Saturday, 27 July 2013

Today's ConservativeHome top features
Today's ConservativeHome newslinks
Immigration clampdown 1) UK to press on with £3,000 tourist bond
Screen shot 2013-07-27 at 06.53.39"Britain is pressing ahead with its trial of a scheme to make visitors from six countries pay a £3,000 bond, despite an international backlash and complaints from businesses. The government said it would begin a pilot in November to impose visa restrictions on six Commonwealth nations, including India and Nigeria, even though David Cameron poured cold water on the scheme in June after it provoked uproar in Delhi." -Financial Ti mes
Immigration clampdown 2) Doctors could be forced to carry out immigration checks on patients
"A consultation document released by the Department of Health makes clear that frontline NHS staff could “clearly have a role in identifying chargeable patients”. Despite assurances from Jeremy Hunt, the Health Secretary, that the new measures will not affect patient care, the consultation only makes it clear that doctors will not be “diverted wholesale” from looking after patients under the controversial plans." -Daily Telegraph
Immigration letdown 1) Matthew Hancock tells employers to employ Britons, but EU website advertising jobs to foreign workers
HANCOCK MATT"Almost six in every 10 vacancies on a taxpayer-funded EU ­website are in the UK, raising questions about the Government’s approach to unemployment. Germany, the economy of which is the EU’s largest, is second with 267,517 job advertisements, a third fewer. The total number of vacancies on EURES, the European job mobility portal, as of yesterday was 1,450,490 – so UK jobs up for grabs total more than those in other EU states put together." - Daily Express
Immigration letdown 2) 500,000 immigrants have been given social housing in last decade
"The national census statistics, which were released yesterday, highlight fears about increased pressure on public services when Romanians and Bulgarians win free access to jobs in this country in January. The figures also show the effects of the large-scale immigration encouraged by the Tony Blair and Gordon Brown governments.  According to the census, 105,506 of the immigrants who found social housing after 2001 were from Eastern European states that joined the EU in 2004, most of them Poles." - Daily Mail
Clegg attacks Home Office illegal immigrants poster campaign…
Screen shot 2013-07-27 at 06.54.53"The Deputy Prime Minister’s office called Mark Harper, the Conservative Immigration Minister, earlier this week to protest at the campaign targeting racially mixed London suburbs as coalition tensions on immigration worsen. Two vans touring Hounslow, Barking and Dagenham, Ealing, Brent and Redbridge carried billboards advertising how many illegal migrants were arrested in the areas in the previous week." -The Times (£)
  • Go Home ads face court challenge - The Guardian
  • Stunts won't ease the immigration burden - Daily Mail
  • This Tory immigration campaign is cynical and distasteful. But the Left's response sucks - Tom Harris MP, Daily Telegraph
…As Cameron drops plan to recruit foreign pupils for state schools...
"A leaked letter from the office of the Prime Minister, dated July 1, had suggested that Britain should be encouraging large numbers of foreign pupils to attend state schools, a move likely to mean the introduction of charges worth thousands of pounds. Faced with anger that the idea was ever allowed to surface, Mr Cameron has now agreed to drop the suggestion. The Liberal Democrats said it was inconceivable that the coalition could support such a proposal." - The Times (£)
  • Prime Minister's critics have no sense of history - Max Hastings,Financial Times
…And he prepares to broadcast once a week on radio
Cameron interviewed radio"The Prime Minister has decided to follow in the footsteps of his deputy, Nick Clegg, and embrace a campaigning radio revolution, broadcasting to voters once a week. Aides to Mr Cameron have installed a broadcast studio in No 10 to make it easier for the Prime Minister to host phone-ins and engage in banter with local radio presenters the length of the country. The innovation has been kept quiet until now." - The Times (£)
We’ll make life mean life for worst killers, says Grayling
"The Justice Secretary’s pledge comes two weeks after the European Court of Human Rights sparked outrage by banning British courts from handing out “life means life” sentences to the worst killers. The bombshell decision could see monsters such as Moors murderer Ian Brady and Yorkshire Ripper Peter Sutcliffe launch bids for freedom. But Mr Grayling told The Sun he and Home Secretary Theresa May would not be cowed by the Strasbourg ruling." - The Sun
Andrew Grice: Nice photo op, George, but it’ll take more to win in 2015
Screen shot 2013-07-27 at 06.58.49"George Osborne looked tired as he gave interviews about the figures announced on Thursday showing the economy grew by 0.6 per cent in the second quarter of this year. But it was a price worth paying for staying up until 2am to join night shift workers in the Midlands at a bakery, a road scheme and Tesco’s distribution centre. It was a very clever photo opportunity, the perfect backdrop to welcome signs of recovery while insisting there is still a long way to go." - The Independent
> Yesterday:
Nick Boles: "‘I am not going to start lecturing consenting adults about their private enjoyment of legal pornography.’ (But he backs Cameron's plans for action.)
