardian > Sunday's ToryDiary: Cameron considers joint Downing Street HQ with Osborne George Osborne faces probe into his use of the parliamentary second homes allowance - FT > On his Telegraph blog Ben Brogan sees the complaint against Osborne as "political" and suggests Tories will target senior Labour figures next: "The truce that appeared to be preventing this kind of political stunt is well and truly off." Police investigate Tory peer, Lord Hanningfield (Leader of Essex Council), over £100,000 expenses - Independent Culture Secretary Ben Bradshaw has said "a deep strain of homophobia still exists on the Conservative benches" - BBC Cheers ring out as David Cameron lays Tory history of homophobia to rest - Andrew Pierce in The Telegraph > Wednesday's ToryDiary: Gay campaigners can be proud of their achievements says Cameron The new Conservatism can create a capitalism that works for the poor - Philip Blond in The Guardian Gordon Brown has criticised "crude" personal attacks in politics - BBC Darling issues warning to bankers about return to bonus culture - BBC "There is nothing wrong about bonuses per se; it makes sense to compensate people through a mix of a base salary and a performance-related component. Incentivising staff is a good thing; and there is nothing better than pecuniary incentives. A blanket ban on banking bonuses would merely lead to an exodus of talent to smaller boutiques and hedge funds; a total ban on UK bonuses would kill London and send our best and brightest to other, more enlightened jurisdictions. But bonuses must be structured correctly: they shouldn’t be paid out today for investments that turn out disastrously in a year’s time; clawback mechanisms need to be available." - Allister Heath in City AM Freedom of information regulator accused of excessive delays - Guardian "A shocking 72,000 patients a year are being killed by safety blunders in the NHS" - The Sun The age when the powerful can act unilaterally is over - Paddy Ashdown in The Independent Three highlights from yesterday's ConservativeHome Matt Sinclair on CentreRight: Tory transport policy goes up in fiscal smoke ToryDiary: Should Mr Osborne be preparing a campaign to expose Brown's secret tax rises agenda? Charlie Elphicke defends George Osborne against an attack from The Telegraph on corporate taxation