A perfect way to start your conference: 9am on Monday morning, Chris Grayling MP will be talking to ConservativeHome about patriotism. The event will be at the Bridgewater Hall, a stone's throw from the main conference venue. More details of ConservativeHome's party conference programme are here.
Simon Richards has written for CentreRight this morning about The Freedom Zone and its great programme of events. Read his introduction here.
ToryDiary: Five hopes for the Conservative Conference in Manchester
Also in ToryDiary: 56% of Tory members say The Telegraph's coverage of the Conservative Party is getting worse
Scott Colvin on Platform: As Labour faces electoral defeat, it is getting nastier
Adam Breeze in Local Government: How to ‘Do More For Less’ and Still Win Inward Investment
Simon Richards on CentreRight: Putting freedom of speech - and fun - back on the conference agenda
WATCH:
"David Cameron today pledges to Sun readers he will put the Great back into Britain. He praises our army of readers and vows to deliver a better place to live if he becomes Prime Minister. The Tory leader promises to hold a war cabinet if he ousts PM Gordon Brown's Labour party and put job creation at the heart of his Premiership. But today he says he will put common sense back into everyday life and end Labour's days of political correctness." - The Sun
...promising a "war cabinet" as his first act if becomes PM
"David Cameron's first act as Prime Minister would be to form a war cabinet to get a grip on the Afghan conflict, he vows today. The Tory leader would immediately put the nation - and Whitehall - on a war footing and send in more troops if needed by Army chiefs. He tells The Sun today: "Our military is at war in Afghanistan, but quite frankly, Whitehall isn't. If I'm Prime Minister, Whitehall will go to war from minute one, hour one, day one that I walk through the door of Downing Street if I am elected." Mr Cameron says he would form a US-style National Security Council in his first meeting in office." - The Sun
Swedish "free schools" creator says that operators must be allowed to make a profit
"The Conservative party's plan to overhaul children's education by introducing Swedish-style "free schools" is flawed and "risks failure", according to the man who designed the original model. Anders Hultin, the architect of the Swedish system, said the party's refusal to allow operators to make a profit would prevent the scheme from flourishing. To work, the Conservatives must allow a voucher system under which these schools could profit from their public funding, he said. The Tories have said they would allow parents, charities or businesses to set up state-funded, independently run schools, but have ruled out adopting the most controversial element of the Swedish model under which schools are allowed to profit." - The Guardian
Anders Hultin has written this piece in today's Daily Telegraph
Tories to promise £2,000 tax cut for married couples
"David Cameron will next week unveil Tory plans for a £2,000 annual tax cut targeted directly at middle-income families, the Daily Express can reveal. The Conservative leader is to use his party conference in Manchester to set out detailed proposals for a £5,000 increase in the income tax threshold for married couples. At the current basic 20p rate of income tax, the move would mean an extra £1,000 a year in take-home pay for a single earner and £2,000 a year for a working married couple." - Daily Express
Grayling promises action against groups encouraging or tolerating violent extremism and seeks to reverse the ghettoisation of society
"Asked whether government money should reach the Muslim Association of Britain, whose website published claims about New York rabbis trading in the body parts of Algerian children, Mr Grayling was adamant. “No organisation that makes baseless accusations about rabbis harvesting the organs of Muslim children can expect to work closely with government or to receive funding from government... My view is that the role of government is to support activities and organisations that break down community divisions. It is not the job of government to accelerate the ghettoisation of our society.” Pressed for specifics, h e adds: “Public money should not be supporting the Bradford Muslim football league or the Leeds Jewish football league. It should be supporting the Yorkshire Boys’ football league." - Chris Grayling interviewed in the Jewish Chronicle
Edinburgh Conservatives step up the campaign against Alistair Darling
"Alistair Darling appears to have become the Conservatives' target for biggest scalp in the general election next year. Over the past few weeks, the Tories have stepped up their campaign in Mr Darling's Edinburgh South West constituency in the hope that they can achieve a symbolic victory in Scotland... As Mr Darling was in Brighton, trying to play his part in a Labour fightback at the party's conference this week, the Conservatives drafted in two senior figures to help woo voters away from him in his constituency." - The Scotsman
> Seats and Candidates: Jason Rust was selected to stand in Edinburgh South West in November 2008
Tories to launch Obama-style campaign website
"MyConservatives.com will offer local activists the chance to organise their own campaigns, in an echo of Barack Obama's successful use of social media ahead of the US presidential elections... MyConservatives.com, which goes live at 10am, will build on the lessons the Party has learnt from websites such as My.BarackObama.com, by allowing individual users to organise “microcampaigns” and set specific fund-raising targets for online donations." - Daily Telegraph
David Miliband accused of "Nazi slur"
