Britannia Radio

Thursday 9th July 2009Britain's leading conservative blog Today's top ConservativeHome features ToryDiary: Would George Osborne be better as Deputy PM? Maurice Cousins on Platform: We must prevail in Afghanistan Seats and candidates: Coach trip to Norwich North, 19th July The oldest Conservative candidates bidding to enter Parliament at the next election Christopher Galley on CentreRight: The civil servant sacked for calling Hazel Blears a liar WATCH: 'Smoking ban is a symbol of attack on our liberties' Today's newslinks Murdoch and Any Coulson in media spotlight "John Prescott is to contact police over claims private investigators allegedly working for News of the World reporters intercepted his mobile phone messages." - BBC  "John Prescott last night called on David Cameron, the Tory leader, to axe his party's director of communications Andy Coulson after the Guardian revealed fresh details about phone-hacking by the News of the World, the tabloid paper the spin doctor used to edit." - Guardian "Mobile phones belonging to Cabinet ministers, actors, models and sports stars are claimed to have been among the targets of private investigators working for the newspaper while Mr Coulson — the Conservative Party’s director of communications — was in charge." - Times > Yesterday's ToryDiary: The Guardian guns for Rupert Murdoch... and Andy Coulson More expenses-gate questions for Jonathan Djanogly "Jonathan Djanogly, the shadow solicitor general, claimed more than £13,000 from his parliamentary expenses to employ a foreign student who had advertised herself as an au pair, The Telegraph can disclose." > Tuesday's Seats and candidates: Sir Peter Brown resigns as agent in Huntingdon days before Jonathan Djanogly seeks to "clear the air" on expenses Boris Johnson moves to oppose EU regulation of London's hedge funds "Contentious European plans to regulate hedge funds could start “a flood” of ill-conceived financial regulation from Brussels, Boris Johnson, the London mayor, will warn on Thursday as he seeks to take the lead in opposing the proposals. Mr Johnson will wade into the growing storm of protest over the draft European law amid claims that ministers have so far done too little to counter the perceived threat to the City’s hedge fund and private equity sector." - FT The Times welcomes Tory thinking on financial regulation "The Conservatives have urged the end of the tripartite system, and a return to the Bank of England of the responsibility for supervising banks. That is right: banking supervision and monetary policy ought to be done by the same body. [Alistair Darling's proposed] financial stability council appears to be a tortuous way of postponing this obvious reversion to past practice." - Times leader "Far from dismantling this crumbling, buck-passing edifice and restoring full power to one body - the Bank (as the Tories propose, to their great credit) - the Government has opted to prop it up. Why? Haven't we suffered enough from Mr Brown's almost pathological inability to admit a mistake?" - Daily Mail leader > Yesterday's ToryDiary: George Osborne promises to put Bank of England back in charge of banking supervision Tories to give Montessori and Steiner schools state funding "Parents will be able to send their children to state-funded Montessori and Steiner schools as part of a proposed Tory shake-up of school funding." - Daily Express | Daily Mail "David Cameron was criticised yesterday after he was pictured chatting to a violent gang rapist at the memorial to the July 7 victim." - Daily Mail Pro-gay Tories are losing the battle within their party - Chris Bryant MP in The Guardian Fraudster who stole £130,000 from Scottish Tories is jailed - Express Nick Clegg: We're throwing lives away in Afghanistan "The cross party consensus on the British military mission in Afghanistan has been broken by Nick Clegg with a warning that young lives are being "thrown away" by politicians." - Telegraph Denis MacShane MP: This parliamentary standards bill is going to reduce us all in the Commons to poodles - Independent "Constitutionalists fear parliamentary privilege will be undermined; when no less a figure than the Clerk of the House warns that the Bill will have a "chilling effect" on MPs' freedom of speech, we should listen." - Ben Brogan in The Telegraph Only five MPs have the passion to be Culture Secretary, says Tate director - Independent Nick Griffin calls for sinking of boats carrying illegal migrants to Europe - Guardian Highlights from yesterday Seats and candidates: The twelve candidates for the Norwich North by-election WATCH: New Defence Secretary Bob Ainsworth defends UK involvement in Afghanistan Tim Montgomerie on CentreRight: Newsnight's Editor is taking us for fools Local government: Defection gives the Tories a councillor on Haringey