Sunday 23 June 2013

Today's ConservativeHome Top Features
Today's ConservativeHome Newslinks
Whistleblowers' claims. Bribery allegations. Senior NHS managers under pressure. Demands for sackings - just another day in the Morecambe Bay blow-back
Screen shot 2013-06-23 at 08.33.06
"Lansley, then health secretary, wrote to Sheldon in March last year after she raised her concerns, warning that he was considering her dismissal from the CQC board. The threat was made despite specific laws to protect whistleblowers Correspondence seen by The Sunday Times reveals Sheldon replied to Lansley, reiterating her criticisms, highlighting failures at Morecambe Bay and warning the health secretary was “shooting the messenger”." - Sunday Times (£)
  • Whistleblower describes battle with the CQC - Mail on Sunday
  • Pressure on Burnham increases amidst second whistleblower claims - Sunday Telegraph
  • Former Deputy Chief Executive and media manager of the Care Quality Commission claim that they didn't want their names withheld from the public - Mail on Sunday
  • Chief Executive of Morecambe Bay NHS Foundation Trust tried to bribe hospital victim claim - Mail on Sunday
  • Chief Executive of NHS confederation under pressure over former north-west role - Independent on Sunday
  • Priti Patel demands resignation of East of England ambulance trust chiefs - Sunday Express
  • Health Minister Norman Lamb calls for ban on face-down restraint -Sunday Express
  • Six in ten people don't trust the NHS - Sunday Times (£)
  • Hospital waiting lists reach five-year high - Sun on Sunday
Ian Birrell: The Care Quality Commission is not fit for purpose
Birrell Ian"The Health Secretary has thought about killing this bloated watchdog that never barks, but concluded the last thing the NHS needed was more upheaval. That is understandable, given the experiences of his predecessor. But I fear it may turn out to be wrong, since the body remains overloaded, with 30,261 very different organisations at 49,528 locations under its guard – although at least the new boss admits it is not fit for purpose." - The Independent on Sunday
> Today: ToryDiary - How to heal the hospital scandals
Clegg sketches next LibDem manifesto "red lines"
"The next election manifesto will spell out the party’s red lines for any coalition negotiations if there is no clear winner at the polls. It will be a starting point for talks with political rivals but Mr Clegg warned activists not to expect to implement everything in it. It sets out commitments the Lib Dems would “die in a ditch” to keep if they were in a power-sharing deal, aides to Mr Clegg said. In a speech to the party’s councillors in Manchester, he acknowledged the pledge to scrap tuition fees had been a “mistake” because it could not be delivered in coalition but the next manifesto would be a “to-do list, not a flight of fancy”." - Sunday Express
  • Clegg joins Grieve in questioning Grayling solicitor reform plan - Mail on Sunday
Spending Review - the theatre. Cable briefs that he's given Osborne two fingers over Star Chamber. An "ally" says: 'Vince is not going to be summoned by George Osborne to a Star Chamber or any other hearing.'
Cable plot #2"The Business Secretary will miss a ‘Star Chamber’ hearing hosted by Mr Osborne tomorrow with David Cameron and Nick Clegg, where he was to be interrogated over his refusal to slash his £16 billion annual budget by £1 billion. Lib Dem sources close to Mr Cable dismissed the Star Chamber as ‘amateur dramatics’ – and in a move bound to be seen as a deliberate snub, he won’t even be in London tomorrow." - Mail on Sunday
  • Cable challenges Osborne on growth - Observer
Spending Review - the reality.  Nearly everything is settled.