"David Miliband was under fire last night for aiming a Nazi slur at the Conservatives. The Foreign Secretary attacked Tory chairman Eric Pickles for failing to condemn his party's links with the Latvian Fatherland and Freedom Party. He claimed the party celebrated the Latvian arm of Hitler's armed SS with a march-past of wartime veterans. But William Hague hit back for the Tories saying his Labour opposite number had got his facts wrong in a ' disgraceful' speech." - Daily Mail
> Yesterday's ToryDiary: William Hague accuses David Miliband of insulting the Latvian Government
Tory poll surge puts paid to hope of Gordon Brown bounce
"Gordon Brown received a morale-sapping blow on the final day of his "Operation Fightback" conference when a YouGov poll published revealed David Cameron had re-established a 14-point lead over Labour. The finding suggests that the bounce parties traditionally enjoy due to their conference publicity had lasted only 24 hours for Labour. Party officials had hoped that a broadly successful conference had begun to erode the Tory poll lead, putting pressure on the Tory leader before his conference next week in Manchester." - The Guardian
> Yesterday's ToryDiary: YouGov daily tracker poll shows Labour back to square one and trailing the Tories by 14% at the end of its conference
Labour rediscovers the joys of class war
"After years of uncomfortably sucking up to Mr Murdoch and the plutocrats of the City, Labour this week rediscovered the joys of class war. The prospect of taking the fight to the Tory toffs and their banker friends has put fire back in the party’s belly... Crude attacks on the wealthy and the sight of trade union barons ripping up copies of The Sun are the kind of thing Tony Blair thought he had eradicated from the Labour party. He knew that to despise wealth could be taken as a signal that the party despised aspiration. But Mr Brown believes the financial crisis has changed the public mood. Labour now appears to be turning its back on top earners, with a determined pitch to core voters in what Mr Brown calls “the squeezed middle”. - FT
Even today's Mirror editorial seems resigned to some if its readers deserting Labour
"People may decide it's time for a change and that they've had enough of Labour after a dozen years in power. But they should not be seduced by Mr Cameron's smile without weighing up the choices offered by Labour and the Tories." - Mirror editorial
Ireland votes again on the Lisbon Treaty today
"Ireland goes to the polls today in the crucial Lisbon Treaty referendum re-run which will have far-reaching implications for the future of the European Union. For the second time in almost 18 months, around three million Irish citizens will be asked to determine the fate of around 500 million people across the EU... After polls close the ballot boxes will be sent to counting centres across the country and at 9am on Saturday the tally begins... A final national result is expected to be officially announced in Dublin Castle by mid-afternoon." - Daily Telegraph
"Whatever happens in the Irish referendum on Europe today is bound to affect Britain's future. It is no exaggeration to say that our country's destiny may lie in the hands of the Republic of Ireland's three million voters. If they vote 'Yes' to the Lisbon Treaty, the European Union will make one more (and possibly decisive) lurch towards integration... How bizarre it is, how grotesque and how ironic too, that the future of this once great imperial power called Britain should depend on the votes of a few million Irish people such as these." - Stephen Glover in the Daily Mail
"All democrats should hope for a "No'' vote in Ireland today. Not only would it slow the EU juggernaut, but it might even allow the British people a chance, at long last, to have their own say." - Telegraph editorial
Martin Kettle: Cameron's letter to Klaus should be published
"Tory Europhobes are hugely excited over the possibility that either the Poles or the Czechs can be persuaded not to sign [the Lisbon Treaty]. Most of their efforts are focused on the Thatcherite Czech president Vaclav Klaus, who is refusing to put his name to the treaty (which has been passed by the Czech parliament) until the last of a series of legal challenges from local opponents of the treaty – all so far rejected by the Czech courts – have been heard. Last month, Cameron himself sent a handwritten letter of anti-treaty solidarity to Klaus. Accounts differ as to whether the Tory leader urged Klaus not to sign or whether it merely praised him for his resistance. Cameron should be compelled to publish that letter. Its terms are every bit as important to political accountability as MPs' expenses details." - Martin Kettle writing in The Gua rdian
Tony Blair's chances of becoming EU President are rising - The Times
Peter Riddell: Ten top tips on taking power
"Since November I have been looking at past transitions and current practice, as a Senior Fellow of the Institute for Government, a non-partisan charity that aims to improve the effectiveness of government. The report, by myself and Catherine Haddon, a historian, will be published this month. Our institute study has suggested ten tips for Mr Cameron if he wins" - Peter Riddell in The Times
Barbara Follett to step down as MP
"Barbara Follett, the minister who claimed £25,000 on expenses for private security, is stepping down as an MP. Miss Follett, a junior minister at the Communities department, will leave parliament at the next election. She held her Stevenage seat in 2005 with a 3,000 majority, making it vulnerable to the Conservatives." - Daily Telegraph
> Yesterday's Seats and Candidates post on Barbara Follett
Lord Mandelson to be offered escape route back to the Commons after all - FT
Labour seeks local party assets to underwrite election campaign - The Times
Rhodri Morgan stepping down as Welsh labour leader - BBC
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