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Today's top ConservativeHome features ToryDiary: Samantha Cameron breaks her silence with first interview as she prepares to hit the election campaign trail Theresa Villiers MP on Platform: Conservatives started - and continue to lead - the debate on high speed rail on which Labour's vision is misguided and unambitious LeftWatch: Nick Clegg unveils four demands for a post-election deal in a hung Parliament - as he praises Margaret Thatcher and claims Lord Tebbit's support for his tax policy Seats and Candidates: Labour's sole remaining Old Etonian to quit the Commons Local Government: Rossendale and Ryedale freeze Council Tax ThinkTankCentral: The Conservative Environment Network is launched CentreRight: The launch of the CEN is the next step in a centuries-old tradition of Conservatives caring for the environment WATCH: Lord Guthrie hits back at Labour over cheap "They're all Tories" jibe Highlights from yesterday LeftWatch: Labour lurches leftwards as key union leaders, including convicted football hooligan, become candidates Paul Goodman MP on CentreRight: It's time to change how the Commons honours our war dead Seats and Candidates: Scott Seaman-Digby selected for Hayes and Harlington Belinda Hacking selected for Dunfermline and West Fife Simon Marcus, Tory PPC for Barking, talks about fighting the BNP BOOK NOW for ConservativeIntelligence's 'The New Parliament' conference Today's newslinks Andrew Lansley says the time for cross-party talks on social care is over as Labour moots 10% death tax "Andy Burnham, the health secretary, announced he is considering three options to pay for a new "national care service" including a progressive estate levy. But the first cross-party debate on the issue, where he had spoken, ended in acrimony with the Conservatives rejecting overtures from both Labour and the Liberal Democrats to resume consensus talks over how to provide for the aged... Tory health spokesman Andrew Lansley said: "We have had 13 years of a Labour government with absolutely no reform or help for elderly people. The time for talking is over. Each party should set out their policies and let the people decide in the general election which is the best approach. The choice is clear: five more years of Gordon Brown dithering over helping older people or real reform under the Conservatives." - Guardian "Millions of middle income families are facing a 10 per cent 'death tax' levy to pay for social care of the elderly. Health Secretary Andy Burnham yesterday said he wanted to see those with bigger houses pay more to provide for the old. Up to 17million families would be forced to pay the tax - whether or not their loved one had required any care. A 10 per cent tax raid would leave the relatives of middle income earners with estates worth £500,000 with a £50,000 bill when their relatives die. This would be on top of an inheritance tax bill of £70,000." - Daily Mail Chris Grayling says Labour will cut uniformed police numbers "The Conservatives say ministers are planning to reduce the number of front-line police, despite a pledge to protect them from spending cuts. A Home Office study of nine forces has concluded that savings could be made by using more civilian staff... The Tories say that any increase in civilian staff would automatically imply a reduction in uniformed officers because the government has promised merely to maintain current spending, not increase it." - BBC Chris Grayling, the shadow home secretary, said: "The hypocrisy of this Government is just breathtaking. They have made a deliberate point of claiming in their pre-election campaign that they will retain the current number of uniformed police officers. Now it turns out that they have been privately working on plans that will lead to big reductions in the number of police officers." - Daily Telegraph The City would prefer Ken Clarke as Chancellor to George Osborne   "Clarke would make a better chancellor than George Osborne, according to our panel of City A.M. readers. Clarke, who held the job between 1993 and 1997 and is now shadow business secretary, topped the vote with 36 per cent and pushed Osborne – the official shadow chancellor – into second place. The City A.M./PHI Panel, which has been specially recruited to represent a cross-section of London’s financial and business community, were asked to pick their top choice from a list of six possible candidates for chancellor." - City AM ...but Bernard Ingham is convinced "George Osborne, the Shadow Chancellor, is not a schoolboy. He may sound and even look like a lower sixth former but he is going on 39. He has been Shadow Chancellor for nearly five years after a short spell as Shadow Chief Secretary