ToryDiary: How to deal with the deficit becomes a big issue before the leaders' debate on the economy
The Shakespeare Report: The voting system is now going to be part of how people think about 'change'
LeftWatch: Nick Clegg tells the world: "I want to be Prime Minister"
Fiona Bulmer on Platform: The left wing critics are wrong - Free schools will drive up standards in all schools
Seats and Candidates update: Latest record of the seats David Cameron has been visiting during the campaign
CentreRight posts:
- Lee Rotherham: Alongside the nanny state we have a burgeoning 'nanny economy" - fuelled by the compensation culture and increasing costs for the consumer and taxpayer
- Melanchthon: Clegg is not our only option even in the unlikely event of a hung Parliament
- JP Floru: Coalition government - the continental example
- The Lurcher: "Plundering and blundering" (Disraeli on Gordon Brown and Gladstone)
- Melanchthon: Pay cheques, canvassers, and newspaper articles
WATCH: David Cameron is challenged by a voter over Tory policy on special needs schools
Overnight polls show Tory lead of 4%, 4% and 8% - ToryDiary
Coup for Tories as knife victim's sister, former EastEnders actress Brooke Kinsella, backs Cameron
"David Cameron promised to fix Britain's 'broken society' as he put fighting crime and antisocial behaviour at the heart of the election campaign yesterday. The Tory leader announced that former EastEnders actress Brooke Kinsella will head an initiative to stamp out knife crime. Miss Kinsella, whose 16-year-old brother Ben was stabbed to death in 2008, will help run a series of mentoring projects for young men in deprived areas." - Daily Mail
> Yesterday's ToryDiary: People power can mend Britain's broken society, says Cameron
Tories vow to get tough on classroom discipline with new expulsion powers for heads and pupils forced to wear uniforms
"The Tories today declare war on the ill-discipline plaguing Britain’s schools as they vow tough new powers for teachers, uniforms in the classroom and bigger fines for parents whose children play truant. Education spokesman Michael Gove said Labour had fuelled a devastating breakdown in standards of behaviour and promised reforms to put old-fashioned values back at the heart of the education system. In an interview with the Daily Mail, he said he wanted to see a ‘sense of purpose and order’, like that seen in many private schools, reintroduced across the state system." - Daily Mail
Liberal Democrats fail to attract party funding despite electoral surge
"Donations to the Liberal Democrats during the second week of the election campaign were dwarfed by those to the Tories and Labour despite Nick Clegg's party surging in the polls, it was revealed today. The Electoral Commission said the Tories had received £2.2m – including £25,000 from the bakers Warburtons shortly after David Cameron visited the firm's Bolton headquarters – while Labour had raised almost £1.5m and the Lib Dems £120,000 in that period; this was, however, £100,000 more than they raised in the first week." - The Guardian"
The Liberal Democrats have pocketed a donation worth nearly £100,000 from a company based in a tax haven and owned by Indian businessmen believed to have ‘non-dom’ status. More than half the cash Nick Clegg’s party has taken in major donations since the beginning of the election campaign has come from Alpha Healthcare, figures showed yesterday." - Daily Mail
Nick Clegg accused of hypocrisy over home profit
"Nick Clegg was accused of hypocrisy tonight after claims he made a €360,000 profit on his home in Brussels at a time when he was receiving a daily allowance to cover accommodation from the EU as an MEP. The Eurosceptic thinktank Open Europe claimed his decision to make a profit on the home was at odds with his opposition to MPs making capital gain on second homes as MPs, when their mortgage costs were covered by the taxpayer through expenses" - The Guardian
Clegg refuses to rule out backing Brown - BBC
Tory candidate dropped for remarks about homosexuals
"David Cameron admitted that his party must do more to reassure gay people after a Tory candidate in Scotland was suspended today for describing homosexuality as “not normal”. Philip Lardner, was dropped as the Conservative candidate for North Ayrshire & Arran nine days before polling day for comments made on his official election website." - The Times
> Yesterday in Seats and Candidates: Tory candidate for North Ayrshire and Arran suspended for criticising homosexuality
Tories eye pact with smaller parties