Screen shot 2013-07-27 at 07.00.21Mr Boles said the internet had ‘expanded the horizons of young people to an almost unimaginable degree’. However, it had also  exposed them to ‘appalling risks and horrors’. He added: ‘Both intentionally and by mistake, children can be exposed to pornographic images at an age when they are much too young to understand what sex can involve." - D aily Mail
  • Power to the communities threatens solutions to housing crisis, warns Lord Young - The Independent
Grieve under fire over Serious Fraud Office oversight
"The Attorney-General was under scrutiny last night about his oversight of the Serious Fraud Office. Questions were raised after it emerged that he had “serious concerns” about the agency at least a year before it was plunged into a succession of costly blunders. Dominic Grieve clashed with Richard Alderman, the head of the fraud agency at the time, after discovering that the SFO had flouted controls on government spending on external suppliers, according to documents obtained by The Times." - The Times (£)
Madeleine McCann family spokesman is the Conservative candidate for the Green Party’s Brighton seat
Screen shot 2013-07-27 at 07.01.21"Clarence Mitchell, the BBC reporter turned spokesman for the family of Madeleine McCann, will try to take the Green Party’s only seat at the next general election for the Conservatives. Mr Mitchell has been selected as the Tory candidate for Brighton Pavillion. The seat is held by Caroline Lucas, a former leader of the Green Party and Britain’s first MP for the party, who won it with a majority of 1,252 at the last general election." - The Times (£)
Matthew Parris: Don't apologise - just say you were wrong
"Apology adds less than we think. It involves the passions more than the intellect. Saying sorry (if sincerely) demands self-humiliation, may give pain (or even relief) to the speaker, may give satisfaction (or “closure”) to the hearer, may provoke the very occasional dramatic resignation and provides the element of theatre much beloved by the media and, therefore, politicians. Act I: error; Act II: apology; Act III: forgiveness. This is more like the entertainment industry than political analysis. It adds little to our knowledge and is the mark of a rather self-indulgent age." - The Times (£)
Daniel Hannan: We celebrate the Royal family because it symbolises our liberty
HANNAN DAN"Over many centuries, as we have watched our neighbours traumatised by dictators and revolutions, we have been able to feel as you might feel when, warm in your house, you hear the storm shake your windows. We developed and exported the sublime idea that taxes ought not to be raised, nor laws passed, save by our own representatives. That idea was not dreamt up, as in most European constitutions, by a recent convention of bigwigs: it is a birthright inherent in each of us, which the new prince happens to symbolise. That, surely, is something worth cheering." - Daily Telegraph
Police probe claims of London Unite fraud
"In Ilford North Unite is said to have offered free Labour membership in exchange for meeting its boss Len McCluskey. An “orchestrated” campaign was also allegedly mounted in Lewisham Deptford. Tory vice-chairman Bob Neill wrote to the Met’s boss asking about suspected “fraudulent behaviour”. Sir Bernard Hogan-Howe told him “possible offences” would be taken seriously. Unite denied wrongdoing. Labour accused the Tories of “wasting police time”." - The Sun
  • Ed’s all right, Len. You’re helping his cause - Ann McElvoy, The Times (£)
  • "Confessions of Gordon Brown" will move to West End - The Independent
Stella Creasey, the Labour MP who took on the loan sharks pre-Welby
Screen shot 2013-07-27 at 07.03.12"The Labour MP for Walthamstow has made a name for herself with her work on the loan sharks that have flourished in the wake of the recession. The intervention from Justin, as she calls the leader of the Church of England, with a promise of “competing them out of the market”, is a welcome one. She would like to take him for a cup of tea in return for getting God on her side. But she says that his plan for boosting credit unions and depriving payday lenders of their business can only be one prong of the attack." - The Times (£)
News in Brief
  • Nicholas Van Hoogstraten, Zimbabwe's biggest landowner - Daily Mail
  • High water bills & exec pay rapped - The Sun
  • Nine dead as rival rallies grip Egypt - Daily Telegraph
  • Britain faces week of monsoons - Daily Express
  • NHS embarking on single biggest outsourcing of services so far -The Guardian
  • Stuart Hall's sentence doubled - The Times (£)
  • Cameron takes holiday, flies Easyjet, visits Portugal, buys squid, holds hands with Sam & doesn't wear black shoes: read all about it - Daily Mail
  • (Prime Minister urged to restore green credentials with return to Arctic) - The Independent

Posted by Britannia Radio at 09:00