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Wednesday 1st July 2009Britain's leading conservative blog Today's top ConservativeHome features ToryDiary: David Cameron's 'West Wing' Shane Frith on Platform: Why you should support the campaign to amend the smoking ban Seats and candidates: Lots of councillors... lots of lawyers... lots of people who have fought for their seats more than once... meet the next parliamentary Conservative party Tory candidate demands by-election in Leyton and Wanstead as Labour MP Harry Cohen quits over expenses Local government: Should council officers be allowed to wear shorts and T shirts in this weather? Tory-controlled Kent increases councillor allowances by 8% "Health and education are the two services that have been most generously funded over the past decade but they are among the most inefficient services." WATCH: George Osborne tells Nick Robinson that Gordon Brown is denying him crucial information about public spending Ed Balls attacks Cameron's "bullying" style at PMQs Today's other news stories Chris Grayling attacks Labour's retreat on ID cards "They have spent millions on the scheme so far - the Home Secretary thinks it has been a waste and wants to scrap it, but the Prime Minister won't let him. So we end up with an absurd fudge instead. This is no way to run the country." - The Shadow Home Secretary quoted by Sky News "Has Alan Johnson scrapped the ID scheme or not? The answer is no, though the claims made on its behalf are being significantly downgraded." - Philip Johnston in The Telegraph Daily Mail reviews Tory economic policy and gives it a thumbs up "Shadow Chancellor George Osborne's blueprint to rescue the economy under a Tory government includes the transformation of the tax system, a new public-spending regulator and the demolition of much of Gordon Brown's financial regulation regime." - Daily Mail "A decent start" - The Daily Mail's verdict on George Osborne's economic policy Labour ministers doubt the Prime Minister's line of attack on Tory 'cuts' as critics say party must accept big spending days are over - Independent "Data over the summer will continue to confirm that the global recession is abating and in some cases ending – but investors should not count on anything other than a very weak recovery." - Allister Heath in City AM David Cameron pulls out of Gay Pride event because of constituency event "Cameron, who has been keen to promote the Conservatives as an inclusive party, was set to follow in the footsteps of Boris Johnson, who turned up for Pride last year, just weeks after being elected mayor of London. He was persuaded to wear a pink stetson for the occasion. The Tory press office confirmed Cameron would not now be attending due to a constituency event, but stressed he would be attending a private event marking Gay Pride [yesterday] evening." - Guardian Simon Heffer: Cameron is uninterested in ideas "When I ask those close to Mr Cameron about who advises him on economic policy from outside, I draw a blank. When I ask what think tank proposals excite him, the response is similar. Mr Cameron very much likes things that are suggested to him by the focus groups with which he remains obsessed. He is less taken with proposals from think tanks... It has been said that Mr Cameron has hardly anyone around him who is older than he is because he feels insecure with them. Some have hinted that despite his first-class degree and his veneer of almost arrogant self-assurance, he is unwilling to open his mind to others on the Right who might harbour a different point of view from his own on policy, because he fears being drawn into a debate." - Simon Heffer in The Telegraph Max Hastings: Neither party is thinking seriously about defence "This week’s report on Britain’s security from the Institute for Public Policy Research deserves to land with the impact of a bomb among the decision-makers of both major political parties. Neither party currently offers a credible vision for the nation’s defences, or acknowledges the brutality of the economic choices. " - Max Hastings in the FT "The German Constitutional Court has suspended ratification of the Lisbon Treaty, in what Mark Francois has described as a “warning shot” to Gordon Brown." -conservatives.com 'The shad-dough cabinet' The Sun has a slideshow of shadow cabinet ministers and their outside earnings SNP's Alex Salmond more popular in Scotland than either Gordon Brown or David Cameron - BBC Michael Martin became peer yesterday but Lords Appointment Commission warned against it - Guardian | Times Homecoming British soldiers abused again by anti-war protestors - Daily Express Which Labour laws should a Conservative government repeal? Should the NHS be immune from spending cuts? What should the Conservatives do if Lisbon is ratified? Should candidates adopted for hard-to-win seats be freed to apply for easier-to-win seats? Click here to answer these and other tracker questions in June's ConHome survey.