"David Cameron’s campaign team is exploring the possibility of a deal with unionist politicians in Northern Ireland and Scottish and Welsh nationalist MPs in the event of a hung parliament, in an attempt to avoid giving in to Liberal Democrat demands for electoral reform." - FT
Business leaders "want Ken Clarke as chancellor" - Reuters
Latest on how the Labour Government has been wasting billions
"Labour is wasting billions a year on public relations firms, management consultants and taxis, a Government report reveals today. Despite Gordon Brown's pledge to cut Britain's record-breaking debt, Whitehall splashes out £11 million a year in taxis alone. An eye-watering £1.6 billion a year is lavished on a small army of management consultants drafted in to advise ministers and officials. Office furniture costs £57 million and £881 million goes on hiring temps." - The Sun
Police spend almost half of time not tackling crime
"Police spend almost half their time on paperwork, in meetings and drinking tea instead of tackling crime and other incidents, figures show. Officers are tied up with "non-incident" duties, which also include training, appraisals and handling complaints, for 39 per cent of their time – the equivalent of three hours in every shift... The Tories said another five years of Labour would mean officers spend the same as a full working year bogged down in bureaucracy. Chris Grayling said: "The reason so many communities are under policed is the massive culture of bureaucracy and paperwork that has been put in place by Labour." - Daily Telegraph
Hamish McRae: Like it or not, an age of austerity beckons
"There will, after the election, be a period in which the government is allowed to settle. Up to now the world's financial markets have taken the view that as soon as the election is over the next government will come forward with credible plans. Global investors are pretty sophisticated and have been well aware that it simply is not possible for a government in the final months of office to outline such plans and, in any case, not much could have been done until growth was re-established. But now the clock is ticking." - The Independent
Alice Thomson: The rural vote is being left to rot in the fields
"The front of Labour’s manifesto shows England’s rolling hills bathed in sunlight. But Gordon appears to loathe the soil. He may be the grandson of a Fife farmer, but he can’t do wellies; urban politics is his life. He vanished in the foot-and-mouth crisis and only resurfaced to suggest wind farms. The Tories appear no more interested. David Cameron is embarrassed to be seen in his Barbour, and no longer mentions his marrows. Their most high-profile rural policy is to reverse the hunting ban. The manifesto says as much about pets as livestock." - Alice Thomson in The Times
Ex-police chief defends Damian Green arrest
"The former police chief who arrested a Tory MP in a leaks probe has defended his actions, saying documents were stolen from the home secretary's safe. Bob Quick defended his investigation of Damian Green after he established a civil servant was leaking documents. Neither Mr Green nor the official were charged. " - BBC
And finally... party manifestos outselling JK Rowling
"Sales of party manifestos are outstripping those for the last election - and even outselling authors such as JK Rowling, new figures have revealed. Book retailer Waterstone's says sales are up 160% on 2005, and there are still eight days to go before election day. The biggest rise compared to five years ago is for the Lib Dems with curious voters driving a 250% boost. But figures show the Conservatives are ahead with 38% of the total manifesto sales so far at Waterstone's, followed by the Liberal Democrats on 32% and Labour on 30%." - Sky News
Nick Wood's High Noon column: The Tories' Hung Parliament message will only work if it is endlessly repeated until polling day
Tea with Pickles: A brush with the Prince of Darkness... or is that the Prince of Stability?
Seats and candidates: How much are you prepared to donate to stop Nick Clegg holding the balance of power?
Mark Wallace on CentreRight: What Whitehall REALLY thinks about Britain
The latest election broadcasts:
- The Conservatives give their slot to the Hung Parliament Party
- Labour's fourth election broadcast warns of Tory cuts to benefits for higher earners
WATCH ONE OF THE MOMENTS OF THE CAMPAIGN: Adam Boulton to Peter Mandelson - Don't accuse the media of ignoring the issues when you won't tell voters how you'll cut the deficit
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