"As it turns out, last week the Quad – Cameron, Clegg, Osborne and Danny Alexander – were so relaxed about it that they didn’t even bother meeting face-to-face to sign off the cuts. They simply agreed them by email.  The top of the Coalition is even confident that Cable will relent before too long.  One source tells me: ‘Vince will be fine. He just wants to make his points.’" - Mail on Sunday
This week, the Chancellor will set out £15 billion spending plan in spending review announcement
OSBORNE GEORGE smiling"Mr Osborne is expected to say: “Britain is moving from rescue to recovery, but while the economy is leaving intensive care, we need to secure that recovery. “More than a million new jobs have been created by British businesses… but there’s more we have to do. I am setting out a long-term infrastructure plan to power Britain back into the economic premier league. We’re saving on welfare and waste to invest in the roads and railways, schooling and science.” " - Sunday Express
Matthew D'Ancona: Osborne's stock is rising
Screen shot 2013-06-23 at 09.00.44"Osborne is much the most resilient member of this Government, still standing after a pounding that would have finished off most politicians – many of the blows administered by those on his own side who have no conception of the political, practical and human difficulty intrinsic to most spending cuts. His stock is rising again: everybody loves a comeback, and therein lies the basis for his second act." - Sunday Telegraph
David Smith: The challenge facing Carney when he takes over in eight days
"The third challenge is the biggest of all. Britain, for a time at least, was an economy that could grow by 3% a year alongside sub-2% inflation. Now it is a sub-2% growth economy alongside 3% inflation. The trade-off has worsened significantly. The longer inflation persists at near 3% rates, the more firms, households and markets will believe the 2% target is a fiction. Carney’s biggest task in his five years will be to return to Britain to lower inflation and higher growth. It is not clear whether he has the tools, or the scope, to do so." - Sunday Times (£)
Visitors from India, Pakistan, Nigeria and other Asian and African countries to pay cash bond before entering Britain
MAY-THERESA-shoes
"From November, a pilot scheme will target visitors from seven countries who will have to pay the government a form of cash guarantee or deposit to deter immigration abuse. They will forfeit the £3,000 if they overstay in Britain and fail to return to their home countries by the time their visa has expired. The controversial move by the home secretary, Theresa May, to introduce the Australian-style system reflects her determination to show that the Tories are serious about cutting immigration and curbing abuses." - Sunday Times (£)
  • Pakistan gunmen kill foreign tourists - Observer
  • Britain builds £14 million prison in Somalia - Sun on Sunday
  • New antisocial measures won't work, says Government's Victims' Commissioner - Independent on Sunday
  • Big Brother Watch and Liberty say that new laws needed for 'out of control' intelligence agencies - Independent on Sunday
Adam Bolton tips Margot James, Claire Perry and Laura Sandys for promotion
Screen shot 2013-06-23 at 09.02.56"In last year’s reshuffle Cameron made the gender balance worse by sacking Cheryl Gillan and Caroline Spelman and demoting Sayeeda Warsi. Many of his male backbenchers would like him to do the same again. Justine Greening and Maria Miller are the heads favoured to roll this time. Mightn’t this look bad? “Not if you promote Esther McVey and Elizabeth Truss into their jobs,” came the reply…Strong views well articulated put female Tories such as Margot James, Claire Perry and Laura Sandys on the slow boat t o the top." -Sunday Times (£)
Andrew Rawnsley: The Peter Bone-head manifesto
"The dedication of these unreconstructed rightwingers comes from intense passion. They hate coalition. They despise David Cameron. They don't even seem to like being in office. They behave as if they don't want to win the next election and would certainly rather be in opposition after 2015 than in another power-share with the Lib Dems. These irreconcilables are the most vivid manifestation of a malady that has a grip on quite a lot of the Conservative party." - The Guardian
Miliband: Nigella - I would have intervened (i.e: Up yours, Clegg)
Screen shot 2013-06-23 at 09.06.07"Mr Miliband said yesterday: ‘I thought they were horrifying pictures. ‘Honestly, if you are passing by something like that happening, our duty is to intervene.  'If I had been in that situation, passing  by in those circumstances, the right thing to do is to go up to somebody involved in that and say, “What’s going on?” ’ Yesterday, Neil Kinnock also waded into the row by revealing that he would have ‘felt compelled’ to intervene." - Mail on Sunday
John Rentoul: If Miliband abandons more spending, what's the point of voting Labour?
"Complaining that the Government is cutting "too far and too fast" has been the one big, easy-to-understand difference between the parties on economic policy for three years. Once it has gone, what's the point of voting Labour? Hence the ambiguity at the heart of Labour's new position. Note that Balls reserved the right to borrow more for "long-term capital investment". The soft fudge of Miliband's speech yesterday was its talk of "investing for the long term" without admitting that this might mean borrowing more. My guess is that, as the economy picks up, the option of higher "borrowing to invest" will also be abandoned." - Independent on Sunday
Cameron re-recruits "vanity photographer" claim
CAMERON DAVID BLUE SHIRT"Corporal Tom Robinson has been seconded from the MoD as Mr Cameron’s personal photographer at No 10 two years after a public outcry forced the Prime Minister to get rid of his own Downing Street cameraman. Cpl Robinson, 33, who has served in Afghanistan, was seen last week coming in and out of Downing Street in his ‘civvies’ after taking photographs of Mr Cameron meeting foreign dignitaries." - Mail on Sunday
News in Brief:
And finally…Cameron spotted wheeling across Regent's Park on child's scooter - Sun on Sunday