whose job is to learn about public expenditure control. He has also shadowed the Economic Secretary in the Treasury and has had experience of employment issues as Shadow Work and Pensions Secretary. If anyone has served an apprenticeship to the office of Chancellor of the Exchequer, he has. What is more, Osborne has grasped certain basic truths, which elude our tragically deluded Prime Minister, if not his Chancellor." - Bernard Ingham in the Yorkshire Post Michael Gove announces "hitlist" of schools where management would be changed within 100 days of taking office "Last night Michael Gove, the Tory education spokesman, announced a “hitlist” of 75 primary and secondary schools that an Ofsted report showed to have been in special measures for more than a year. He promised that those running these schools would be removed in the first 100 days of a Tory government with the aim of their being reopened next year as academies. Providers of academies are said to be poring over the list to decide which schools they want to take over. The Conservatives insist that this would be only the “first tranche” of decentralising reforms." - The Times ...as he rails at how Whitehall targets skew headteachers' priorities "The grim truth about Labour’s education policy was laid bare yesterday after it emerged the number of schools branded “inadequate” more than doubled in just six months. Ofsted inspectors classed one in 10 in the lowest category last autumn compared to one in 25 in the previous inspection. And the number of “outstanding” state schools in England plummeted, from 19 per cent to 9 per cent... Conservative Shadow Education Secretary Michael Gove said the culture of Government-set targets was “skewing” headteachers’ priorities." - Daily Express Cameron's fury at Labour MPs' "Tory" jibe at military top brass "Fury erupted in the Commons yesterday as Labour MPs attacked military heroes for criticising the PM. Angry David Cameron demanded an apology following claims that top brass spoke out on war budgets "because they are Tories". Banging his papers on the dispatch box, the Tory chief thundered: "Oh, it's because they are Tories, is it? "That is what this tribalist, divisive Government thinks of people who serve our country. It is a disgraceful slur." - The Sun > Yesterday's ToryDiary on PMQs Benedict Brogan: The Conservatives must show the killer instinct that comes naturally to Labour "The Tories need to stop wondering in private about the unfairness of the media or the brutishness of Peter Mandelson. They need to come out and fight fire with fire, show the kind of ruthless killer instinct that comes naturally to Labour. But rather than match Mr Brown's dishonesty, they need only remind us every minute of every day why, when he tells us that "for better or for worse, with me: what you see is what you get", what we see is truly terrible, and far, far worse than any alternative." - Benedict Brogan in the Daily Telegraph March 24th Budget signals May 6th election "Gordon Brown has given the clearest indication so far that he has decided on a 6 May election, revealing that the Government will set out what could be its last Budget just two weeks before he formally asks the Queen to dissolve Parliament. In a politically charged speech on the economy yesterday, made in the City of London, the Prime Minster confirmed that the Budget will be held on 24 March. It means that a snap election in April, which ministers had warned until recently could not be discounted, is now extremely unlikely." - The Independent "Now Gordon Brown has finally stopped dithering and announced a budget date he should follow suit and announce a date for the election. Of course, given the stranglehold the union barons have on the party he may be waiting on Charlie Whelan to give him the green light on a date." - Party chairman Eric Pickles MP quoted in The Scotsman Latest YouGov poll has Tory lead at 5% - The Sun | Last night's ToryDiary Are we heading towards a hung parliament, and how would it work? - The Independent Three Labour MPs and Tory peer due in court today on expenses charges - BBC A fifth Labour MP is being investigated over expenses - Daily Telegraph And finally... Brown turned down for Match of the Day 2 appearance "Gordon Brown asked to be a guest on Match Of The Day 2 - only for the BBC to give the idea the boot, it was revealed yesterday. The PM scored a spectacular own goal when the BBC2 show's team dismissed the idea as "inappropriate". They ruled it was too close to a General Election and that the Beeb had to maintain impartiality. Match Of The Day fan Mr Brown had hoped to talk about England's bid to host the 2018 World Cup." - The Sun

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