Today's top ConservativeHome features ToryDiary: Gove and IDS represent the best of the Coalition
Alex Crowley on Platform: The disappointing results in London from May 6th present a challenge for the Conservatives at the 2012 Mayoral election LeftWatch: Labour will announce its 2012 London mayoral candidate on September 22nd Parliament: Bob Stewart, James Morris and Jeremy Lefroy make their maiden speeches
ThinkTankCentral: Reasons to be negative about the UK’s growth prospects Two CentreRight posts from Melanchthon:
WATCH: ITN reports on the new Government's plans to end the culture of welfare dependency Today's other newslinks Theresa May to unveil Bill to scrap ID cards "Home Secretary Theresa May is to set out further details of the Government's plans to scrap the £5 billion ID cards scheme. The Home Office is publishing the Identity Documents Bill - announced in the Queen's speech on Tuesday - which will abolish identity cards and destroy all personal information gathered for the National Identity Register... Identity cards will be scrapped within one month of the Bill receiving Royal Assent and cardholders, who paid £30 each for a card, will not get a refund." - Press Ass ociation Graham Brady elected 1922 Committee chairman"Graham Brady has been elected as the new chairman of the Conservatives' backbench 1922 Committee. He beat Richard Ottaway by 126 votes to 85 in a vote which came days after David Cameron backed down from a confrontation with backbenchers." - BBC "My colleagues have done me a great honour and placed a great responsibility on me to work to help to make our arrangements a success in these difficult circumstances. My priority will be to spend as much time as I can talking and listening to all of my colleagues across the parliamentary party, especially the new intake who make up such a large part of it." - Graham Brady quoted in The Guardian > Yesterday's ToryDiary: Graham Brady elected Chairman of the 1922 Committee Coalition government sets out radical welfare reforms "Britain's welfare system is "bust", with such penal disincentives to work that many people on benefits regard those who take up job offers as "bloody morons", Iain Duncan Smith, the new work and pensions secretary, says in a Guardian interview setting out the most ambitious welfare reform plans for a decade. Duncan Smith says he is to propose to the Treasury a radical scheme that includes simplification of the complex benefits system designed to make it financially worthwhile for unemployed people to work, including in part-time jobs." - The Guardian Gove invites every state school to bid for academy status "Academy status will become the norm for state secondary schools, the Education Secretary, Michael Gove, forecast yesterday. Mr Gove revealed he had written to every state school head in England – primary, secondary and special – urging them to consider putting in a bid for academy status." - The Independent Michael Gove writing in The Sun > WATCH: Michael Gove promises more independence for schools and extra funding for poorer pupils Senior Tories opposing hikes on Capital Gains Tax "David Davis today puts himself at the head of a full-scale Tory revolt over proposed hikes in capital gains tax. The MP, the one-time rival to David Cameron for leadership of the party, warns in today's Daily Mail that hitting the 'hard-working, responsible, self-reliant middle and working classes' would be a betrayal of Tory values." - Daily Mail "David Cameron is facing a growing revolt from within his own party over plans to impose a higher level of capital gains tax. John Redwood, the former Tory Cabinet minister, warned that such a move would send “a strange signal” and ''be unfair to anyone who saves’’. - Daily Telegraph "A massive increase in capital gains tax to 40 or even 50 per cent, as envisaged by the government, would be a disaster for the economy and would cripple millions of investors who own shares, investment properties or other assets." - Allister Heath in City AM "The coalition’s plan to adopt the Liberal Democrat policy of hugely raising capital gains tax is a step too far... For the state to take a huge chunk out of the appreciation of long-term assets like shareholdings, buy-to-let properties and second homes without a mandate to do so would be an outrageous and fundamentally anti-Conservative step." - Daily Express editorial George Osborne's £6bn cuts boost approval rating "George Osborne's stock among businessmen has risen since he became Chancellor and announced plans for £6bn of public spending cuts. A ComRes survey for The Independent found that the number of businessmen who have confidence in Mr Osborne's ability has risen from 49 per cent last month to 63 per cent this month." - The Independent Osborne attacks structure of EU's proposed bank levy - The Guardian Defence of cuts wins Tory plaudits for David Laws"David Laws, the Liberal Democrat minister charged with cutting the £156bn deficit, was lauded yesterday by Conservative coalition colleagues after giving a robust Commons defence of his first round of cuts. The Treasury chief secretary said he had been given the task of sorting out "the mess in the public finances" and made no apology for announcing spending cuts this week of £6.2bn, including the scrapping of Gordon Brown's child trust funds." - FT "There is a brand of margarine called 'I Can't Believe It's Not Butter'. Now we have a Treasury Chief Secretary, David Laws, who could be called 'I Can't Believe He's Not Tory'." - Quentin Letts in the Daily Mail > Yesterday in Parliament: The wisdom of the Tories' favourite "honourable ally", the Chief Secretary, David Laws William Hague says the Government will be "more open" about nuclear warhead levels "The government has said it will be "more open" about the UK's nuclear weapons capability after announcing it will retain a maximum of 225 warheads." - BBC Hague to visit Pakistan "within weeks" - AFP We will hold inquiry into Chinook air disaster, says Liam Fox - Daily Mail John Redwood: The Eurosceptic case for saving the euro - The Times Bloody Sunday Report to be published on June 15 - The Independent Vince Cable steps down as Lib Dem deputy leader "Vince Cable is to step down as deputy leader of the Liberal Democrats following his appointment as Business Secretary in the coalition government, triggering an election for his successor, the party said on Wednesday. Cable, 67, said he needed to "focus wholeheartedly" on running his sprawling department, which spans industry, trade, science and higher education. The contest to replace Cable as deputy to Nick Clegg could open the way for a left-wing candidate such as Simon Hughes, who is popular with the party grass roots and not a minister in the coalition." - Reuters University vice-chancellors' pay 'out of step with reality', says Vince Cable - Daily Telegraph Chris Huhne backs European plan to raise target for emission cuts - The Times Benedict Brogan: Voters wanted this harmony, but British politics could turn nasty quickly"Remember, change can take many forms. Those who fancy the climate is permanent should recall how suddenly we got here – and therefore how quickly we could go back to where we were." - Benedict Brogan writing in the Daily Telegraph Ugandan-born tycoon and Tory donor to be nominated for a peerage "A Ugandan-born Indian tycoon who has given the Tories more than £200,000 in donations over six years will today be nominated for a peerage by David Cameron. Dolar Popat, a former refugee and self-made multi-millionaire, will be given a seat in the House of Lords." - Daily Mail Peter Luff and Lord Astor of Hever appointed Defence Ministers - MoD Delayed general election taking place today in Thirsk and Malton - Press Association And finally... Boris's morning as a supply teacher "He came, he saw, he got told off for not paying attention in class and then he was heckled by binmen. It was all in a morning's work for the supply teacher at St Saviour's and St Olave's Church of England secondary girls' school – or, as he is more commonly known, the Mayor of London. The classroom full of 15-year-old girls in south-east London was far from the one at Eton where Boris Johnson conjugated his first ancient verb. But for Boris, there is no fear: he began his lesson by telling the girls about the proclivities of Roman women, in particular their fondness for gladiators. Everyone was a little awkward. Th en in an episode of cunning, he conjured two sentences that he helped the class put together in Latin: the woman loves the gladiator, but the women do not love the charioteer." - The Independent Highlights from yesterday on ConHome Things People Are Wrong To Think About The Conservatives: William Hague is Basil Fawlty Parliament: Tories will chair Treasury, Foreign Affairs and ten other select committees
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Thursday, 27 May 2010
Posted by Britannia Radio at 12:05