- David Cameron announces three policy changes to encourage enterprise
- Tories 12% ahead in new YouGov survey
Sajid Javid on Platform: Capitalism is essential for our prosperity and liberty
LeftWatch: Harriet Harman's Equality Bill puts her on collision course with all major religions
- The Year for Change begins for Adeela Shafi in Bristol East with a campaign launch with Theresa May and lots of disruptive snow
- Alex Williams selected for Stretford and Urmston
- Anthony Ridge-Newman selected for Ynys Môn
Local Government: 100 achievements of Boris Johnson as Mayor of London
- 2020Health calls for end to cosmetic surgery on NHS and fines for people who repeatedly use casualty departments as result of alcohol misuse
- Douglas Carswell MP rejects idea of government think tank to evaulate public policy
Charles Tannock MEP on CentreRight: Why London should not say a farewell to arms
WATCH: Islam4UK cancels plans for a march through Wootton Bassett
Seats and candidates: ConHome launches fundraising campaign to defeat Liberal Democrat MPs
Paul Goodman on ToryDiary: Fairer seat size must be a Conservative priority (or re-election will be a tall order)
Other ToryDiary posts:
- Tories promise scholarships for the children of military dead
- Chris Grayling moves to fix the weakest link in Britain's borders
- Conservatives 10% ahead in ICM/ Sunday Telegraph poll
- Former General Secretary of the Labour Party makes sensational attacks on Gordon Brown
- Labour's mismanagement of big state projects has cost £22bn
Platform posts:
- George Lee: Britain should denounce China a little less and try to understand it a little more
- Syed Kamall MEP: A belief in reducing taxes and trusting people to make responsible choices goes to the heart of Progressive Conservatism
WATCH: Peter Watt, former Labour General Secretary, tells Sky News about the "shambles" of Gordon Brown's leadership
David Cameron pledges to stop Britain's population hitting 70 million...
"Immigration would be cut by as much as 75 per cent under a Conservative government to prevent Britain's population hitting 70million, David Cameron said today. He said he wanted to see annual net immigration levels fall from the 200,000 figure of recent years to the 'tens of thousands' seen under the Thatcher and Major governments." - Daily Mail
"Mr Cameron is on to something. The only means open to the Government to limit population is to limit immigration. If the Tory leader is serious he will put it into his party’s election manifesto — and it will be hugely popular." - Andrew Green writing in The Times
...and promises to act quicker than Labour in cutting the deficit
"Conservative leader David Cameron has said his party will "go further" than Labour in cutting the UK's £178bn budget deficit, if they win power. The government has pledged to halve Britain's deficit over four years, but Mr Cameron told the BBC: "We need to make more progress more quickly." - BBC
> Yesterday's ToryDiary covering David Cameron's interview with Andrew Marr
John Maples become the second Tory MP to disenfranchise his local party in choosing a shortlist to succeed him
"John Maples, the deputy Conservative chairman who claimed expenses on his family home while staying at a private members’ club, has announced he will stand down from Parliament. The 66-year-old former defence minister who is currently responsible for candidate selection said that it was “the right time” for him to retire as MP for Stratford and Avon." - Daily Telegraph
> Last night's ToryDiary: John Maples MP to retire
How does Philip Hammond describe George Osborne in five words?
"Right on all key issues" - Philip Hammond answers readers' questions in The Independent
Richard Reeves: A test of character for David Cameron"At the heart of Cameron's political philosophy are the conjoined ideas of social responsibility and commitment. But the "big society" which he optimistically hopes can replace the "big state" is one which has to be composed of big people – people who are willing both to discipline themselves and to sacrifice some of their own interests for those of others. In other words, people of character." - Richard Reeves writing in the Daily Telegraph
Peter Robinson will not survive a week, says David Trimble
"Lord Trimble said that Peter Robinson's career as Northern Ireland's first minister could not survive the financial scandal involving his wife and her former lover, predicting the crisis would spark elections in Northern Ireland... Trimble also predicted that elections to the Northern Ireland assembly would see the new Ulster Unionist-Conservative alliance emerge as the single biggest unionist party." - The Guardian
How the Robinson scandal could lead to the collapse of devolution - Lord Bew writing in The Times
Deafening silence among fellow DUP members angered by Iris Robinson revelations - Belfast Telegraph
Iris Robinson accused of having three more lovers as she is expelled from DUP - Daily Mail
> Yesterday's ToryDiary: The Conservatives and Unionists may hold up to ten seats in Northern Ireland after the General Election
Private companies should require a time-limited permit to dig up the roads - Boris Johnson in the Daily Telegraph
Nick Clegg ditches key Lib Dem pledges
"Liberal Democrat leader Nick Clegg is expected to shelve some of his party's most cherished policies in a speech setting out his election priorities. The BBC has been told Mr Clegg is set to to downgrade policies on personal care for the elderly and childcare." - BBC
Grant Shapps laments the number of people paying their mortgage on credit cards
"The fact that one million households are now resorting to credit cards to help pay their mortgages is a damning indictment of this Government's lack of real help for hard-pressed families." - Shadow housing minister Grant Shapps quoted in the Daily Telegraph
All of Brown's Cabinet now want him to lose the next election
"It is hard to exaggerate the dislike which the Prime Minister arouses among senior Labour figures. This explains an interesting phenomenon: the way in which most left-wing commentators have written off Gordon Brown. After all, Labour is only around 10 points behind: not an unbridgeable gap. But those who are closest to Mr Brown know too much about him. They can no longer take him seriously as a Prime Minister or an election-winner." - Bruce Anderson in The Independent
Labour can only win with a radically different vision - James Purnell writing in The Guardian
Who would want to replace Brown now? - William Rees-Mogg in The Times
Brown and Cameron are like drowning men locked in a fatal embrace - Melanie Phillips in the Daily Mail
There's no hope left for Labour, so Brown might as well go for broke with his election pledges - Charlie Brooker in The Guardian
Speaker's Conference urges urgent action to increase number of women MPs
"Mandatory quotas for the number of female parliamentary candidates could be set unless there is a significant increase in the number of women MPs at the next election. A cross-party review concludes that legislation may become necessary to force political parties to field more female candidates." - The Times
"Rather than promoting a bogus diversity agenda and encouraging laziness and absenteeism, Mr Bercow should be urging all parties to seek out the very best, brightest and most committed candidates for the next Parliament." - Daily Mail editorial
Poll suggests Greens are on course for first Commons seat - The Independent
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