ToryDiary: MoD to the left of him, Treasury to the right: Can Fox survive his Charge of Cuts? Dominic Raab MP on Platform: Why it should be harder for individuals to obtain an arrest warrant against those accused of war crimes Local government: Do so many inspections really need to be annual? International: Could Cameron provide Republicans with the model to beat Obama? THREE VIDEOS: "The Scotsman has learned that Scottish Labour backbencher Tommy Doherty is to table an amendment to change the date of the proposed referendum on introducing alternative vote system (AV) for general elections. The move is expected to win enough backing from Tory rebels to defeat the coalition government. Mr Doherty's amendment is being put down with the full support of his party's leadership after angry Tory backbenchers approached Labour promising to back a change of date." -Scotsman AV referendum likely to cost £10m - Daily Mail > Montgomerie's Law of The Coalition: "This Coalition is heading for breakdown or it's heading Leftwards. The Left of the Liberal Democrats will demand an end to the Coalition if Nick Clegg doesn't get more and more concessions from David Cameron." Caroline Spelman axes 40 quangoes and Eric Pickles abolishes Regional Offices - Times (£) > Yesterday's Local government: Eric Pickles completes abolition of regional government "Raytheon has been removed from its lead role overseeing a £750m project to provide a secure border control system for the UK after the British government said it had “no confidence” in the US defence and security company. The decision by Theresa May, home secretary, to end Raytheon’s involvement will cause delays in the e-borders project, part of government attempts to control immigration and improve security against terrorists. However, officials said the tough approach taken by ministers showed that the coalition government was far less willing than its Labour predecessor to put up with poor performance or delays on big contracts." -FT (£) Daily Mail renews attack on Tory jails policy... and is joined by The Sun The Sun Says: "Crispin Blunt clearly hasn't a clue about the economic pain that is just around the corner for everyone. The public school-educated Justice Minister, who lists bridge, wine and food among his hobbies, has decided that it's party time again for killers and paedophiles. All at OUR expense." "The Tories have already given up on a long list of their manifesto commitments. But to renounce their historic role as the party of law and order may be an insult too far for many of their loyal supporters." - Daily Mail leader > Yesterday's ToryDiary: The Daily Mail throws the kitchen sink at the Coalition "The Justice Secretary, Kenneth Clarke, yesterday outlined proposals aimed at making it more difficult for private individuals to secure arrest warrants for visiting foreign dignitaries they accuse of war crimes and other serious offences." -Independent Cameron heads to India next week on major trade mission - Guardian 1.5 million Equitable Life victims may get a "contentious" £400m in compensation - FT (£) > Video of Mark Hoban announcing news to Commons Tory donor becomes implicated in row over future of Sheffield Forgemasters - Guardian IPSA chief tells MPs to stop ‘peddling myths’ over new expenses regime - Telegraph "There’s only one thought that should be at the front of Cameron's mind every day: what has my Government done to help create jobs today?" - Tim Montgomerie in The Times (£) Bank official says economy will be 'anaemic' for five years - Daily Mail Gap between health of rich and poor is greater than ever - Express Edna Healey, wife of Denis, has died - The Times' (£) report is illustrated with a beautiful photograph of the 92 year-oldParliament: Whips try to stop Bernard Jenkin from gathering signatures on timing of AV vote
"David Cameron and Nick Clegg will look at fresh ways of raising the profile of the Lib Dems as polls suggest left-wing voters are drifting away from party" - Guardian
"The Coalition is usually viewed as an alliance of two parts: the Conservatives and the Liberal Democrats. In fact, it is better seen as formed of four parts: the Lib Dem left; their Orange Bookers (including Clegg); the Conservative establishment (of which David Cameron's a part); and the Tory right. Or, better still, as three, with Cameron and Clegg fusing to form a single entity with significant implications for British politics – and for the prime minister, who is under challenge from his own party." - Paul Goodman in The Guardian
"Housing minister Grant Shapps envisages small developments of fewer than 20 homes. Mr Shapps said: "Loads of people in village communities are saying, 'Our school's closing, our post offices are under threat, we're losing our community facilities. Our problem is that the young people grow up and find they can't afford to live in this village anymore. We believe that people have a right to stay in their community and if people want to build that community to make it a bit bigger and expand it a bit, within reason, they should have the powers to do that."" - BBC
"A Tory minister provoked fury last night with an astonishing declaration that taxpayers should fund comedy workshops and party nights for prisoners. Crispin Blunt also set out how he planned to scrap harsh indefinite sentences for the country's most depraved criminals." - Daily Mail
"Henry Kissinger dealt with the world as it was, not as he would have liked it to be." - Bruce Anderson overviews Cameron's worldview for The Telegraph
Friday, 23 July 2010
Today's top ConservativeHome features
Today's newslinks
More bad news for Clegg as Labour agrees to work with Tory rebels to defeat Coalition on timing of AV vote
Other highlights from yesterday
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