Friday 27 November 2009

Today's other newslinks

Tories pledge to cut £60bn 'wasted' by Labour on unproductive public services - Daily Mail

"Philip Hammond, the shadow chief secretary to the Treasury, will say a “hearts and minds” bid to raise productivity levels in the public sector could deliver huge savings without harming front line services." - Telegraph

> Yesterday's ToryDiary: Philip Hammond to announce plans to boost civil service productivity and efficiency

Michael Gove to blame for PMQs gaffe - Times

Gove Michael in office "The Haringey school has told the local council it no longer has links with "any of the individuals alleged to have connections with Hizb ut-Tahrir"." - Independent

Tory activists are concerned their party will impose excessive tax rises if David Cameron wins next year’s general election - Express

> Yesterday's ToryDiary on the poll

Labour MP rebuked over corruption claim against Lord Ashcroft - Telegraph

Britain's 'religious right' is very different from America's

"whereas America’s religious right is largely defined by divisive lifestyle issues such as gay marriage and abortion, the Christians influencing the Tories focus on social problems such as poverty and delinquency. Hence their attractiveness to the Conservatives’ largely non-believing strategists and policy wonks." - Economist

David Cameron has weakened the UK by not backing the Calman report on Scottish devolution - Times leader

"His best ideas are cloudy, his clearest ideas are eccentric." - The Times' verdict on Philip Blond

Philip Blond attacks supermarkets - Daily Mail

Recession 'is even worse than feared': Chancellor predicts steepest slump ever - Daily Mail

Peter Oborne is disgusted by Lord Mandelson going shooting with the son of a bloodthirsty and oil-rich Arab dictator

Mandelson Peter 2 "There will be no Cabinet resignations after the Waddesdon shooting weekend, and Peter Mandelson has not done anything illegal. But the message it sends is loud and clear.  The Labour Party has lost its moral centre. Its leaders have nauseatingly sold out to the aristocratic lifestyle and world of high finance that they claimed to abhor.  Having abandoned the high ideals that took them into politics, they will undoubtedly be abandoned by the voters they once pledged to represent." - Peter Oborne in the Daily Mail

Tory MP Ben Wallace turns up the heat on Lord Mandelson over his weekend away with Colonel Gaddafi's son - The Sun

UKIP's new leader will be announced today - BBC

"The UK Independence Party is set to head in a fresh direction, fighting radical Islam, with the election today of a replacement for Nigel Farage as its national leader. The two favourites to take over from Mr Farage are committed to adding the battle against Islamic fundamentalism to the party’s main goal of withdrawing Britain from the European Union." - Times

Tony Blair decided on Iraq war a year before invasion - Guardian

George Miller-Kurakin has died

"Intellectual and visionary, liberal and anti-Communist, George Miller inspired a generation of Conservative activists in the 1980s, when the Soviet Union seemed impregnable. His operations were so extensive that few of his associates knew the full picture." - Independent obituary