- Labour's collapse in the North since 2005 gives the Tories huge cause for optimism in the region
- Lord Ashcroft and ConservativeHome
Jeremy Brier on Platform: Was the Lib Dems' seaside farce in Bournemouth the most hapless Party Conference in recent times?
Local Government: How can councils avoid being ripped off by construction contractors?
Star Chamber: A 10% reduction in the size of the civil service
International: Australian Liberal leader defends capitalism's achievements during red carpet trip to London
WATCH:
Local Government: Boris IS axing western extension of the Congestion Charge next year
CentreRight posts:
- Graeme Archer: What is the point of the Liberal Democrats?
- Sally Mcnamara: A New EU-Backed Berlin Wall
- Matthew Sinclair: China and Climate Change
- Jonathan Isaby: When you thought things couldn't get worse for the Lib Dems - a study suggests they would lose out under PR
- Mark Wallace: "Ignorance of the law has never been a defence" - Baroness Scotland is damned by her own words
- Dan Hamilton posts s beautifully-crafted Angela Merkel election video
More coverage of David Cameron's plans for pensions
"Banker bashing" unites the parties
"Gordon Brown and David Cameron have one thing in common. Both say Britain’s financiers need to be reined in and punished. Brown’s Labour government is tightening bank rules and curbing bonus pay, part of a crackdown coordinated with the Group of 20 nations, whose leaders begin a summit in Pittsburgh today. Cameron has promised a “day of reckoning” for the “irresponsible” rich if his party takes power... “The financial crisis has changed the landscape,” said Mark Hoban, the Conservatives’ spokesman on financial regulation. “When taxpayers have to stump up quite big sums of money to bail out banks, they expect a much more intrusive regulatory structure.” - Bloomberg
The growing political consensus in Britain on Trident
"Prime Minister Gordon Brown will use a speech at the United Nations Security Council on Thursday to offer the possibility of Britain’s reducing its fleet of ballistic nuclear missile submarines as part of a new global pact on nuclear weapons, aides to Mr. Brown said on Wednesday... Liam Fox, the Conservatives’ shadow defense minister, said in another BBC interview that Mr. Brown’s proposal seemed “reasonable and sensible,” as long as experts determined that a three-submarine force would be enough to keep one vessel at sea at all times." - New York Times
The case for keeping Britain's nuclear deterrent has never been stronger - Telegraph editorial
> Yesterday's ToryDiary: Liam Fox says there is nothing new in what Gordon Brown is saying about Trident
Gordon Brown is snubbed by Barack Obama...
...and denies he is going blind
"In an interview on American television later, he quashed persistent speculation that he was slowly losing the sight in one eye, having been blinded in the other one as a teenager." - Daily Telegraph
Charles Clarke again calls on Brown to quit...
"Former home secretary Charles Clarke today warned that Labour would "crash" at the next election, and risked being out office for a generation, unless Gordon Brown stood down as prime minister. Clarke told today's London Evening Standard that with Brown leading the party Labour would be out of power for 10 or 15 years." - The Guardian
...and questions whether Labour can afford to fight an election
"It could be “almost impossible” for Labour to raise enough money to fight a general election campaign next year, a former cabinet minister warned on Wednesday amid new questions over Gordon Brown’s leadership... “There is a real challenge even to pay the wages of our current staff, and we need nearly £20m just to pay off our debts and keep going until next May,” the MP told a meeting of Progress, the Blairite think-tank, last night. “Raising the money to fight a general election campaign seems almost impossible in current circumstances.” - FT
Alistair Darling describes calls to oust Brown as "b******s" - The Scotsman
> Jonathan Isaby on CentreRight yesterday: Charles Clarke sets the scene for Labour conference by calling on Brown to go (again)
Steve Richards: Labour has not been as scared of defeat since 1982
"For the first time since 1982, Labour gathers for a pre-election conference fearful that it might be slaughtered when the voters deliver their verdict in a few months' time. In the build-up to the 1987 and 1992 elections, there were varying degrees of misplaced optimism in Labour's ranks. More recently, the party's pre-election conferences looked forward to another inevitable triumph at the polls. No one will accuse Labour of giddy euphoria as it contemplates the forthcoming election." - Steve Richards writing in the New Statesman
Nick Clegg declares his ambition to be Prime Minister...
...and gets a mixed response
"The Liberal Democrats can make the most headway by speaking with a distinctive voice, remaining independent and keeping ahead of the ideas curve of British politics. Despite the upsets, Mr Clegg's party emerges from this week's conference having achieved those key objectives." - Independent editorial
"Liberal Democrats came to Bournemouth hoping to clarify their message for the next election and instead they smudged it. Their conference was a disappointing affair, its lack of character unexpected. Nick Clegg ended with a coherent speech and a believable claim to compete for power. He delivered his lines well and with some passion. But in policy terms he edged away from daring, as if startled by the reversals of the week." - Guardian editorial
"This week has been an opportunity lost for the Liberal Democrats. As the week unfolded, the excitement dissipated. With an election on the near horizon, with the Labour Government’s lease on power coming to an end and the Tories not yet commanding enthusiasm, this week has been an object lesson in how not to seize the day. By the time Mr Clegg had done a tour of his prospective Cabinet it was clear he was intent on wasting the hour he had been granted of the nation’s time." - Times editorial
> Yesterday's ToryDiary: Sometimes turning right, sometimes turning left and definitely turning nasty
> WATCH Three clips from Nick Clegg's conference speech:
- Nick Clegg appeals to Labour voters to support the Lib Dems, claiming the Conservatives only offer "fake change"
- Clegg on "Why I want to be Prime Minister"
- Clegg on how failure in Afghanistan "seems more inevitable unless we change course"
Hugo Swire MP: It's time for a progressive alliance between the Tories and Lib Dems
David Curry MP: The two parties have been debating public spending like two drunks tied to the same lamppost
"Up to now political “debate” has largely taken the form of Tory jeering at Labour’s refusal to utter the word “cuts,” and Labour sneering that the Tories can’t wait to take the axe to public services they have never, deep in their political heart, really loved. The parties have been lurching around like two drunks tied to the same lamppost." - David Curry MP writing in the Local Government Chronicle
Ex-Bank of England man claims cuts would cause mass unemployment
"If spending cuts are made too early and the monetary and fiscal stimuli are withdrawn, unemployment could easily reach four million. If large numbers of public sector workers, perhaps as many as a million, are made redundant and there are substantial cuts in public spending in 2010, as proposed by some in the Conservative Party, five million unemployed or more is not inconceivable. Crime will inevitably rise and there will be widespread social unrest if this happens." - David Blanchflower writing in the New Statesman
Tory PPC to have triple heart bypass op - North Devon Journal
Crispin Blunt campaigns to Save General Election Night - Redhill and Reigate Life
British boycott anti-Semitic Ahmadinejad speech at UN - Daily Telegraph
Could Tony Blair become the first EU president? - The Independent
James Purnell urges bigger role for unelected ministers - The Guardian
London BNP man faces ban after "making up" murders - The Times
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